Clean and Sift Sand in Aquarium.

[Corymindel]

Hello! I have a Coralife Biocube 32. It is 4 months old. I regret setting it up with such a rocky substrate. Does anyone see a reason why I cant remove all the rocks, corals and fish to sift the large pebbles out of my sand?

 

[tbrown]

You shouldn't have to remove the rocks. Sift through the stuff not under the rocks?

You can always move the corals off to one side, sift half of the front and then move the corals to that half and sift the other half.

If you want to remove the rocks and sift all of the sand, you can.

You can take a bucket and add water to cover the corals/rock and even use that time as an opportunity for a water change as well.

 

[Corymindel]

I am having trouble finding the right tool to dig around the rocks. I tried using a small slotted spoon but it was too awkward. That is why I am considering removing the rocks.

 

[Chessmanmark]

There are animals that can maintain your sand bed for you. Nassarius snails or a sand sifting goby are two that do a great job.

 

[Corymindel]

My cuc is part of the problem, they are slowly bringing all the large pebbles to the surface

 

[RobertK]

I've used something similar to this to remove the larger chunks from the sandbed. They are used for deep frying. This is not the exact one I used, they come with different mesh sizes, some are square and some are round (mine was square with a smaller mesh, but I had pretty fine-grained sand). I bent the handle 90 degrees so I could drop it down in the tank.

 

[Corymindel]

I guess my main question is: Will sifting the substrate and moving the rocks release anything that could crash my tank?

 

[Subsea]

Hello! I have a Coralife Biocube 32. It is 4 months old. I regret setting it up with such a rocky substrate. Does anyone see a reason why I cant remove all the rocks, corals and fish to sift the large pebbles out of my sand?

Cory,
At 4 months setup, your tank looks stunning. Very nice.

Not sure that I understand your problem.

“Will sifting the substrate and moving the rocks release anything that could crash my tank?”

Not likely in that new sandbed.

“Does anyone see a reason why I cant remove all the rocks, corals and fish to sift the large pebbles out of my sand?

Unnecessary work. It will most likely generate a mini cycle.

Your tank, your time management.

 

[Corymindel]

Thanks! This isn't my first tank, but it is my first salwater tank. I have taken a lot of pride in this one and it looks even cooler from when that picture was taken. As my tank grows, I am realizing that I picked the wrong type of sand. Originally in the beginning it was way more sandy and less rocky. Now as my crabs and Nerites do their thing, they are churning a lot more rocks and pebbles to the surface. I am trying to eliminate them out of the substrate so it looks cleaner and sandier. As I try to navigate around my rocks and corals to sift the pebbles out, I think I am causing more of a disturbance than I would if I took everything out, sifted and reassembled my rock/corals. My concern is if it could have any negative affects on the tank, water or filtration. Also can I leave the fish in while I am doing it? Will the floating particles hurt them? Attached is a close up picture of the sand.

 

[BriDroid]

Thanks! This isn't my first tank, but it is my first salwater tank. I have taken a lot of pride in this one and it looks even cooler from when that picture was taken. As my tank grows, I am realizing that I picked the wrong type of sand. Originally in the beginning it was way more sandy and less rocky. Now as my crabs and Nerites do their thing, they are churning a lot more rocks and pebbles to the surface. I am trying to eliminate them out of the substrate so it looks cleaner and sandier. As I try to navigate around my rocks and corals to sift the pebbles out, I think I am causing more of a disturbance than I would if I took everything out, sifted and reassembled my rock/corals. My concern is if it could have any negative affects on the tank, water or filtration. Also can I leave the fish in while I am doing it? Will the floating particles hurt them? Attached is a close up picture of the sand.

I have a similar issue in my nano. Did you use the Ocean Direct sand? The big chunks tend to move towards the surface. I just remove them when they start to pile up. I don’t dig down in the sand, just remove what’s on the surface.

 

[mbuxton]

There are animals that can maintain your sand bed for you. Nassarius snails or a sand sifting goby are two that do a great job.

This was my approach. Lots of snails and the sand sifting goby is a machine. From what I understand, you do not want to go sifting around in the sand. Doing so definitely affects your parameters.

 

[Corymindel]

I used Carbsea sand. My other thought was to move all the rocky sand to the back of the tank and adding new sand to the front. Would this work?

 

[tbrown]

I used Carbsea sand. My other thought was to move all the rocky sand to the back of the tank and adding new sand to the front. Would this work?

It can work, yes. Anytime you stir the sand you do risk releasing nutrients. As mentioned above, you can potentially cause a second cycle.

I do similar to what @BriDroid does and just remove the piles as they start piling up.

 

[BriDroid]

I used Carbsea sand. My other thought was to move all the rocky sand to the back of the tank and adding new sand to the front. Would this work?

Maybe temorarly

It can work, yes. Anytime you stir the sand you do risk releasing nutrients. As mentioned above, you can potentially cause a second cycle.

I do similar to what @BriDroid does and just remove the piles as they start piling up.

Also, if you have any sand sifting inverts or fish, it will all get mixed up again eventually.

 

[Corymindel]

Maybe temorarly

Also, if you have any sand sifting inverts or fish, it will all get mixed up again eventually.

Thank you all for your input! I really appreciate this forum. I think I am going to move all my current sand to the back of the tank (or atleast as much as I can), then add the new sand to the front. Then over the next 4-6 water changes I am going to scoop out and remove partial loads from the hill I created in the back. I will follow up on this post with progress.

 

[BriDroid]

Thank you all for your input! I really appreciate this forum. I think I am going to move all my current sand to the back of the tank (or atleast as much as I can), then add the new sand to the front. Then over the next 4-6 water changes I am going to scoop out and remove partial loads from the hill I created in the back. I will follow up on this post with progress.

Take it slow since disturbing the sand bed will cloud the water and could throw off the bacteria causing some smaller cycles. With that in mind, you’ll probably be ok.

 

[Chessmanmark]

Take it slow since disturbing the sand bed will cloud the water and could throw off the bacteria causing some smaller cycles. With that in mind, you’ll probably be ok.

Yes, it is always risky messing with the sandbed. Perhaps the risk is lower with a newer tank, but still a risk.

One approach is to siphon out a little at a time. You will need a fatter siphon for bigger grains of sand, and as stated previously finer grains filter to the bottom while larger grains rise towards the top of the sand bed. Finer grains are harsher on corals that sit on the sand, especially with a sand sifting goby, while larger grains will make the sand bed a little more firm.

When I started oolitic sand was popular. You could buy bags of Southdown cheap at Home Depot. Hobbyist ran deep sand beds, but you see very few tanks like that today.