Sand bed

[yakfishin]

I have a 220 gallon aquarium that is about 15 years old now. For the past 5 years now, as some of my fish have died, I have not replaced them. I am now down to just a couple of very old fish left. My plan is to start switching over to just a predatory tank with an eel, lionfish and a Niger trigger.

My question concerns the sand bed. Except for surface cleaning, it has not been cleaned or disturbed in years. My water parameters are good, of course I have a very light fish load currently. My thought is that I should replace the sand bed, I know it has to be very gunky at the bottom. My plan is to replace it slowly, doing just one small section at a time along with a partial water changes.

Does this sound like a good plan for replacing the old sand bed? For a FOWLR tank, what type of sand is suggested? How deep? Some might reply back the bare bottom is best, but I like the look of the sand bed too much.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

A mature sand bed is a wonderful thing to have. Seems like a huge waste to get rid of it. You'd be throwing away trillions of beneficial bactria. If you're concerned about detritus buildup, consider adding detrivores, like worms, pods, serpent stars, and a sea cucumber. Indo Pacific Sea Farms (ipsf.com) has lots to offer.

Sandbeds don't have to be dead zones we keep only because they look better than bare bottoms. They can be vibrant, highly functioning foundations of the food web, wriggling with life and ready and willing to perform a very important role in our ecosystems-in-a-box.

 

[ThRoewer]

The tank with my bluespot jawfish has nothing but a deep sandbed (with a couple of buried real reef rocks) as "decoration" and for filtration. Aside from that there is only a pump for flow, nothing else really (I don't count the non-functional air operated skimmer here).
I feed those 3 knuckleheads really heavy and despite making water changes only every few months or so the tank is remarkably stable.
Though I don't know if I would ever again add a deep sandbed to a coral tank or any other tank without inhabitants that actually need it. If I would do that, I would do it in a connected tank to keep the sand accessible without to have to tear down the rockwork.

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