gothicgirl
New member
doesn't a coating get on it?
do you stir up the sand?
- Thread starter gothicgirl
- Start date
Not if you have an adequate clean-up crew. My pistol shrimp, ceriths and tongan nassarius snails keep my sand bed stirred.
Aquarist007
New member
Once a week I use a turkey baster to "lightly" baste the surface of the sand bed and all the reef rock. This gets detrius and organics back up into the water column where they can be filtered off.
You should also have a power head directed so there is flow across the substrate--just enough so you don't get a sand storm.
You don't want to stir the sand bed too deeply as the anoxic bacteria---the ones that finally break down the nitrates to nitrogen gas--live in there---they can't survive in an oxygen based environment.
You should also have a power head directed so there is flow across the substrate--just enough so you don't get a sand storm.
You don't want to stir the sand bed too deeply as the anoxic bacteria---the ones that finally break down the nitrates to nitrogen gas--live in there---they can't survive in an oxygen based environment.
shaginwagon13
Chartered Accountant
Get a diamond goby. I have one in my large tank and all he does all day is stir every inch of my sandbed
atwinparadox2
New member
+1 on the diamond goby, he will clean your sand bed like you wouldn't believe. With a sand sifting goby and a good cleanup crew you won't need to stir your sand, it will be clean.
No!!!!
Not if you have a DSB. It takes weeks for a DSB to develop the desirable zones that convert nitrate to harmless nitrogen gas. Mechanical agitation of the bed destroys that environment. If it is a shallow bed, then stir away, but for a DSB let the sand shifters do their job and avoid moving more than the top quarter inch.
Yes, there is a coating of bacteria on the sand but they are breaking down harmful waste and help keeping the water clean.
Not if you have a DSB. It takes weeks for a DSB to develop the desirable zones that convert nitrate to harmless nitrogen gas. Mechanical agitation of the bed destroys that environment. If it is a shallow bed, then stir away, but for a DSB let the sand shifters do their job and avoid moving more than the top quarter inch.
Yes, there is a coating of bacteria on the sand but they are breaking down harmful waste and help keeping the water clean.
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A single goby in a tank that large won't bother the bed. Otherwise just let the DSB "do its thing".
gothicgirl
New member
okay, i'm just trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong.
Uncle Salty 05
New member
You can stir a sand bed of any depth as long as you don't stir too much all at once.
Just stir 1/3 or less at a time and wait 2 weeks between stirrings.
If you just let a sand bed sit there it will eventually fill with detritus and give you problems.
Just stir 1/3 or less at a time and wait 2 weeks between stirrings.
If you just let a sand bed sit there it will eventually fill with detritus and give you problems.
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Uncle Salty 05
New member
3-4" is good, anything deeper is overkill IMO.
