Vacumming Sand

[GrowingGills]

I was talking to some guys at the local pet store and they were telling me to vaccum my sand regularly. I haven't heard of doing this previously and was under the impression that you should never disturb your sand bed. I dont want to try it until I can get some feedback on doing this. I have a 10 gallon nano reef. Can anyone make some recommendations for me. Thank you!

[Jordan55]

Don't vaccum the sand bed. It gets rid of all your nutrients in there. If you disturb it, it may also be able to cause a small cycle when it is mixed up.

There are a few inverts that keep your sandbed clean without disturbing it though. A fighting conch, sand sifting starfish, nassarius snail, and sand sifting gobies (not an invert obviously).

Your best bet in a 10 gallon would to be to get a few nassarius snails. Maybe get 3-5 or so and see how they do. They keep the sandbed clean of uneaten food and some algae. They do not disturb the nutrients below, which is good.

Good luck.

[GrowingGills]

Thats what I was thinking, thats for the clarification.

[James11]

I have a 10 gallon, not a good idea to do that. Pick up a cheap turkey baster, its the best way to suck up detrius off the rocks and the sand bed, this way you can pinpoint small locations and you don't disturb the sand bed. Best 1.00 I ever spent.

[MaineMarine]

I was at a reef shop in Rochester NY last summer. They vacume the sand in all their tanks and they look awesome. I have a 10gal with no sand (bare bottom). You would not believe the wast that one fish drops over the course of a week. I vacume the bottom every week and the tank is cranking. LPS,SPS and several softs all growing well over the last 6 months.

[mr pink floyd]

in my 29, i vacuum the sand every month or so, or when i get some diatoms

i recently had what i think was a turbo die (getting rid of them now) so i got a nice diatom bloom, and the phosphates and nitrates browned out my digi a little bit, crap

i vacuumed the sand, let it settle, put the gallon or so back in, let the sand dry on a paper towel, put it back in overnight, so far its all clean!

[Jordan55]

Well if you don't want to keep all the critters or nutrients in your sand bed, go for it.

[Steven0000]

yeah dont do it just get some nassirus snails
sand looks great and everything is fine

[Bluemorningwind]

Vacuuming will rid the system of excess detritus. A very good thing indeed.

I don't think there's any benefit gained by not vacuuming, unless you keep a DSB.

Vacuuming is good practice it most cases.

All the best with it.

[mr pink floyd]

i only take the very top layer, i hold the tub abotu an inch off the surface so it only sucks whats on top!

just throw the snails back in, its easy to find then in a pound of southdown

[MattG]

If you have a shallow sand bed it is IMO a good idea to siphon it regularly. It doesnt make much sense to me to leave detritus and other crud in the tank when it can easily be exported by siphoning.

[RFC]

I spot vacuum the top layer of my sand...approx .5 inch. Keeps everything looking clean. I also run a fluval canaster with sponges, purigen and carbon. I have zero nitrates :)

Regards

RFC

[martinphillip03]

First post, would it matter if its a deep sand bed or just a couple of inches of sand?

Marty

[Jordan55]

It depends what you want to keep. It you want to keep all the nutrients in your tank that is living and thriving in a sand bed, don't vaccum it.

I have nassarius snails in my tank to keep it clean. And if you have detritus or excess algae on your sand, you should look into it because that usually isn't a good thing.

I have never vaccumed my sand and have been keeping tanks for over 2.5 years now--no problems at all.

However, if you find vaccuming is better, be my guest.

[Bluemorningwind]

What nutrients are you talking about, Jordan55?



Detritus is unavoidable. It must be removed manually.

DSBs promote the idea of a type of chain that relies on creatures in the bed consuming the detritus and such. Also, anoxic nitrification takes place in a DSB. However, the idea relies on not disturbing the bed to protect the fauna and to not disturb the anoxic areas. It probably isn't sustainable as the bed soon reaches a saturation point.

The DSB system has confused many people. If you aren't running a DSB, then vacuum.