Are you suppose to Clean your Sand???

[Reliable1]

i recently had high phosphates and nitrates and was told that i needed to start CLeaning my sand at least once a month. They told me to syphon the sand with the thick tube sold at aquarium stores. Others have told me not to touch the sand that it will just stir the phosphates and nitrates into the water.

Would like to know if any of you out there do this, or have any opinions on this.

I have controled my water levels but would like to know for the future.

Thanks

 

[ZURCSREEF]

Who ever told you to siphon your sand in your reef aquarium is sadly mistaken. By doing that, you are pulling out some beneficial bacteria and organisms (copepods, zooplankton, etc.). Purchase some sand sifting starfish, nassasirus snails and other invertebrates. Phosphates/nitrates can be caused by many different things. The top reasons are 1.) Overfeeding, 2.) Not having a Protein skimmer 3.) Not having a refugium/ecosystem Number 3 isn't necessary, but it does help with nitrates and phosphates, as I will never setup another reef aquarium without having one. You might also want to check the water you are doing water changes with or topping off with as this can be a good source. Alot of fish stores, if thats where you are getting your water, sometimes neglect the need to change out filters, etc. So always check your water either before you bring it home or when you get home before putting it in your tank.

Hope this helps,
-Mike C.

 

[ek9vboi]

If your filter has a bio-wheel or any floss like filters, clean them either once a week or bi-weekly. I took mine out and threw in some liverock and rubble. Usually I clean the rocks and rubble every 2 weeks.

 

[Sk8r]

Read the thread in this forum regarding running with just a skimmer and sump---you don't filter, you don't clean sand, you don't mess with the little slice of nature you're trying to set up in your tank. Marine tanks at least have come a long different path from that which most freshwater folk still seem to be following, and what most fish stores are still selling. The people there are not necessarily ignorant about freshwater setups, but you cannot transfer that knowledge straight over to saltwater---and some try, with the best will in the world, but without a real understanding of salt systems. If you can find a fish store that is all reef, you will get better advice. Most all of us here learn by doing (and asking questions in time!) and we tend to yell whoa! wait! with fair energy when we hear a proposed course of action that may unleash really bad consequences in your tank.

 

[Reliable1]

what is the best test to test your RO water?

 

[Sk8r]

Reliable, a tds meter.

 

[Dactyl]

i stir up my sand and use a turkey baster to blow silt off my liverock before i do water changes. it works cuz its definitely having results. whats nice is with cerith snails you can stir them into the sand and they can unbury themselves so you dont have to worry about stirring them in accidently. cerith snails naturally bury themselves to weather storms, low tides, and turbulent weather and they reproduce like the plague. i may have to start giving away free ceriths with any frags i sell or trade. i also got this nylon rope i found in the ocean that had a bunch of life on it i put in my tank and now i have epic plague proportions of little shrimp that seem to keep my tank immaculate.

ive always been in favor of the more biodiversity in the tank the better and its worked for people i knew out in southern california. alot of times out there you get all sorts of freebies on coral and liverock because its coming straight from the indo-pacific and has alot of hitchhikers or there is plankton in the water it comes with. you can take advantage of the same thing here with the atlantic stuff. the biodiversity and competition in the south pacific reefs is much greater so south pacific corals can fend off atlantic pests more than atlantic corals can fend off pacific pests so your risk is alot less.

also like my friend yvonne who has a spectacular tank says, feed, feed, feed. slowly build your tank up to the point where it can eat more and more so your brittlestar populations and copepod populations explode. you dont find scarcity of food in the ocean.

you also dont find alot of deritus in sand beds near reefs. if you do youre in a turtle grass bed or lagoon and you dont find alot of corals in that.

 

[reefsahoy]

it depends on how much sand you have on the bottom of your tank. if it's a dsb and part of your biological filter then i agree Mike C, if it's just for looks and it not a dsb then i'd clean the sand.