Sand bed - To vacuum or not?

[tnc112105]

I saw another thread on R2R with a member asking whether they should use a sand bed or go bare bottom with their new build and it got me to thinking.

I set up my tank (Reefer 450) with about a 2" sand bed about two years ago and never vacuumed it. Despite a small 3" patch of hair algae in one corner of the tank, the system is thriving.

My brain is saying leave well enough alone, but others have said that the sand bed can become a detritus trap and/or release toxic gas into the water when disturbed.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Tahoe61]

A 2 inch sand bed 2 years of age I would not aggressively vacuum. You can skim the top to remove detritus and unwanted algae growth but I would not vacuum. Areas of anaerobic bacteria is the point of having a deeper sand bed.

 

[J. Austin]

Yes, I would not vacuum your bed. Like Tahoe61 said, clean off the top layer, but don't toss it around. If you want to clean the top of the bed and keep the sand sucked out, you can start a siphon into a filter sock in your sump. The filter sock will catch the sand and junk that you can clean out with RODI in a bucket later and add it back to your tank.

That being said, sand is cheap and you could just toss it and add small amounts of new sand.

 

[ritter6788]

I always vacuumed mine when I had it before going BB. Lots of nasty stuff trapped in there. These threads pop up time to time and you’ll always get conflicting answers. Some will say don’t touch it and some will say vacuum it always. It’s just a personal preference.

 

[roberthu526]

If you really want to vacuum then do it slowly. I would vacuum 1/10 weekly. After that vacuum regularly would be a good idea.

 

[Flippers4pups]

I'm one with @ritter6788, I've done both with vacuuming and not. DSB shouldn't be disturbed. Shallow beds can go ether way.

 

[K. Steven]

It really depends on the grain size. If you have coarser sand, like Special Grade, the pore spaces are large enough to allow oxygen to flow through the sand (preventing anaerobic denitrification) and will trap detritus much easier than finer sand. I have always stirred/siphoned my sand from startup on all my tanks to manage nutrients. If you haven't touched the sandbed since startup, I would stir/siphon small sections of your sand bed and slowly add new sections every time you do maintenance if you are concerned with nutrients in your sand.

 

[tnc112105]

What qualifies as a deep sand bed?

Would 2" of Fiji Pink be considered a DSB?

Not sure if it matters, but I have several CUC members (sand sifting star, cerith snails) that are supposed to aerate the sandbed.

 

[Tahoe61]

This might be of assist.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/pros-vs-cons-deep-sand-bed-vs-shallow-sand-bed.87740/

 

[jda]

Starting in about year four, I do vacuum my sand and even add more into the tank. While detritus is mostly benign in the sand, it can gum up the works for the microfauna. When I do this, I really give it a good cleaning and only do about 1/4 of the exposed sand every three months. This gives the tank time to work through again-establishing the oxic and anoxic zones. I also add back in some sand when I do this... it dissolves and also some of the finer pieces will get sucked out in the vacuum.

When I do this, the conchs, cukes an other microfauna really love the new, clean sand for about a month.

 

[Joe Batt]

KISS.......Keep doing what you're doing.

If you don't vacuum then I wouldn't recommend starting since you will stir up the anaerobic areas in the sand bed and cause problems with the tank. If you decide you must then just split the tank into 1/4 and do 1/4 a week till you have the whole tank done.

If its a new sandbed then the world is your lobster....you get to choose

 

[Ento-Reefer]

I prefer to vaccume my tanks sand bed and I stir the sand up about once a week to help keep the detritus from settling. I would maybe do 1/3 per month if you have never done it before.

 

[ca1ore]

I think people that are 'convinced' a regular and thorough siphoning of the sand bed is a good thing will be undeterred and self validated by 'lots of nasty stuff in there'. Likewise, those that are 'convinced' to let natural processes prevail and not siphon will be equally undeterred and self validated by all the little critters that live there. Personally, I fall into the latter camp .... but do as you see fit. The only thing I would say is if you ever find yourself snorkeling or diving, disturb the sand at the base of the reef slightly ..... lots of stuff there too LOL. I think a self maintaining sand bed IS more work, counter intuitively, because it requires careful selection of animals.

 

[will0wtr33]

I have a 1 1/2-2 inch sand bed in my 6 month old 10g nano. I didn't vac for the first two months, but was having trouble keeping the sand clean. Since I used special reef grade sand from caribsea I can vac it, and it's heavy enough to not get taken out by the flow of the siphon. It swirls around in the siphon tube, removing the nasty stuff, and then falls back down and out. After 2 weeks of doing small water changes and vacuuming a bit at a time my sand bed went from super nasty to bright and clean. I was amazed at how much gross junk was at the bottom of the bucket each time I did a change. I run low tech and do two 1.5 gallon changes a week. My sand always looks great. Just my experience. =]

 

[alex.mccann99]

Your livesand acts as another form of filtration. I myself have Black Hawaiian sand and love it. The color makes my Lobos and Rock Flower Anemone's really pop. I've got tons of copepods and amphipods that live in it. About once a month I blow around especially in the back corners just to stir up any loose detritus and old food. My wrasses go nuts for all the pods and all the life that gets stirred up. I seen very few tanks with bare bottom that I found attractive. (no offense anyone, just my opinion).

 

[madweazl]

I have about three inches of sand (.5-1.5mm particle size) on average and do vacuum it a couple of times a year. With the critters I have now, very little comes out of the sand so I dont see any value in continuing to do so.

 

[Bob Escher]

I have a 2 1/2 - 3 in and I occasionally vacumn the top but I also have a a sand sifter Goby that does a heck of a job along with a great CUC. So I’m not worried

 

[tnc112105]

@Bob Escher
I've always wanted a sand sifter goby in this tank, but it always annoyed me that they would constantlly grab a mouthful of substrate, swim halfway up the tank and then sprinkle sand all over the scolys and lobos on the bottom of the tank. It got redundant constantly having to reach into the tank to dig the corals out.

What species do you have and do you have this problem with them?

 

[tnc112105]

Thanks everyone for the great responses

 

[Bob Escher]

@Bob Escher
I've always wanted a sand sifter goby in this tank, but it always annoyed me that they would constantlly grab a mouthful of substrate, swim halfway up the tank and then sprinkle sand all over the scolys and lobos on the bottom of the tank. It got redundant constantly having to reach into the tank to dig the corals out.

What species do you have and do you have this problem with them?

I have a diamond watchman and yes he does the same a use a turkey Baster to blow the sand off. Fij pink sand.
That doesn’t make me as mad as him piling it all up one place at times. But it takes me about ten minute and I’m done,

I realize he’s doing a valuable service ( and he’s bigger than my tank needs but that’s ok too)
So I condone him