Vacuuming a sand bed or not That is my question

basile · Mar 18, 2014

Should people vacuum their sand regularly to avoid nitrates and other problems or not go ahead caller your online.

I'm asking to put this to rest, so many on are club i'm not saying which , but want us to vacuum are sandbed every week like it was a carpet . Not all in favor i'm asking your vote that i'll publish in any event.

But i know full well that's not a thing to do regularly but only in extreme cases of problems. I'm more for prevention that is . So please vote and write a comment that i can put it on are board to silence the clean freaks and their vaccumm cleaners and spatulas on the aquarium side......

jservedio · Mar 18, 2014

If you have a SSB there is no reason not to vacuume your sand bed. Sand and Rock act as nutrient sinks and if you don't take very good care of both, after a year or two they will have more nutrients in them than the water column and start leaching out. Prevent that from happening by cleaning your rock (turkey baster) and sand (vaccuming).

A DSB is a totally different animal.

ReefMadScientist · Mar 18, 2014

Vacuum sand once and see all the brown water come up. Now ask yourself…should I leave it in the sand…or take it out?

I say yes.

mike007 · Mar 18, 2014

When I do water changes I will lightly vacuum about a 1/4 inch off the top.

straydog · Mar 18, 2014

I vacume my tank on a weekly basis , make fun if you need to but it is part of my cleaning process. I have seen the crud that is removed from my sand on a weekly basis and I'm sure bacteria can break it down but its not doing it fast enough for me.

basile · Mar 18, 2014

straydog said:
I vacume my tank on a weekly basis , make fun if you need to but it is part of my cleaning process. I have seen the crud that is removed from my sand on a weekly basis and I'm sure bacteria can break it down but its not doing it fast enough for me.

Its not because we have different opinion that is a pretex to make fun of, only knowledge is to be gain here. Their's not really right and wrong ways to do thing but style. However I did consult with some LFS and others. Its seem to be more and more a personal choice. Because the people who vacuum sware by it and the lazy people like me don't and have no issues with Nitrates or any other parameters it seems. So really the brown juice exist in nature and its seems to work. This is what the LFS in general told me this is a sum up of their collective wisdom, a few of those have degrees in bilology.

You have a population of critters in your sand bed that establishe itself . If every week or two weeks you disturb that ; your getting rid of alot of helpers and those bacteria who helps you. Never mind shallow or deep it doesn't matter. Like they said if you have deposit of detritus, its because you don't have the correct CUC . Many do the vacuuming to avoid putting out for the right amount of cuc. But the down side is your compounding the problem by destroying lots of bacterias and critters on your side. They even pointed out an example of a nut case with a spatulas on the tank sides because they didn't like the colors. LOL like he said the dim witted did realise it was her bacterias working for her denitrifying her tank and transforming the polutants into less damaging chemical and elements rejouvenating and making it available to the corals. But no it wasn't pretty. Nature has its ways and works , you just have to let it.

In any case theirs no right or wrong in this hobby just styles, if it works for you and enjoy your workload happy reefing. :thumbup:

ritter6788 · Mar 18, 2014

I vacuumed mine until it was completely gone.

Best move I ever made for my tank.

Frag freak · Mar 18, 2014

I lightly vaccume and suggest it to all reefers that dont. Then again I dont run a dsb.

fishroomlady · Mar 18, 2014

I vacuum small sections with each water change trying to move across the bed. It's a SSB. I only do water changes about once a month or every 3 weeks so it's not a ton of siphoning that I'm doing.

Sdoutreefer · Mar 18, 2014

Vacuuming a sand bed is a must. Unless it's DSB. You'll be surprised at the smell and color of what comes out.. you definitely don't want to leave that in your sand. It keeps your sand looking white too

Connie · Mar 18, 2014

As a safety precaution, I vacuum a different part of my SB every other week. Just last week I heard of someone that had never vacuumed their SB. The tank had been set up for 5 years. They went to clean it; picked up just one rock. Every fish and shrimp in their tank immediately sank to the bottom, took one last breath and died. Hydrogen Sulfide. He did not have coral in his tank, but the result would have been the same with that as well.

docs911 · Mar 18, 2014

How does someone vacuum sand bed efficiently? I vacuum and suction out so much water with it.

fishroomlady · Mar 18, 2014

I use one of the gravel cleaners.....as stated it's usually done with a water change so siphoning water out is part of the process

michaelis88 · Mar 18, 2014

what happens if you have a sand sifting star that always sift your sand bed?

wowkingjames · Mar 18, 2014

I do siphon my sand, but I put my hose on the drain that goes to my sump. I put a clean sox by the time I'm done siphoning the sox is full of unwanted stuff.

NanaReefer · Mar 18, 2014

After 3yrs and never once vacuuming my SB it was nightmare time. I acquired a Neon Damsel who totally tore up my SB!! OMG!! 3yrs worth of crap thrown throughout my entire tank & skimmer. My rock was covered! Here comes cyano & the bubble algae I once had down to a couple lil balls took off with a vengeance. So guess what I've been doing for the last 2 months? Ugh! Damsel found a new home

mfinn · Mar 18, 2014

I always vacuum my shallow sand bed on every ( most everytime) water change.

roadrashpaul · Mar 19, 2014

For you guys that vacuum, do you have any sand sifting fish or creatures that sift the sand for food? I have a dragon goby and a pretty large brittle star. I was under the impression that these guys were to keep your sand relatively clean. If you vacuum it, will there be enough for them to eat?

ReefMadScientist · Mar 19, 2014

roadrashpaul said:
For you guys that vacuum, do you have any sand sifting fish or creatures that sift the sand for food? I have a dragon goby and a pretty large brittle star. I was under the impression that these guys were to keep your sand relatively clean. If you vacuum it, will there be enough for them to eat?

Hey!

I have a Diamond Goby which sands the top layer pretty good. I still clean my sand once a month or so because I have noticed it is still brown. Best way to try it out is to simply gravel vac your sand and see what you can pull out. Its pretty fun taking junk out of the sand.