Disturbing shallow sand bed questions

[cheucklate]

Greetings, currently I've been stirring up my 3/4 inch crushed coral sand bed and blowing the rocks with a turkey baster every few days. I always see detritus kick up (at least I think it is detritus). My question is, is this doing more harm than good or should I keep at it. I understand some micro-organisms live in the sand am I essentially killing them every time? Originally I was doing this to avoid long term problems like old tank syndrome. Thoughts? Thanks.

 

[Xxero]

My first thought is that crushed coral is really bad about trapping detritus. I would probably vacuum/tumble the bed during water changes instead of stirring things around. Stirring it all about can also create nitrate spikes, I believe. GL! :bigeyes:

 

[ca1ore]

At 3/4" you're not likely to run into any anaerobic problems, and any detritus released should be quickly processed by the filtration system. I'd actually think it's probably coral dust more than detritus.

 

[Sk8r]

Run a filter sock after you've kicked it up.