Keeping a sand bed clean question.

[m and m]

So ever since I have been in the hobby i have used T5's and been BB. Now that I’m in the process of getting a Sfiglio MH I want to venture into a sand bed. I’m going to get very thick and heavy sand almost rocks, but what I want to know is how hard is it to clean it and how often does it need to be cleaned? I like being able just to go in once or twice a week and siphon out the dead spot and get all the crap out. With a sand bed don’t I need to do the whole bed?

 

[Lazys Coral House]

Your are going to get a lot of opinions on this and each one could be right. I personally like to siphon my sand bed when doing a water change. I can't believe that the stuff I pull it is good for the water quality.

 

[m and m]

I just and tired of chalice after chalice on the bottom i think the sand will be nice, but moving them all then siphoning then moving them back just seems like a 30 minute WC turns into a hour. What would be the fight for not cleaning the SB i would think you would need todue to everything that would build up.

 

[Mr E Wrasse]

I'm in the same boat as you... i love BB because of the cleanliness factor, but i also love the look of sand. I know there's a happy balance of clean-up crew including starfish and other sand-sifters, but i never could find it

 

[Paul_N]

If you have the proper cleanup crew and flow you shouldn't have to siphon or clean it IMO. I never did and had a 6" dsb for almost 6 years.

*edit*

After the dsb matures it will have spaghetti worms that will eat anything that falls on it including the fish poo and uneaten food.

 

[Raggamuffin]

if it was a little finer, even large grain crushed coral I would so go with fighting conchs, they are superb at keeping a sand bed stirred and clean.

 

[kingfisherfleshy]

I inherited a DSB tank this summer.

Grossest thing ever.

Your sand will trap detritus, and it will rot there unless you remove it. Stuff living in your sand cant break the material down anymore than anything else, its still in there, just now there is other stuff living and dying in your sand as well.

I keep my sand shallow, and siphon the heck out of it. That is just how I do every h2o change now.

In nature there is a huge turnover of sand, and the sand bed is kept clean. We have to remember that our tanks are a closed system, and food in, is waste in. You have to remove that waste, or it is stuck in your tank forever...and some might even call it a nitrate bomb.

 

[aalvarado87]

i havent siphoned mine but i ahve an abundance of nassarius snails. They seem to do a great job keeping it clean. I have never really seen things build up all that much. But then again i do not have to thick of a sand bed which i rather hate because my flow tends to clean out some spots till it is bare bottom. But i add sand from time to time so its not all that bad.

 

[secretreefer]

If you have the proper cleanup crew and flow you shouldn't have to siphon or clean it IMO. I never did and had a 6" dsb for almost 6 years.

*edit*

After the dsb matures it will have spaghetti worms that will eat anything that falls on it including the fish poo and uneaten food.

same here. no problems 2 different tanks with DSB. maybe im lucky?

 

[Captain Nemo]

Personally I have the nassirus and a dragon goby. Both keep mine fairly clean. Personally the yellow headed goby does a better job, my dragon is lazy. and +1 for the fighting conch. A good clean up crew and something to move the sand and you will have no problems!

 

[phi delt reefer]

+1 fighting conch - but make sure you rocks are secure - they are little tanks and knock stuff over regularly. The larger the sand grain the easier it will be for the dietrus to make its way to bottom of the tank and rot. you dont want that. go with some smaller stuff and just have your conch and gobies clean it regularly. Siphoning works too but you may want to keep some extra sand around for you will lose some each time you siphon.

 

[ksc]

Get the finest sand you can get. People who have problems with sand beds usually have "sand" that is more like gravel. I use Southdown sand but it is no longer sold. The closest I've seen to this is the sand sold by Marco Rocks. It's closer to flour than sugar sized. And if someone tells you it will blow around, they're wrong. Once established you will be fine. I run 2 mp40's and 2 mp10's in my 90 at about 75%.....

 

[Kevinw]

I use star fish in my tank I have a 55g long and have two star fish in there and the sand is very clean.

 

[Viva'sReef]

The finer the sand the better IMO.....if your gonna do sand. The larger stuff is what traps the detritous and other crap, and the cleanup crew can't work very well in the bigger sand types if at all.
Sugar sized or smaller type granule sand won't allow detritous or uneaten food to get below its top layer. Sure some will get mixed in when you move stuff around, or from critters, but not enough that other critters can't handle

 

[_Alex_]

Seafloor special grade sand, is great size. Get lots of sifter snails and a few fish and you will be fine.


I just helped a buddy clean out a 7yr crush coral bottom, was nastieat thing ever. Was leaching nitrates horribly

 

[benny z]

The finer the sand the better IMO.....if your gonna do sand. The larger stuff is what traps the detritous and other crap, and the cleanup crew can't work very well in the bigger sand types if at all.
Sugar sized or smaller type granule sand won't allow detritous or uneaten food to get below its top layer. Sure some will get mixed in when you move stuff around, or from critters, but not enough that other critters can't handle

agree...

plus, with a very fine particulate sand, denitrification can occur with a shallow(ish) layer.

 

[Wy Renegade]

So ever since I have been in the hobby i have used T5's and been BB. Now that I’m in the process of getting a Sfiglio MH I want to venture into a sand bed. I’m going to get very thick and heavy sand almost rocks, but what I want to know is how hard is it to clean it and how often does it need to be cleaned? I like being able just to go in once or twice a week and siphon out the dead spot and get all the crap out. With a sand bed don’t I need to do the whole bed?

If you're going with thick heavy sand, you will need to siphon the entire sandbed on a regular basis (at least weekly). I presume that the thick/heavy sand is going to be similar in density/size to CC.

 

[nuff40]

Have dsb with nassirius and Orange Marked Goby. Sand stays clean near as I can tell.

 

[benny z]

i don't want to irritate anyone, as it can be a touchy subject in itself, but regarding the sand-sifting gobies... i'd recommend against them, as they almost always end up starving to death as captive sandbeds can very rarely support their nutrition needs. they are one of those fish that i wish importers would stop collecting. they are popular, no doubt, and sell, which is why they keep coming to us...but even in a huge (1200g) display tank with a dsb, i've witnessed an orange diamond goby whither and die over the course of about a year. :(

all you need are the nassarius imho.

 

[btkrausen]

I've always been a fan of the Pink Fiji sand, and is all I've ever used. Its small enough to look nice, but big enough to not get blown around too easily. I've had a 2-3 inch sand bed in every tank I've owned, and had really good success with putting in large Nassarius snails. Plus, its fun to feed the tank, and watch like 20 snails pop up from under the sand like zombies, haha