deep sand bed, sift sand or do not sift sand bed during water changes

[campos]

i have a 120 gallon reef tank and have always been under the impression to sift my sand bed while doing water changes. I see here that most people to not touch their sand bed. Any advise or suggestions. My filter system is just live rock, protein skimmer and a bunch of janitors

[Aqua Commander]

How deep is your sand bed? If it's more than 1.5" then it's probably better not to touch it.
Personally i don't like using sand at all. it seems to cause more problems than it's worth.

[campos]

sand bed is 3 to 4 inches.

[Palting]

3"-4" makes that a deep sand bed. Usual recommedation is to NOT stir a DSB, since it can release noxious substances from the anoxic deep layer.

[jprince]

Get some critters to do that for you. I would NOT disturb a DSB at all other than vacuuming detritus off the top when doing water changes.

[Absentmind8868]

+1 Do not stir

[KeMo]

Another vote for do not stir. Get snails to move the sand bedd around. Dont break those bubbles in the bedd let the snails do it.

[Floowid]

I have a 3 inch ish sand bed. I always vac the top layer of the sand during a water change. I think the key is consistency. I do a water change at the very least every 2 weeks, and the sand bed gets disturbed every time, so there is no chance of ever building up an anoxic zone. Either decide to clean the sand and stay with it, or leave it alone, but pick one and stick to it.

[Chris27]

With a deep sand bed, you want to avoid the chance of introducing oxygen into the lower levels of it, so in all reality it's not a good idea to siphon it.

On a side note, 3" - 4" may not be deep enough to be classified as a deep sand bed. Typically a deep bed needs to be 5-10" depending on the grain size of the sand. A finer sand requires less depth, while a courser sand needs to be very deep. The goal is to keep an area towards the bottom that is devoid of oxygen, this is where the anaerobic bacteria colonize and break down Nitrate to Nitrogen Gas.

[locust]

I have a 3 inch ish sand bed. I always vac the top layer of the sand during a water change. I think the key is consistency. I do a water change at the very least every 2 weeks, and the sand bed gets disturbed every time, so there is no chance of ever building up an anoxic zone. Either decide to clean the sand and stay with it, or leave it alone, but pick one and stick to it.


Agreed. Just remember that if you decide not to clean it, it will look disgusting.

[Tuscaquatics]

I don't think it's behaving as a true DSB at 3-4". If it were, you definitely don't want to stir it.

This is why it's difficult having the DSB in the tank.

[Aqua Commander]

nassarius vibex. let them do the stirring. a mixture of them and the smaller nassarius will do you well. bad thing is that you really can't tell how many you have since they're in the sand. ;)

[campos]

thanks guys. I added about 2 - 2 1/2 inches of live sand and am going to wait about a month before adding any more janitors.

[aleonn]

Agree that you shouldn't stir the sand bed. Sand-sifting fish and/or nassarius snails will adequately oxygenate/stir the sand.