Losing Bacteria?

[Keywest99]

When doing a water change, if you vacuum the sand substrate are you actually vacuuming out the good bacteria or not?

 

[vetteguy53081]

When doing a water change, if you vacuum the sand substrate are you actually vacuuming out the good bacteria or not?

Detritus more than bacteria. Do feel free to add .5 ml per 10 gallons daily

 

[Uncle99]

You take out micro-fauna in your sandbed, good guys and bad, of all sizes.
Is that bad, no, in moderation it’s fine.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

When doing a water change, if you vacuum the sand substrate are you actually vacuuming out the good bacteria or not?

Many of the bacteria in a sand bed will be attached to the sand grains.

More problematic may be moving them to a different environment where they may not thrive as well. Say, 1" down where they were happy to near the surface where they may not be, etc.

 

[brandon429]

I would say 100% yes you are removing them


I'd also say based on fifty pages logged in the sand rinse thread of completely removing sandbeds all at once, not just cleaning them, that losing those bac didn't matter at all. so the final summary is you're removing bacteria that you dont need, and isn't integral or required in the system they're just tolerated bioload. sandbeds are optional zones in reefing and can be installed/removed certain ways instantly, without ramp down time.

 

[Keywest99]

Detritus more than bacteria. Do feel free to add .5 ml per 10 gallons daily

Thank you guys for the help!

 

[BiggestE222]

You take out micro-fauna in your sandbed, good guys and bad, of all sizes.
Is that bad, no, in moderation it’s fine.

I mostly see pyramid snails. Amphipods hide in the rocks. I did not vacuum my sand bed the first 3 months I had my current tank. Started dealing with cyano because of overfeeding coral food. I vacuum it every week now or whenever I change water. I love that the sand looks near white and no detritus. First time I vacuumed there was a lot of dusty detritus that was removed. Just like the dirty stuff you see in your sump. Leave piece. Disgusting.

 

[brandon429]

Algae/Cyano Issue Not Improving, Help Please?

Hi all, I have a Red Sea Reefer 250 that has been up and running for 8 months now. My issue is a strange black algae\cyano growth that has plagued me for the last two months+. I have been treating as follows: cleaning gravel twice weekly 20% water changes twice a week Addition of beneficial...

www.reef2reef.com

thats fun to consider. that's the biggest water change possible plus sandbed attack in reefing, how'd it turn out after a few weeks lookback

anything you're considering is much nicer than that.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I think it would be insignificant amount. You can't vacuum the sand under the rocks, and you are likely only vacuuming the surface of the sand. Beneficial bacteria grow on the live rock surfaces, insides of the glass, on surfaces of all your machines, etc... so if you are removing bacteria it would be minimal and will grow back quickly. Of course, I'm not a scientist this is just my opinion from my googling and my experience.

 

[taricha]

When doing a water change, if you vacuum the sand substrate are you actually vacuuming out the good bacteria or not?

I would say 100% yes you are removing them


I'd also say based on fifty pages logged in the sand rinse thread of completely removing sandbeds all at once, not just cleaning them, that losing those bac didn't matter at all.

agreed. unless you did something extreme, just vacuuming out the sandbed will remove some amount of bacteria, but will be easily and quickly recolonized to whatever bacterial population your level of nutrients will support.