Water change/sand sifting question

[Brandon0034]

Background: I cycled my rock separate from the tank for 8 weeks, then put it in the display with a 100% water change running it for another 2 weeks before adding a fish. I have had a fish in for two weeks now and did my first water change today(about 30%).

Question: How often do you siphon the sand bed to pull out detritus and other compounds? I siphoned the sand bed today and I was amazed with how milky the bed was within only 2 weeks of having a single fish. I also scrubbed off the hairline algae from the rock left over from my first bloom(yes I use ro/di). My entire tank turned cloudy and now I'm waiting for it to settle.

I'm thinking bi-weekly water changes of 15-20% and a monthly sand siphon. Is this too frequent on the sand? I have an issue with not doing anything to my tank. I'm fine leaving everything in place/not moving anything, but I'm OCD about every component being spotless.

 

[username in use]

I vacuum my sand every few water changes.

 

[Brandon0034]

I vacuum my sand every few water changes.

Is it milky in the siphon tube and does it cause your tank to cloud? I just want to make sure I'm doing this right and not inducing stress on the tank.

 

[mystikal]

i think the milky substance is just the sand being sand. Whenever I siphon the sand, I try to get a little sand each time and get the same cloudy/milky look your probably referring to.

I think your doing it fine, just probably do it once a month. The corals will usually be fine the next day, once the sand settles.