To Vacuum or Not to Vacuum?

[freddie40]

So, my tank has been set up for 6 years. I originally set it up with crushed coral. Should I be vacuuming the crushed coral? If yes, how often?

Dave

 

[artful-dodger]

6 years sounds like whatever you're doing is right :jester:

I have one tank with a very coarse arognite and I vacuum it every water change. The gunk comes out just like in my one remaining fw with undergravel filters. (I actually wish I hadn't used fine sand in my FOWLR tank for that very reason...they're kinda messy and cleaning up after them would be a whole lot easier with a gravel tube.)

A lot of debris can get stuck down in between those large chunks of substrate--no good can come from it decomposing.

If you are worried about worms and other friendly sand-dwellers, I'd suggest vacuuming only part of the substrate each time. That would give the remaining fellow time to spread the population out before the next go-round.

 

[makolonj]

I agree. Give it a try and you'll be surprised with the amount of junk that comes out of your sand. I vacuum perhaps every sixth water change and I always notice my corals appear more full and healthier the next day. If you haven't done it in six years, I'd only do a small section at once for fear of releasing too much junk at once into the water column.

 

[murfman]

take a small power head and use it to blow off the detritus from the rock work. Let it get sucked out by the overflow and skimmer. I would not disturb the sand bed, especially if you have a DSB as you can release toxins into the water column.