sand vacuuming...

[Stanley-Reefer]

Out of curiosity, who regularly does their sand and who doesn't disturb it at all and why?

 

[elegance coral]

I vacuum mine almost every time I do a water change. I do it to remove fish poo. Every animal we keep in a cage, tank, or other enclosure, requires that we clean the poo off the bottom. My fish and corals deserve no less.

 

[greech]

I vacuum mine almost every time I do a water change. I do it to remove fish poo. Every animal we keep in a cage, tank, or other enclosure, requires that we clean the poo off the bottom. My fish and corals deserve no less.

^+1. I vac every week.

 

[Lynnmw1208]

I siphon mine every water change as well. Gets out all the fish poop and other debris that my CUC don't get a chance to get.

 

[snorvich]

Agreed. What does everyone use for this purpose?

 

[pmark]

Why do some people do WCs from the sump rather than the DT?

 

[greech]

Agreed. What does everyone use for this purpose?

I just use a standard siphon tube (similar to a python) and use one hand to crimp the tubing to control the vacuum. I basically suck up a tube worth of sand and then crimp the tube so that the sand just tumbles. The lighter detritus gets sucked all the way through and the sand falls back to the bottom.

Why do some people do WCs from the sump rather than the DT?

I believe the idea is that all the crud will settle in the lowest point of the system (sump). I have to clean my sump every couple of months but all other water changes happen in the DT for me.

 

[Dr. Fish]

I don't siphon my sand at all, I let my snails turn it over themselves.

 

[Stanley-Reefer]

Good to hear--thought I may be overdoing it...in my 90 my sand bed is much deeper 4-6" so I only go about a inch deep.....the sand in my 175 is only about 1-1.5" so I go to the bottom in it.

I use a syphon with the 45* angle on the end. If you hold it bevel up you can decide when to let the sand go.

Special grade in both tanks.:thumbsup:

 

[Lynnmw1208]

Agreed. What does everyone use for this purpose?

I use the python water change system. I close the ball valve a little so I don't suck up the sand though.

 

[small alien]

I have never syphoned my sand. I have 3-4 inches and it's totally knitted together with tube worm tubes, etc. I try to disturb it as little as possible. I assume it's stratified in a useful way in terms of nitrate processing as well. I have ceriths, a tiger tail cuke which has become two or three and about a half dozen hermits.

 

[oceanslayer18]

i never syphoned my sand i left a thin sand bed so my nitrates dont build up. in my last tank ni did and i alwasy had problems.

 

[Pylos]

I siphon mine every water change. I keep about 3 inches. I don't want to rely on snails and other critters to turn my sand and keep my detritus down. Getting my hands in there and scrubbing and siphoning is the best nutrient export there is.

 

[crvz]

I spend more energy siphoning any collected wastes in my sump, but if I do see something in the sand I will be quick to siphon that as well.