sandbed

[pennylynn2]

Hi
Do you guys vaccum the top of your sandbeds with water changes or leave it alone?I have almost come to believe it is better NOT to vaccum,but just leave it alone.Opinions?
Thanks,Becky

 

[natan]

Not a horse tank here, but counches are nature's vaccum cleaners. i leave the job to them in my 10G nano.

 

[Seeker1]

Hey yes you want to siphion your sand bed to keep it clean even if you have sand sifters in the tank

 

[namxas]

it depends on what type of substrate you have. if you have crushed coral, then yes, do siphon it as the large grains trap detritus.

if you run finer sand, the simply siphon the top surface to clean it off if needed, but don't work below the surface. you really don't want to disturb this type of substrate if you can help it.

as mentioned, a couple of fighting conchs will work well as well as Nassarius and Cerith snails. the Nassarius are great for cleaning up leftover food and detritus and do aerate the sandbed.

 

[SaylorsReef]

I don't siphon my sand beds. My Nassarius clean it really well.

 

[small alien]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15274976#post15274976 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Seeker1
Hey yes you want to siphion your sand bed to keep it clean even if you have sand sifters in the tank

Can you support that with some info?

 

[viethunny1]

how many nassarius snails/ fighting conchs to what size tank?
what i'm really trying to ask is how many of those suckers do i need for my 47 gal?

 

[namxas]

4-6 Nassarius, maybe 1 conch (depending on open substrate).

remember, fighting conchs cannot climb, and can only eat as far as their proboscis can reach.

 

[BonesCJ]

I'll have to disagree about the fighting conchs not climbing, since I see mine climb right up to the waters surface in my system.