siphon or not to
- Thread starter Lovge
- Start date
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JMSKI333
Valuable Member
It depends on what type of sand bed you have. If you are rocking a Deep Sand bed then you should not stir it up. I have 1"-2" of sandbed in my 4 year old tank and I siphon my sand in small sections like once a month. Pick a small 10% section and toss it around a bit. Either with a turkey baster or with your siphon vaccum. Don't go too nutty though.
Wait until you see the amount of junk you pull out of there.
If you have an established system than this may be a bit more risky if you haven't kept up with it.
Wait until you see the amount of junk you pull out of there.
If you have an established system than this may be a bit more risky if you haven't kept up with it.
Trex
Valuable Member
All 3 of my tanks have shallow(ish) sandbeds, around 2-3 inches, I vacuum the sandbeds with each weekly water change. Been doing it this way for 20+ years, and still get shocked by the amount of detritus that is pulled out.
Amphibious
Oldest Salt
DSB or SSB, been using them both for 30+ years. I have found NOT vacuuming a DSB eventually leads to failed biological action due to stagnation. It may take years but it will happen IME. I no longer use a DSB in the DT but moved it to the refugium, much easier to maintain in a healthy state. This is GROSS but compare it to NEVER flushing your toilet. Well, what you find in your sand bed, regardless of depth, is poop from all your critters whether fish, coral, crabs, snails, feather dusters, whatever. They eat, they poop, the sand bed gets dirty. Some will say, yeah but that’s why I got a big CUC to take care of the pollution. Guess what? They eat, they poop too. Syphoning portions of your sand bed whether DSB or SSB helps keep it clean, like flushing the toilet! Do it with every water change. Your entire system will benefit from it.
Dick
Dick
I do have one question for any one who knows but I have been havin ya problem wit my cataphilia it is a Indonesian one and it keeps swelling up and then comes good can't pin point a reason to it through testing , my Australian cataphilia is fine no drama if any one can offer help I'd gladly appreciate it
Rob
Rob
Amphibious
Oldest Salt
Hey Rob, IME Indonesian Catalaphyllia jardinei (Elegance coral) do not fair well in captivity. Elegance corals seem to carry or are prone to catching a pathogen that destroys the coral over time. The Australian variety seem to have a resistance to this malady. That’s about all I can say here. Don’t want to hijack this thread completely. If you have more questions, start a new thread and we can continue.
Dick
Dick
Dalmatia
Valuable Member
As long as someone or something is in your sand keeping it alive and stirring it up (snails, pistol shrimp or even the engineer goby) your sand bed should be fine.
It's when your sand is not shifted, it can cause a bunch of gases to escape with out going through there cycle stages, causing ammonia and so on
I stir up my 1-2" Sand bed with a turkey baster while running filter socks 2-3 times a year. IMO most aragonite sand is too fine to siphon very well.
interesting. I know people who do and who don't. I only have about an 1 1/2'' of sand in my display and a mound in my sump. nothing is stirring it up.
I think I may try a little every week when I do a water change.
I think I may try a little every week when I do a water change.
