Should I siphon my sand bed

rheagle1 · May 8, 2014

Hello, I've had my 37 gallon reef tank set up for about 10 months. Lately i've read different things about doing water changes and whether or not I should be siphoning the sand bed. The sand bed is about 2 inches deep. I have been siphoning it when I've been doing water changes, but now I'm thinking that maybe I shouldn't be. What is the better way to do this, and why? I want to get this tank to really thrive, especially since I just got a 92 gallon corner tank that I will be setting up and moving things to.

MrDJeep123 · May 8, 2014

There is tons of beneficial creatures and bacteria in the sand bed. I'm in the camp that says do not do it and is not needed.
But to each his own.

How Sandbeds REALLY Work by Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D. - Reefkeeping.com

Pete polyp · May 8, 2014

It depends on how deep your sandbed is. If it's 1" then yes it could help. If it's a 4" deep sand bed then it's an essential part of your nutrient export and you shouldn't mess with it for a long time.

Daniel@R2R · May 8, 2014

These guys have given great advice. You're going to hear different advice as people have different theories of reef keeping, but I agree with Pete. If it's a shallow bed, you can siphon it to remove detritus, but if it's a deep bed (4"+), then you definitely shouldn't siphon it. It's also worth noting that generally (most info says) that you shouldn't have a sand bed that falls between about 1" to 4"...this is considered "no man's land" bc it isn't deep enough to process the nutrients like the dsb will, and it's too deep to keep clean at a manageable level.

I have a 4" bed in one tank and a 6"+ bed in the other, so I never siphon. Hope that helps!

Trex · May 8, 2014

All of my tanks have shallow sandbeds ~ 2 inches, give or take, and I gravel vac them with each weekly water change. Been doing it this way for 20+ years, and still shocked at the amount of detritus each time.

zoechance · May 8, 2014

Trex said:
All of my tanks have shallow sandbeds ~ 2 inches, give or take, and I gravel vac them with each weekly water change. Been doing it this way for 20+ years, and still shocked at the amount of detritus each time.

I agree! I have about a 2 inch sand bed and I siphon parts of it with my weekly water changes and it turns the siphoned water like brown…yucky...

Trex · May 8, 2014

zoechance said:
I agree! I have about a 2 inch sand bed and I siphon parts of it with my weekly water changes and it turns the siphoned water like brown…yucky...

I am really curious to see what the water of my 65 looks like when do that tank --- haven't touched it in about 6 weeks, shoulder surgery --- have a feeling it is going to be pretty nasty.

Kworker · May 8, 2014

If a lot of stuff settles in certain spots, I would siphon those areas at least.

Back when I had a year old sand bed in my 55gal, I siphoned weekly and there was full of life when I broke down the tank. I previously added sand to my 180gal soley because I want some sand dwelling creatures. I havent siphoned at all yet just to let it fill up.

I would say, if you have a shallow sand bed.. do some siphoning every now and than just to get out some of the nasties that add phosphates to the water.

But there are plenty of ways to do things in this hobby, everything works differently for people.

ritter6788 · May 8, 2014

I'm a bare bottom guy now but I had a 3-4 inch deep bed for about 3 years in my 75. I was always having algae problems and needing to run GFO. I started vacuuming the sandbed during water changes and pulled out all sorts of nasty gunk. My tank started to improve with the sandbed cleanings.

Frattoniser · May 10, 2014

I've not had any problems by not syphoning my sand bed, but do have a very active and quite large CUC which I firmly believe helps dramatically. Nitrate levels always very consistent and have as yet not been a problem.