Siphon sand?

SkipsPrincess77 · Jan 12, 2015

Views on siphoning sand. Having nitrate issue. FOWLR system. I just looked under my tank and found nasty brown color. I was told never to mess with the sand but having my tank up for few years is making me thing otherwise.

SkipsPrincess77 · Jan 12, 2015

*think

teresamcafee · Jan 12, 2015

Do you not vacuum it?
I use my siphon/vacuum about two to three times a month. This is done when I do my water changes. (I do 10% water changes weekly, but only siphon every other time or every third time.)
I have a 24 gallon Nano cube and I feel sparingly. (I had a 100 gallon in the past and was able to keep it looking good the same way.)
Do you have a cleaning crew as in sand sifters?

stunreefer · Jan 12, 2015

Shallow sand bed's (SSB) should generally be siphoned along with every water change (or every other - whatever works for you to remove detritus). Deep sand bed's should not be disturbed as you'll stir up the anaerobic zone which will wreak havoc. Very generally speaking anything <2" is SSB, anything >4" is DSB. The middle ground in between is best avoided IMO as you kind of have both "methods" going on. Ideally you're either focusing on having an anaerobic zone for denitrification, or not.

KoleTang · Jan 12, 2015

Shallow sand beds don't serve as much if a filter. They are more for aesthetics and should be siphoned.

Deep sand beds should never be touched as you will bring oxygen into the anaerobic zone and release potentially toxic gasses into the tank.

As stunreefer said, don't try to mix the two becuase it won't work. Anaerobic means without air, aerobic means with air. You can't combine the two (But Crossfit people will never stop attempting to

)

SkipsPrincess77 · Jan 13, 2015

Thanks for the advice. Id consider it a shallow bed. I had a sand sifting goby but he just disappeared. Assuming the snowflake eel got to him. Eel kinda limits my clean up crew but I do have a bunch of snails. He is surprisingly violent lil guy for a snowflake. I have a giant brittle star I was thinking about moving over from my biocube. It really needs more room. That might help. Going to have to watch it and make sure he doesn't end up getting an arm bit off. Lol.