Sand Bed

[SI-Reef]

I just setup my new BioCube and placed 20Lbs of live rock and about ? inch of live sand.
Once the whole cycle process is complete, and I start stocking my tank with some corals and a few fish, during water changes should I stir up the sand bed or never move it around.
What are most of you doing regarding the sand bed?

 

[cmantis]

You don't want to stir it up. If you ever have to you should use something to rake it in small sections all in the same direction.

 

[SI-Reef]

Sorry I'm new at this, why shouldn't I stir it up

 

[cmantis]

It will 'poison' the water basically when the sand becomes 'live' it will start to filter and break down the bad stuff in the water if you stir it up you release that back into the water column. If you want you can siphon the top of it when doing water changes or get some snails or starfish and they will lightly sift it for you.

 

[homegrowncichlid]

People usually get sand shifting creatures to do the work, like hermit crabs, burrowing snails, etc. I have a couple of horse shoe crabs I caught at jones beach, and they are cool.

 

[MikeC]

O boy the experts are out now.

Read my signature and use Google

 

[viplok]

sandbed sucks!

 

[Cu455]

I don't stir my sand bed during water changes, but I stir my sand bed to get a free meal for my tank.

 

[Moneymaks24]

If u don't like algae and detritus vacuum the sand every WC. I used to not touch it and it just traps all the waste inside unless you have a ridiculous clean up crew I would stir that sand I heard it won't kill any or too much beneficial bacteria. My 2 cents ( I'm no expert just my experience for last year in the hobby. Btw I have a mix of live and mini flakes sand 3".

 

[Will]

I use a gravel cleaner on the end of a hose and clean my 1" sand bed during every water change. I just pinch the hose to slow down the siphon so as not to loose much or any sand. You should see the crap that comes out of the sand it in one week. If you had a deep sand bed (4" or more ) you may not want to disturb that.

 

[dacaptain78]

Since you only have about an inch of sand i would suggest stirring the sand with every water change, or at least some sections of your sand. While its true that in some situations, sand that has not been disturbed in quite a long time or a deep sand bed application, stirring the sand bed could release trapped nitrates/sulfur that can harm your animals. In your case this doesn't really apply since the sand is new and not deep. Stirring IMO would benefit your tank in the long run.

This video has some good tips on tank cleaning practices and discusses stirring the sand bed.

http://youtu.be/q_3w9UvYIek

 

[basiab]

Now that you have heard opposite positions from hobbyists I would suggest you read what the experts say.

 

[troywalkerphoto]

Shaken not stirred or is it stirred and not.... Here's the thing if you don't have a great cleanup crew and you have an excellent filtration system I would say stir gently. If its less than 2 to four inches in your setup it not going to hold that much stuff so you will be insuring that there are no dead spots. The other would be to syphon the sandbed and this is best! It removes some of the worst gunk in the mid and top layers and it kills two birds with on stone. Export or excess nutrients and a water change to boot!
Go for it!

 

[vio]

Now that you have heard opposite positions from hobbyists I would suggest you read what the experts say.

Can u name one ?
If, u got 4 fish (Not 4" Tangs) and 10 corals on 150 Gal. tank . Yes, sand welcome.
If u got 100 frags ( or many corals) Sand is the biggest problem, in my opinion. Vio.

 

[SI-Reef]

From some research and the input everyone provided, I'm going with cleaning the sand bed during water changes I picked up a Aqueon Siphon Vacuum Gravel Cleaner off of Amazon along with Red Sea Coral pro salt