Should I keep vaccuuming sand bed?

[carnicomh]

I scoured this site for a long while but can't narrow it down. I've been vaccuuming my sand bed weekly, 1/4 at a time, since my cuc was so small. Kicking myself for that now, and I realize this might have been too frequent with the vaccuuming. I'm adding a proper cuc next week, and am wondering if I should stop or lessen the frequency. Will it have negative effects on the tank if I do stop? There will be loads of inverts to stir it up, but I don't want to cause catastrophic changes to the system if I stop...TIA!

 

[fishywishy]

Nothing will happen if you stop.

 

[carnicomh]

Cheers!

 

[Ryan - Serious Reefs]

I don’t think there is a one size fits all answer to this. Also a hotly debated topic with minimal hard data.

My experience/belief is the types of pollution/problems that come from not cleaning the sand are likely to show up in year 2-3. Mortalities or challenges that are often miss diagnosed or chalked up to mysterious “old tank syndrome”

Also my experience that cleaning it all at once is high risk. if you clean 10% of the sand bed every month or so it will likely avoid both problems.