I'm new ( 1 yr ) as a reefer so I've been watching and learning anything and everything I can about tank cleaning and maintinance. After several videos, articles and trials I think I have found the best way to clean my tank. ( Please feel free to contribute with your tricks ) 1. SAND BED: I used to think I needed to clean every inch of my sand bed spic n span so I would vacume and suck etc till I couldn't eat anymore junk up. Some say leave it alone and some say vacume once a week etc. my sand bed is only 1"-3" depending on area. I stopped vacuuming and simply stir up the sand slow by moving a glass rod through the sand back and fourth allowing junk to free flow into overflow. For the hard to reach spots I'll simply give the sand a good squirt with a turkey baister to get around rocks n stuff. Using this method I feel I leave the vital culture that helps break down the unwanted filtration left in the sand while getting rid of the heavier dooty. ROCK: Live rock is very porous and holds many necessary creatures that help filter out our tank water. It's like a hard sponge msg we've never seen. I used to clean my rock with a tooth brush thinking I was cleaning off the hard to get stuff but lately I have just been blowing it off with again my turkey baister. With every squirt I blow out dust and dirt from each rock like Swiss cheese. Even after a week my tank is clouded with flakes of junk hidden in every crevice. Hard to believe my lps and fish can tolerate such debris. To look at my tank it's clean and comfy, but when you really start stiring things up you see that it's not. No matter how much I clean it. It's all gotta go somewhere, if I can't see it I have a hard time believing it's happening. I read a lot about sand bed ecosystems etc and I'm sure with time to some degree we do have little helpers in there. By stiring up my sand I feel I'm leaving what's important and eliminating what's not. Feed back please !!! I guess the important part is being consistent and effective without interrupting life in tankville. As I mature I'm finding my stride being simpler is better. I used to complicate everything , test to much, water change way to much, move this, change that. My tank must have thought I washed my hands in there. Now days I can pretty much tell by looking what's going on. Test my major stuff few times a week, adjust as needed. Keep my water changes consistent and my equipment tuned in. Enjoy, enjoy enjoy. I'm still learning here so anything you can share that helps I'm all ears.