Never cleaned sand in 4 months - now what?

[nehsmit]

Hey all,

I have a 4 month old 24g tank with 30lbs LR and 20lbs LS. I was told not to shake up the sand as I would release anaerobic bacteria and it would be detrimental to my tank.

So now Im realizing I need to clean my sand. So what do I do? Will the agitation of the sand release nitrates and kill my fish/corals? How should I do it so as not to hurt my corals, fish, or cuc?

Also, how do you vacuum the sand under the LR? You cant possibly move around the aquascape everytime you want to gravel vac?

Thanks.

[jefft72]

A questions first:
-Are you having some sort of issue on the sand bed (cyanobacteria) that would be causing concern?

If you are not seeing any issues in the system then I would say let it ride. Your cuc is responsible for keeping the sand bed clean. I have not vacuumed a tank since I had a freshwater tank setup.

If you are having issues in the system that are causing concern and feel that detritus on the sand bed could be contributing, then I would recommend adding or modifying the flow in your tank so that detritus will suspend and flow down into the sump.

More information about your specific setup and possibly pictures might help in further analysis.

[sporto0]

I agree, if it's not broken, don't fix it. I do not clean my sand bed at all.

[nehsmit]

Some pics of what Im talking about:

http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z357/Nehsmit/4eba1ff2.jpg

http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z357/Nehsmit/ba7193b7.jpg

Close up:
http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z357/Nehsmit/9f677a71.jpg

[dnguyen1]

What kind of CUC do you have in your sandbed? Looks like you need more... nassarius, fighting conch?

[xCry0x]

Yea that is not a sand bed, that is crushed coral.

This is why you dont use crushed coral.

Dont know what people will recommend as far as cleaning but I am sure someone will tell you to remove the crushed coral and replace it with sand.

[nehsmit]

xcryox - can you explain? IF its not a sand bed---what should I do with it?

dnguyen1 - agreed. Think I definitely need more. Any recs? Also, buy online or LFS?

Thanks all.

[jefft72]

As far as clean up crew you can't beat nassarius snails. They burrow in the sand bed and come out when they smell food. Astrea snails are good as well, but I find that they stay on the glass primarily.

However, I am not sure if the course crushed coral bed that you are using will allow for the nassarius to burrow properly.

With regards to online v LFS.....that's your call, but if I can find a local store selling them I like to go that route. There are good packages to be had from online vendors (reef cleaners and reefs2Go come to mind).

[sporto0]

Yea that is not a sand bed, that is crushed coral.

This is why you dont use crushed coral.

Dont know what people will recommend as far as cleaning but I am sure someone will tell you to remove the crushed coral and replace it with sand.

+1 That is crushed coral, not sand & I would recommend replacing it with sand.

[pentrix2]

crushed corals are bad news, 3" sandbed all the way.

pistol shrimp with a watchman goby will keep your sandbed clean because they will constantly move your sandbed around.

Pen

[DownwardDawg]

I have a 4" deep sand bed and it looks a lot like that against the glass. (minus the crushed coral) My sand bed has been left untouched for >3years. I moved this summer, and disturbed the heck out of the sand because I took everything out of the tank except the sand. When I got it in the new house I started filling it back up and it was some kind of nasty! I just did some pretty big water changes >25% for a few days and kept testing the water. I didn't lose anything and the tank looks great again. This taught me that I don't have to completely leave the sand alone. I have started stirring the sand that's up against the glass when I do a water change. I did about 1/3 of it last week and next week I'll do another 1/3. I kill the pumps, stir the section I want to stir against the glass, then siphon all that mess up with the water I'm removing. 90% of my sand bed stays undisturbed and the sand against the glass looks great. It's a win win!!!

[Brando8719]

Hey guys,

I also have a similar question now that I have seen his pics. I'm using CaribSea Aragonite Reef Sand and my tank has been set up for about 4-5months. I've noticed in the last little while the purplish stuff forming pretty much in the same spot as his tank - up against the glass but it is never at the surface of the sand. It's usually 1/4''-1/2'' deep.

Does anyone know what this is? I've been really hoping it's not cyanobacteria and I've been keeping an eye on it to see if it touches the surface.. but it hasn't.

Thanks!

[Dazmguk]

The snails do burrow in to crushed coral, as I have the same. My Golden Headed Gobi also does a good job with the rest. Then again, I vacuum mine every two weeks.
I was given my set up, so I have no idea whats so bad about crushed coral? I'm guessing it holds the detritus more?

[xCry0x]

xcryox - can you explain? IF its not a sand bed---what should I do with it?

dnguyen1 - agreed. Think I definitely need more. Any recs? Also, buy online or LFS?

Thanks all.

Think of crushed coral as gravel. Would you call gravel the same as sand? Probably not.

Not sure what to tell you to do with it, someone with experience with crushed coral would have to answer that. I would imagine most people vacuum it on a regular basis. You dont need to worry about releasing anaerobic bacteria because 1)unless it is over 3" deep you wont have any 2) bacteria isnt the issue, its releasing all that crud into your water column at once that is the issue.

I would imagine if you started vacuuming it up and did a 30-40% water change while doing that you could get a lot of it out, make the crushed coral look pretty again and avoid killing everything (but that depends on how sensitive your live stock is).

[xCry0x]

....
I was given my set up, so I have no idea whats so bad about crushed coral? I'm guessing it holds the detritus more?

With a sand bed of sugar grain sand the detritus usually settles ontop of the sand and with good flow it gets blown back into the water column. With crushed coral it settles into all the cracks and works its way deep into the bed.

[Tin_Whistler]

+1 That is crushed coral, not sand & I would recommend replacing it with sand.+2, and the sooner you do it the better. As that stuff sits there it's going to pick up more and more waste, creating more and more ammonia for your tank to process.

A tank as young as yours (4 months) will likely have cyano/diatom/algae issues crop up occasionally. so the stuff you're getting now is to be somewhat expected. However with that crushed coral in there the problems won't ever go away.

[Dazmguk]

With my crushed coral, I have lots of these little red worm things (I think that's the technical term for them?) that live in it and I kill every time I vac; what are they and do they reside in sand also?

[aleonn]

Crushed coral traps a lot of detritus unfortunately. I used to have that substrate when I took over a tank. I slowly removed it out during each water change, and slowly added the CaribSea Aragonite Special Reef Grade sand. As the LFS said, it's best not to disturb any sand/substrate otherwise, so as not to disturb anaerobic areas and release toxic gases.

It sounds like you have bristleworms, which are a beneficial component to the clean up crew. If you have an abundance of them, however, it may point to high nutrient levels, and too much trapped detritus within the crushed coral.

[Sk8r]

Get true nassarius snails. about 1 per 20 gallons of system. They live under the sandbed and clean it quite nicely. My sandbed is 4 years old, as yet uncleaned except by them.