Should I be stirring sandbed in new tank?

[the_chef_pierre]

I've only had my tank set up for just over 2 months now and have nothing in it except for a few snails. Currently I'm in the ugly stage I believe, as my rocks and the entire sandbed is getting this yellowy orange layer building up on the top that goes away when I blow on it but eventually comes back. Still confused on whether its just cyano or diatoms or if I actually am experiencing dino (which I hope I am not).

Should I be stiring up the sandbed or not? My tank is 30 gallons, and I had 2 nassarius snails but the both died (hopefully from starvation and not from eating what might be dino). When I do my waterchanges I try to syphon up the dirty buildup on the top later of the sand but I havent done any stiring of the sandbed itself. Its around 2" deep. Whats the best advice for this? Leave it alone or stir it up in sections from time to time?

 

[Billldg]

I stir my sand bed up when I do a deep cleaning, usually every month or 2. Others haven't with no ill effects, but I prolonged it one time during a dino battle and when I did it, it caused a tank crash. This is not to scare you, it was because as I was battling the dinos, the die off accumulated in the sand and when I disturbed it, it caused the crash. I do it now to make sure it doesn't happen again. Now I clean in in sections, usually half the sand bed every time I do a water change, or every month or so depending on how often I am doing water changes.

 

[the_chef_pierre]

I know once I get a pistol shrimp and some fish in there it wont be as bad, especialy when I get new nassarius, but for now would it be best to stir like you said? It shouldnt crash my tank yet because its on the newer side right?

 

[Billldg]

I couldn't hurt. I stir the sand bed now mainly to get rid of the fish waste that accumulate in it.

 

[the_chef_pierre]

I have no fish yet though, so the only waste I might have is from the snails or when I was ghost feeding some fish food. Theres just a lot of bacteria growing because of the ugly phase im thinking

I couldn't hurt. I stir the sand bed now mainly to get rid of the fish waste that accumulate in it.

 

[Billldg]

I have no fish yet though, so the only waste I might have is from the snails or when I was ghost feeding some fish food. Theres just a lot of bacteria growing because of the ugly phase im thinking

The ugly phase will pass, its just the tank bacteria settling in. Stirring the sand bed on a newer tank may be a good thing as it will get you inthe habit of doing it, but probably not necessary as, like you said, their are no fish present yet.

 

[the_chef_pierre]

So is it better to stir or leave for now? I have a skimmer also but havent been running it yet

 

[Billldg]

I would say its not needed yet. I will also say it is not necessary to run the skimmer yet either. Bacteria needs nitrates and phosphates to grow.

 

[2Wheelsonly]

Assuming this isn’t an old school deep sand bed I would just stir it now and get used to making it part of your maintenance routine. I did this from the start with my tank as my sand bed was purely cosmetic and there for wrasse. 5 years later it’s still white and I don’t worry if it gets disturbed as I have always stirred it.

All you’re doing is making sure all that stuff that settles get suspended and eventually down to the sump for export. The only time you don’t want to stir is when you have a deeper bed for bacteria surface area and there is a risk of releasing nasty stuff that can hurt your tank. This is a non issue with a constantly stirred shallow bed.

 

[the_chef_pierre]

Thanks. Yeah, Im not sure im bed classifies as shallow or deep, since its 2" so i think its on the cusp. My tank is an AIO so it could get into the sump but would have to get through the overflow at the top before it settles back down i'm thinking. Then again, if I have nothing in my tank right now I dont think it would cause any harm even if it did release some toxins? Maybe im wrong

Assuming this isn’t an old school deep sand bed I would just stir it now and get used to making it part of your maintenance routine. I did this from the start with my tank as my sand bed was purely cosmetic and there for wrasse. 5 years later it’s still white and I don’t worry if it gets disturbed as I have always stirred it.

All you’re doing is making sure all that stuff that settles get suspended and eventually down to the sump for export. The only time you don’t want to stir is when you have a deeper bed for bacteria surface area and there is a risk of releasing nasty stuff that can hurt your tank. This is a non issue with a constantly stirred shallow bed.

 

[the_chef_pierre]

Still confused about this? I have a pistol shrimp and he stirs up some of the bed and I had some nassarius but but they died off. I havent stirred any of the bed anywhere just syphon off the algae at the top but it's definitely not white anymore.

 

[Jeeperz]

Stirring a new sandbed won't do much except get the fines trapped in filter socks, which is a good thing in my opinion. I started with a sandbed like yours and was told to keep it stirred as it releases built up junk so if it does get disturbed in the future it won't cause a nutrient or ammonia spike later( if you never stirred it before)

 

[the_chef_pierre]

So I should stir then or not? I dont use filter socks, only floss, chemipure, matrix and skimmer. Also other than all the crazy algae problems I'm having with dino and other stuff my sandbed is also changing colors lower down and looks kind of fluorescent pink and green theough the glass part

 

[the_chef_pierre]

im still confused. i havent stirred yet, but now my ugly phase is full of what appears to be dino, bryopsis and hair algae. my sandbad is going super dark about half way down from the surface. if i blow on it with a turkey baster it turns white. im going to try and battle whatever algae it is, but im scared to stir incase there is a lot of toxins growing in it right now

 

[Dre3000]

I would use a Siphon water vacuum and suck out you sand bed full depth with a water change. Until you sand become clear when vacuuming. You could also do some nitrate and phosphate testing. That might be causing your algae to bloom.

 

[the_chef_pierre]

Yeah, all my levels are reading at 0 pretty much and I heard that dino can bloom in really low levels. Im planning on doing some UWC Refine to help boost nitrate and phos and hoping that will work.

 

[the_chef_pierre]

Usually when I syphon with my weekly waterchange I always suck up the top layer of the sand. It cleans it up, but the next day its back again

 

[brandon429]

if you'll take time to read 30 mins of this thread, post #1 then skip to the final 3 pages, you'll have clouding/uglies/sand fixing all in place and demonstrated. don't consider stirring it all around, consider making your tank like the ones from the last 3 work example pages:

 

[brandon429]

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

If you are reading this thread to cure a tank invasion from a link I sent you, we do not need to identify your type of invasion here we do not need you to test anything at anytime regarding nitrate, phosphate etc Above all, we do not need to see a microscope slide picture of your invasion at...

www.reef2reef.com

after that is ran, then stirring can be considered. don't stir the invaded condition, stir as preventative only.

post update pics, lets see what you're working with

tank sizes range from 1 - 200 gallons there in the disassembly cleaning thread.

 

[the_chef_pierre]

Here's what I'm facing on my 3 month old tank