If you don't do this will it CRASH your tank?

[slayerhellfire]

barebottom no worries about that non sense !

 

[Passedyouby]

Ive always wanted to run PVC with small holes drilled every 1/8in thoughout a DSB connected to my manifold. Hope was that by keeping a small flow if water entering the tank from the bottom the sand would never have the ability to build up trash, and hopefully the upflow would keep detritus suspended a little longer, increasing the chance of my overflow catching it.

Anyone try this?

 

[Scott (Mack) McIntosh]

Member @Shooter6 is our inspiration for the QOTD with his question about sand beds and keeping them vacuumed!

Many reefers have sand in their reef tank. Some would be considered "deep" sand beds while others just sand beds. But could what we do or don't do have a direct effect on the longevity or our reef tank when it comes to the sand bed and more specifically keeping it clean? How do you keep a sand bed clean? Vacuum it, replace it, add critters that will help keep it clean etc. So let me ask you this.

Do you think that NOT keeping your sand bed clean will eventually result in a complete tank crash at some point? Why or why not?


Beautiful reef photo via @JohnnyTabasco

 

[Scott (Mack) McIntosh]

I have never vacuumed my sand bed in over 45 years. One of the things that makes my sand bed alive is when water is returned from my sump etc. it returns from the bottom of the sand bed up thru the sand with clean, filtered, heated or chilled, water. UVed also....so the things that live in my sand bed are doing their thing making the sand bed alive. Works for me.

 

[SeaDweller]

Yea that was me. I sadly lost that fish during a long power outage. It also gave me issues with dropping sand on my acans and fungia which made them mad. I now vacuum the sand bed when I do water changes once or twice a quarter. Thanks for the compliments though! That gold head goby was a pro at keeping that sand clean!

its so annoying though!

 

[H3rm1tCr@b]

I just kinda ignore my sand, it seems fine considering I have a yellow watchman goby and pistol shrimp. I actually want a little more for some more sand bed creatures like mass arias snails. In an undisturbed córner there is probably around two and a half inches. It’s filled with tunnels and little worms.

 

[gopherknoll]

We don't really clean the sand bed - some light cleaning of the front area on occasion during a water change, but mostly we try to keep cucumbers, starfish, nassarius snails, jawfish, etc. that work the sand and help keep it from getting too tacky. The current tank is over 20 years old and still doing fine.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Lots of tanks where the sand is cleaned religiously (or where they've simply thrown out the sand altogether) and then there are lots of tanks where the sand bed is allowed to just do its thing. I'm not sure there's a right answer here...

 

[revhtree]

Actually not a bad idea.

You can try but since I own the forum the software won’t allow you too.

Plus....I’m only trying to foster some good conversation for us all to learn from and it seems that it’s working.

 

[CherBear811]

Deep sand beds aren't supposed to be disturbed; that's how they work. Shallow sand beds aren't a problem if you have critters that consume detritus and churn through it. I've had a nasarius snail in my nano that I only see a couple of times a year, but there he is doing his thing. Spaghetti worms if you get them are also awesome as are bristle worms (but I swell up horribly when I get stung so I get rid of them), cucumbers (but they can easily wipe out a tank when they die so I don't keep them), and certain shrimp, crabs and fish. Also a light dusting of the bed occasionally with a powerhead to simulate how the ocean floor is churned up during storms isn't bad for getting detritus filtered out, etc. Again, LIGHT dusting. Lol... I vacuum once a year or so, which accounts for one of the times per year that I see the nasarius. Lol

 

[Jeanet Lopez]

i have a deep sand bed of 1970 s coral sand which is much corser and has bits of coral and shells in it, which has been in my present tank for 12 ish years now , it has never been cleaned, hoovered, vacuumed or stirred and the tank is very healthy, what i do have though is lots of very small worms ,like hairs, that live in it, im suer thats what keeps things balanced.
If you run things the natural way the tank builds its own biosphere

I have those "hair" worms too! What are they and I have no idea how they got there! They are fun to watch though

 

[brandon429]

in my opinion, the proponents of hands-off sandbedding killed this reef. just about everyone who has a sandbed supposedly reducing waste is like this tank was before the move.

The sinked in waste in the sand and rocks + the partial upwell during the move = loss


stored up detritus is bad and costly in an oligotrophic system, it turns it into a eutrophic system and everyone hates that zone of a reef.

Relocated tank

we have been studying this particular condition Dan since 2015 above it is prevented by cleaning deeper than we have ever been permitted to clean right when your reef is taken apart for the move; ironically that's the only safe way to deal with stored up nutrients, by a form of reef aquarium...

www.reef2reef.com

the hands off old school sandbed has stratified waste that works like a nutrient bomb when you mix it up for one reason or another.