sand bed cleaning?

[codereef]

I enjoy the look of clean sand beds that seem to light up the whole tank. During water changes is syphoning the sand bed good or bad? Please help! Thanks....

 

[mixed_reefer]

Siphon a shallow bed that is there for looks but deep sand beds are there for filtration and they need not be siphoned.

 

[918ReefCpl]

got a 3" bed and usually syphon the top 1" to just clean up the debris thats in it - dont disturb the bottom layers....get that coating of red algae cleaned up when we go to change the water.

 

[Aquarist007]

take a turkey baster and lightly baste the sand and reef rock once a week. This will get dissolved organics etc back up into the water column where they can be filtered off