WATER CHANGE

[Thomas E. Higgins]

I'm getting ready to do my first water change. I have watched a lot of video and in most they clean to sand with the end of the hose. with a cylinder attached. My son says I should not do that. My tank is 20 gal. and started two months ago. I don't know which to do. clean the sand or not. Appreciate your advice. Tom Higgins

 

[Crabs McJones]

I'm getting ready to do my first water change. I have watched a lot of video and in most they clean to sand with the end of the hose. with a cylinder attached. My son says I should not do that. My tank is 20 gal. and started two months ago. I don't know which to do. clean the sand or not. Appreciate your advice. Tom Higgins

Do you have alot of buildup or algae on your sandbed? If not then a simple water change will do

 

[Thomas E. Higgins]

Do you have alot of buildup or algae on your sandbed? If not then a simple water change will do

I have a bunch of crabs in my tank and they do a pretty good job of keeping it clean but I do have a bunch of junk. Like shells and small debris

 

[Crabs McJones]

I have a bunch of crabs in my tank and they do a pretty good job of keeping it clean but I do have a bunch of junk. Like shells and small debris

Being that it's only 2 months old, i'd leave it be for now. Algae cycles are a normal part of a tank maturing. For now i'd swap out water and call it a day

 

[theMeat]

Stir up sand bed, blow off rocks with a turkey baster and suck out that cloudy water. On a new tank not likely you have to directly clean the sand bed yet

Welcome to the hobby

 

[tank o tang]

I don't touch the sand but a good sized sand sifting clean up crew does it for me.

 

[reefwiser]

It’s always a good idea to clean the bottom of the tank. The mum from waste decay the clean up crew doesn’t touch. An with sand in the tank you really don’t see it. So many don’t clean the sand well. If you had a barebottom tank you would see how much actually builds up during the coarse of a week.

 

[Ento-Reefer]

I always siphon my sand bed at least once a month. You don’t need to do it with every water change depending on how much detritus has collected there.