Do I still vacuum live sand???
- Thread starter Sub-Mariner
- Start date
Mine isn't "live sand"...its just normal sand mixed with crushed coral, but I do vacuum mine about every 5th wc or so. The sand doesn't come up but I do get white / grey dust. Its comes less and less when I do I just assumed it was still from origional set up considering I dont vacuum that often.
Chemical_Whore":3omw3kc1 said:
The idea of vacuuming the sand periodically is to keep detritus from building-up. If detritus stays in your tank, whether it's in the sand, the rockwork, filters, etc., it will break-down in the water column and contribute to water quality and nuisance algae problems.
I have a 54 gal. corner tank with 80 lbs. of aragonite live sand. I also have read a lot of conflicting info. on cleaning the sand periodically. My tank is 4 months old and I am getting a lot of the purple coralline algae on the glass, live rocks and now you can see this color on the bottom layers of the sand when looking at the tank from the front. I change 10 gals. of water monthly and I vaccumed the sand once so far. It is looking a little darker on the top now. I also need more info. on how to clean and the pros and cons of this. Will cleaning destroy the critters that live in the sandbed that aid in filtration? I have a sump (wet/dry with bioballs removed) in which I placed a bag of phos-zorb where the water trickles down and a small pad which I replace often. I also have a protein skimmer in there.
Some people say never to vac the sand bed, others say to do it regularly.
I really think this is down to a matter of what you think will work best for you and requires some research to see both sides of the issue before you make your own judgment about this.
Me, I chose to siphon collected detrius off the surface of my sand bed by hand. I occassionaly stir the very top layer to move sand into low areas of the bed, and the rest of the time, I leave it alone. My goal is purely to make the sand look nice and nothing else.
J.
I really think this is down to a matter of what you think will work best for you and requires some research to see both sides of the issue before you make your own judgment about this.
Me, I chose to siphon collected detrius off the surface of my sand bed by hand. I occassionaly stir the very top layer to move sand into low areas of the bed, and the rest of the time, I leave it alone. My goal is purely to make the sand look nice and nothing else.
J.
The issue seems to be that a sand bed can 'fill' with detritus over time, and if it hits capacity, it will start to re release nutrients into the water. Some say that with the right balance of infauna, that this won't happen, however, I have yet to see any data supporting this idea - lots of people say it, but I don't see supporting evidence. I do see evidence for the re release idea.
It doesn't matter if the bed is remote or not.
I would rather my fuge macros take nutrients out of the water, then out of sand.
'Cleaning' the bed prolly won't hurt any of the infauna, and certainly won't hurt the bacteria that aid in denitrification.
I am actually about to remove my sand bed completely. I have had two events where the sand bed got stirred up all the way to the bottom, and have lost coral due to those events. Since a sandbed isn't actually 'needed' I feel better not having the potential danger in my tank. YMMV!
It doesn't matter if the bed is remote or not.
I would rather my fuge macros take nutrients out of the water, then out of sand.
'Cleaning' the bed prolly won't hurt any of the infauna, and certainly won't hurt the bacteria that aid in denitrification.
I am actually about to remove my sand bed completely. I have had two events where the sand bed got stirred up all the way to the bottom, and have lost coral due to those events. Since a sandbed isn't actually 'needed' I feel better not having the potential danger in my tank. YMMV!
I would say crushed coral is awful because it more easily traps detritus, and the detritus is than harder to export. I am going to go BB for a while and then in 4-6 months add a faux sand bed (because I want the sand gone now, and in 4-6 months the tank has to come down for construction in the room that the tank is in. Removing the sand now will also make the second take down easier - and I get to play with circulation configurations before makeing a decision! :mrgreen
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