Clean Sand: Is it sustainable and how much care does it take?

[Fishurama]

I guess if I have lots of corals on sandbed, this fish is not for me? What other sand shifting fish would you recommend?

If they are on the sand bed, this wouldn't be the greatest fish for you unless you mind digging them up every now and then LOL.
Sand sifting starfish, fighting conchs do well, zombie snails(nassarius snail), hermit crabs, sea cucumbers, etc. are other options.

With pretty much any fish you will have a chance they can bury corals, snails are the safest route, but not the fastest cleaners compared to say the goby or starfish

 

[kaceyo]

I think clean sand beds can be sustainable with the right sand cleaning/sifting crew and a small amount of work. With sand sifting starfish you can keep it too clean for other sand inhabitants to get enough to eat. Add some effort on the part of the owner/caretaker to stir it up around rocks and places where "stuff" tends to settle and you have a sustainable sand bed.

 

[Kearneyc77]

I’ve had sand since I started. 6 years...recently fighting a Dino battle and lost some. Plan on replacing as soon as dinos gone. I had a YWG and a Pistol shrimp who always moved sand in various places under my rock wheee I could never reach. Snails and standard CUC did the rest. Occasional stir up of bed when I cleaned. But not much to it.

 

[cloak]

I use gravel and a reverse undergravel filter so I don't get anything on it but I do use a cucumber for a clean up crew so maybe that helps.

Wow! Does anybody take this guy seriously anymore? Sorry, but IMO he just makes it up as he goes along. What an EGO on this guy.

 

[fishybizzness]

I as well as many other people take Paul B for what he is. An honest straightforward kinda guy. His wit and great stories are very much appreciated In these trying times. I appreciate him!

 

[hikermike]

For those who've had various sand sifting gobies die after getting skinny after 5 months. They need small sand and apparently will choke on larger pieces. happened to me a couple of times. My engineer gobbies are a couple of years old and they do fine b ut they only push sand around their own territory (which does stay white) but then each day my rockscape is different. The sandsifters actually move the sand thru their gills to remove food and if there is no food...

 

[2BeAlive]

Key for mine was not to stock (to many) predators (fish and other) that eats the microfaunain the sand and to keep them out of the refugium so that the display tank's sand can be restocked.

Also did not clean it, but had lots of flow.

 

[Katrina71]

Pristine sand is overrated, but a diverse CUC is the way to go!

 

[chadg]

That is exactly why. I did an experiment with my seahorse tank where I would let the nitrates fall below 5 for a week at a time and then run it back up to between 5 and 10 ppm. I did this five or six times and without fail, as soon as nitrates dropped below 5 the cyano started to grow. As soon as nitrates rose above 5 it would fade away over a few days.

I'm going to try and keep them between 5-10 and see how that goes. I think it is getting better as I have been dosing Vibrant for 9 weeks now also. Not sure where to keep the PO4 at, thinking .03-.08? That is based on a lot of different things I see here.

 

[chadg]

Good day
I'm Danny and I'm new to marine
I need some advice that I'm having problems, I have a 34 Gallon marine Aquarium for about a year now.And recently I discovered that my sand bed is red/brown color,After I rinsed my sand bed for about more than 7 times and placed it back in. The sand bed was clear and clean for only a month.
I have 2 Nassarius snails,2 clown fish,3 BTA's,2 hermit crabs and a mono angel in the aqaurium.
I did my research and discovered that I might have Cyano Bacteria, But I can't come to the problem/Cause that how and why did I get this Cyano.
My aquarium lights are on from 6 a.m till 9 p.m (could the light be the cause?)
I feed my fish every 2nd Day and bta's once a week.

Please feel free to point out other problems if you see them,don't be to harsh on me.
thanks guys

That seems like a lot of time on the lights. Why so early in the AM? Seems like the general guideline is 8-12 hrs. I've seen many do 12hrs with a 2hr ramp up/down. That is about what I do. I'd also look into Dr. Tim's, Vibrant or some other bacteria dosing. I think it is working for me, a little early to tell. Also, why only feed the fish every two days? I like to eat every day...

 

[fredk]

I'm going to try and keep them between 5-10 and see how that goes. I think it is getting better as I have been dosing Vibrant for 9 weeks now also. Not sure where to keep the PO4 at, thinking .03-.08? That is based on a lot of different things I see here.

I just realized that my first post was incomplete. My tank also had macro algae in that tank, so at over 5ppm nitrate, the macros grew and the cyano did not. At below 5ppm it was the other way around.

 

[H3rm1tCr@b]

Honestly, I could use a bit of detritus in the sandbed at the moment. I think it's fine to have dirty sand, as it provides food for bristle worms and the other benthic micro fauna living in it. I guess you could have uber clean sand, but I'm guessing it makes it so that your tank isn't as healthy considering the fact that the sand is part of the biological filtration.

 

[sghera64]

I would love to see a photo or two of this apparatus. Sounds interesting!

Sorry, it took me so long to reply. I'll attach a few photos and a link to a video of the device in action.

Video Link:

- - Clean sand. . .happy reefer

 

[DeniseAndy]

Do you find it works better than the vacuums like that for sale? I am never quite satisfied with suction.

 

[schuby]

@WendyLady Diatoms are usually caused by excess Silicate. You might try buying a test kit and checking your Ro/Di. Take away Silicate and the diatoms go away (only to come back if Silicate goes up). One more thing, I believe that sponges naturally consume Silicate.

 

[BAUCE]

I think it depends upon the sand's grain size. I use CaribSea's 'live sand' that has a tiny size (sugar sand.) This prevents larger detritus particles from migrating far into the sand bed. Tiger conchs, bristle worms, and spaghetti worms work the sand bed, which is perhaps an inch or so deep. I can stir the sand and see very little detritus. The tank is a little over one year old. So far, so good.

I used that stuff in a reef tank I had set up for a few years and it stayed immaculate. I had a ton of flow as well so I was always raking it back where it was. I havent had a tank that stable since.

 

[garyfri]

I assume you do not want to vacuum the sand if you got a goby. I got a twin spot goby and quit vacuum my sand. Dont want to take away any food.

 

[sghera64]

Do you find it works better than the vacuums like that for sale? I am never quite satisfied with suction.

It depends on what "better" means for you. Regarding suction, that is a matter of how high your tank water is above the water in your collection bucket and the length and diameter of the tubing you use. I use 10 feet of 3/8-inch inner diameter tubing.

For my needs, I like the pop bottle method over my 30 year old siphon tube which is about 2" diameter but only 12 inches long. it is too narrow and short to separate my fine sand from the silt. The pop bottle can vacuum a lot more sand in a single plunge and does better at separating my sand from silt. It is probably not as good at removing silt as the 2-inch diameter tubes, but it leaves a lot more of my sand behind, which is what I need it to do. It does seem I can vacuum my whole 135 gallon DT is much less time and I can do it by pulling out not more than 4 gallons. I can always pull out more if I want a bigger water change.

 

[Reeferstin]

Today let's talk about a subject that has never been touched on in the aquarium hobby. Clean sand! HA!

If you're like me you love the look of sand in your aquarium. Clean sand, not dirty sand! If you have sand or have had sand you know that it can get dirty pretty quick and at times seems like an impossible task to always keep it clean. Can it stay clean with minimal maintenance? Can it be sustained? I know there have been times when I didn't touch my sand bed and it stayed very clean for long periods of times and then BAM it went down the drain and it became seemingly impossible to keep clean again. Let's talk about that today!

1. Is having a consistent clean sand bed something that is sustainable?

2. How do you keep your sand bed clean? What does your maintenance look like?

3. Any tips and tricks to keeping your sand clean?


Beautiful reef photo via @JohnnyTabasco

I use my acrylic rod and stir it up rather often this keeps it clean, it gets very very mixed up before a water change to keep it clean