Vacuum the sandbed Yes or No ?

[Tuan’s Reef]

I usually vacuum my sandbed when i perform water changes. Do you? if not why?

 

[kados]

Yes, yes, yes!! Everytime for me. Opinions will be all over the place though.

 

[Garf]

Got no sand, am I missing out

 

[kados]

Got no sand, am I missing out

I tried no sand for a few months. Then I had to scrape the bottom of the tank.
Back to Caribsea Special Grade I went lol.

 

[Lavey29]

I vacuum what space allows the siphon to reach but mainly turkey blast as much as possible and siphon from the water column.

 

[Garf]

I tried no sand for a few months. Then I had to scrape the bottom of the tank.
Back to Caribsea Special Grade I went lol.

Man, you didn’t wait. After the first scrape it’s easy.

 

[kados]

Man, you didn’t wait. After the first scrape it’s easy.

Truth. I did miss the look of sand. Just a real thin layer. Vacuuming is cake. Sometimes just rake it around a bit it's such a thin layer.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I don’t, my reasons:
-I’m too lazy.
-My tank is finally at the stage where my sand stays clean and white.
-I learned reefing long ago and still follow most old fashioned beliefs. Including “don’t touch the sand bed”.
-There are little microscopic critters in the sand I prefer to leave alone.

 

[mfinn]

I do in my 233, but not in my 66.

 

[vsnetzinger]

I don't. I have a yellow head goby that keeps it nice and clean. I do have to take the turkey baster out now and then to blow things clean of sand cause he's a messy eater

 

[Dburr1014]

Used to, then I would turkey baste it. Now my cuc takes care of it. I do baste it every couple months tho. There are a couple spots that accumulate more than the rest.

 

[McPuff]

Yes, but only a few times a year. I feel like I'm behind schedule right now... so definitely NEED to do it again. Have saltwater ready to go...

 

[ajtomase]

My question is why vacuum it if you have a CUC and they need food to eat? My tank is only 2 months old, don't have the lights on, and haven't vacuumed the sand yet because I wanted to make sure there's enough food for invertebrates.

 

[Garf]

My question is why vacuum it if you have a CUC and they need food to eat? My tank is only 2 months old, don't have the lights on, and haven't vacuumed the sand yet because I wanted to make sure there's enough food for invertebrates.

What are they eating if you’ve got the lights off?

 

[McPuff]

My question is why vacuum it if you have a CUC and they need food to eat? My tank is only 2 months old, don't have the lights on, and haven't vacuumed the sand yet because I wanted to make sure there's enough food for invertebrates.

CUC can't handle everything. The sand bed is 5.5 years old and I only have 1 sand sifter in the tank now (conch). I used to have a couple of sifting star but they died a while back. I should probably get another one...

 

[mattachu]

I do just the surface every water change

 

[Conchman]

I vac every time, I generally only do 1/2 at a time, leave the other half alone, guess that means every other w/c, ah, new math is killing me...

 

[Glenner’sreef]

Definitely! The stuff that comes out into my white 5 gallon buckets during water changes makes it an easy choice.

 

[Timfish]

Sometimes yes and sometimes no.

 

[A Fish Called Wanda]

I never touch my sand my janitors and Sea Cucumber takes care of it. The other reason why is because it’s a 6” deep sand bed and it has a lot of life in it.