maintainence question-live sand

[ebosshard]

once a week I am "vacuuming" my live rock and a small tube. In the old days when I had a freshwater tank i would vacumm through the substrate/gravel as well.

With a reef tank do I do the same thing? See stuff growing in my live sand and wasn't sure if i am to vacuum through this stuff to clear out the detrius and take out the living stuff as well.

thanks!


220g tank
250lbs live rock
200lbs live sand

 

[Anonymous]

A very hot topic of late.

Personally, I don't vacuum my sand, but I do go at it with a powerhead from time to time and then filter the detritus in the water with filter socks on the overflows and a canister filter.

Some do vacuum their sandbeds, and they don't seem to have any problems.

 

[hillbilly]

I believe in lightly vaccuming the sandbed to remove excessive detritus before it can build up and cause problems. Righty does the same thing with a canister filter. As long as the excess is exported, that's the main thing. I feel that's where some people have run into trouble, buildup of detritus over time

 

[taikonaut]

If you have a sump with your setup, you can try to do this:

use your hand to fan enough current to kick up the detritus, but not strong enough to blow up the sand. The detritus will come down to the sump, and settle there. Vaccum the sump periodic if there is no sand bed.

 

[shr00m]

i do what taikonaut does, i also use this to clean my l/r, i do that, run a canister for about an hour or so to clean the det out of the water.