water change ??

[ReeferItIs2]

So how.many of you just vacuum just the top of your sand bed vs digging in the sand with the vaccuum??

 

[1kwksvt]

I do not vacuum the sand bed at all my fighting conch does my sand bed clean up. I also do not feed flakes and pellets to often I am really stingy with feeding which also keeps my cuc hard at work keeping everything clean

 

[ReeferItIs2]

Yea i really slack on my feedings also...i have 3 sand sifting nassarius snails (only thing my.mantis hasn't eaten lol) but I thought maybe siphoning out my sand bed might be a good idea...just got done doing some research and I think I'll leave it alone

 

[Reef Bass]

I find digging into my shallow sandbed important for long term goodness. For reals. Not only does it reduce clumping but I find cyano loves areas of sandbed which haven't been vacuumed recently. I vacuum a different quarter of the sandbed each time I water change.

 

[Dapg8gt]

^^ this.. Exactly my routine. I vac what I can get to at every water change. You would be surprised on the amount of crap that's in the sand bed. My tank is only 4 months old and there is a decent amount of crap removed every time.

 

[ReeferItIs2]

Thanks.maybe I'll try one section and see how it goes...The research I found was said leave it alone because of all the good stuff in the sand...but ill give it a try next wc

 

[cbrennan4]

I have really fine sand and never vacuum my sandbed. I have a lot of nassarius snails to stir it up for me. I also do a 10gal water change on my 90gal every week.

 

[ReeferItIs2]

Maybe i should get a couple more nassarius snails...i only have 3 in my 20g

 

[Dapg8gt]

Imo Nassarius snails aren't really much help for the sand as much as for dead animals and left over food..

Here's a good read on the believed benefits of cleaning your sand..
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2125242

The way I look at it is all the crud goes somewhere and mostly collects in the sand so I would rather remove What I can before it contributes negatively to my tank. There is a lot of tank crashing threads related to old sand beds (mostly dsb) but in my opinion it still relates to any tank regardless of how much sand is there..

Just my opinion though =)..

 

[Grant W]

I vac my shallow sand bed too. detritus will build up if not.

 

[coralfarmer]

I Gravel vac every time . I have fine sand and if any goes in the bucket I just put it back in the tank. Weekly water changes . "Dilution is the solution to pollution"-Anthony Calfo.

 

[ReeferItIs2]

Just did my water change for the week and I siphoned half of my sand...let me tell you my sand looks great like it did the first day I put it in there and the water in the bucket was brown...great advice everyone I'm glad I did it...let's just hope in the next couple days my parameters are still the same

 

[Ssteve]

I vacuumed ever water change also. I don't have any fish that rely on pods or anything just for that reason. A dirty sand bed ruins the whole look of the tank imo.