Should I clean my refugium sand?

[uscstaylor]

Hey Guys,
My tank has been up and running for about 9 months now and I have a question about my refugium. Now I have copepods in it and my cheato is growing like crazy and will have to be trimmed down soon, but the sand which is about 3 inches thick is starting to get brown and hard about 3/4 of an Inch. Is it OK to siphon every couple of months or just leave it be.

It's doing a great job and I was just curious...any feedback would be grateful....

 

[Arubix]

If you haven't stirred your sand in a while, that sand might be a nitrate warehouse. I would siphon some out every water change and replace it when its gone.

With that said, if you do stir your sand, then it is still recommended to change the sand out every 12-18 months depending on who you ask. It's just a good practice.

 

[noobofthereef]

If you do siphon the sand, do it in small sections each time you do a water change so that whatever has built up in there won't make a huge impact on your tank.

 

[Gundo]

I haven't touched mine in 3 years and all is good. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

 

[uscstaylor]

I talked to a couple of people at different LFS's and they said don't bother touching it. So now I have some people saying to change it out and some people saying not to do anything. Maybe we should start a POLL. Question could be, To clean or not to clean your Refugium......I'm a little nervous now to be honest...I am constantly worried over dumb stuff like this.

 

[Gundo]

Prune your macro, change your bulb when needed. That's all.

 

[uscstaylor]

How much algae or cheato in my case would be to much. How does one know?

 

[marvelousone]

If you stir up your sand. You can release bad stuff in your tank. Just trim your cheato and do water change. I trim out about 1/4 of the cheato.

 

[Dog Boy Dave]

The depth and size of your sand really makes a difference in the character of the bed. Rather than try to explain all the DSB theory I would direct you to Ron Shimek. He helped me a lot when I first started trying to figure this stuff out in the 80's. This guy is the Sultan of Sand Beds. If you would like a quick primer, check him out. Ron Shimek's Website...Deep Sand Beds

 

[wrfreeman]

Throw some bristleworms in there and let them stir it for you. They'll also eat all the detritus that settles there. Can't go wrong with bristleworms!

 

[CastAway]

If you would like a quick primer, check him out. Ron Shimek's Website...Deep Sand Beds

Excellent! Thanks for sharing.

 

[uscstaylor]

Thanks guys for sharing it means a lot to guys like me who have questions and need good soild answers. I am so glad I joined this forum!