Siphoning sand question

[LPS Bum]

I gently blow mine out once a week with a turkey baster. It kicks up some detritus but doesn’t remove all the good stuff from the reef. Keeps the sand looking clean and white, and my fleshy LPS enjoy the aftermath. But my sand bed is only 1 inch deep so there aren’t any anaerobic pockets.

 

[Sophie"s mom]

I don’t know if there’s a single right answer here. A lot of it comes down to mentality and what you believe the sand bed should be doing in your system.

For a long time I thought of sand as the reefing version of a dirty litter box. So much waste settles into it. If you stir it up, you can certainly watch the brown cloud of crud come out.

Because of that, my approach used to be aggressive siphoning during water changes. I would vacuum the sand bed every time. Over the years that shifted. First I moved to siphoning only portions of the sand at a time, rotating sections so the whole bed wasn’t disturbed at once.

These days I mostly leave the sand alone and put more effort into organisms that slowly clean and process it for me. The idea is letting biology do the work rather than constantly resetting the sand bed myself.

Things like:
• Sand sifting fish
• Sand sifting starfish
• Cucumbers
• Nassarius snails
• Pods
• I haven't tried a Conch yet but will on my next tank.

Many of these will continuously turn the sand over, consume trapped organics, break waste down and keep it oxygenated without the big disruptive events that come from heavy siphoning.

Personally I’ve just found that letting the sand bed function more like a living filter and less like something I’m constantly cleaning has worked better for me over time.

I like this thought process! Conches are great! I have a 90 gallon with two tiger conches!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I would occasionally clean mine, but that was due to me having dinos

 

[vlangel]

I never clean my sandbed. I just let the nassarius snails, cucumber and fighting conch do it for me. Some of my sandbeds are 8+ years old.

 

[tzabor10]

I started cleaning mine when phosphates got too high (1.6). That and running Rowaphos changed out twice a month have lowered it to 0.3.

 

[BonnieB]

I've never cleaned the sand in any of my tanks, my sandbeds are all years old at this point, my oldest is 6 years.

Me either

 

[JumboShrimp]

So far I haven't gotten a single "Like" for vacuuming my sand bed, so I guess I've been voted off the island! Ha ha ha ha ha ha.

 

[landlubber]

I was actually thinking about this just last week.
40 years in the hobby (10 as a reefer) and start every WC's with a gravel vac. I honestly couldn't say if it's counter-productive or not but with a decent fish load always pull a ton of detritus so I continue doing it.

 

[landlubber]

So far I haven't gotten a single "Like" for vacuuming my sand bed, so I guess I've been voted off the island! Ha ha ha ha ha ha.

took note and dealt you one :)
Honestly, i'm not sure their is a right answer to this as even substrate itself is optional and truthfully probably the more challenging route once the tank is stable and mature.

 

[fryman]

Just a curiosity question here, does anyone here NOT disturb their sand bed? When doing water changes or anything like that? Does anyone use leave that completely to their sand sifting tank inhabitants? Or do you all consider sand cleaning a must do?

It's a good question, probably there are risks and benefits either way.

When I had a freshwater tank, I was taught that you "had" to use a gravel vac to clean the gravel, so that's what I did back then. But in my reef tanks I've never really cleaned the sand. I have fine sand that I expect would be removed if I tried to use a gravel vac, but honestly I haven't really tried.

I have occasionally disturbed the sand unintentionally and a bunch of silt flies up. It can make things cloudy for a bit but I haven't noticed any other issues from it.

 

[Saltynewby]

I used to hit it up a little but got a diamond goby a few months ago and I just let him do his thing.

 

[sky414]

I clean mine every two weeks. Heavy fishload

 

[sky414]

I have a heavy fish load, so I siphon every two weeks.

 

[MC Blowfish]

Occasionally, I'll take a vacuum to the sand and it's not very invasive. Maybe once every month and I do weekly water changes.

 

[BryanM]

Just a curiosity question here, does anyone here NOT disturb their sand bed? When doing water changes or anything like that? Does anyone use leave that completely to their sand sifting tank inhabitants? Or do you all consider sand cleaning a must do?

I did not clean my sand for quite a while.

I'm now converted... I mean, if someone can provide a sand clean up crew that really actually works I would consider it, as I don't like vacuuming sand.

But I will say, all of my corals perked up after my sand was vacuumed, and gettin the dull color off the sand makes the tank look prettier - by a great deal.

 

[IceNein]

Agreed, but what about a FOWLR? There's no CUC to be found..

Why wouldn't you have CUC in a FOWLR? I mean if you have something like a puffer that is going to eat snails and crustaceans I can understand, but otherwise they still help remove detritus and algae.

 

[Puggz]

Agreed, but what about a FOWLR? There's no CUC to be found..

Why wouldn't you have CUC in a FOWLR? I mean if you have something like a puffer that is going to eat snails and crustaceans I can understand, but otherwise they still help remove detritus and algae.

For me a fowlr is triggers, groupets, lions, puffers, wrasses, angels, and butterfly

 

[Skippy The Meh]

I've read of many people that do clean them. My sand is always full of life that I feel is beneficial even if most are worms. I don't clean my sumps for the same reason, there's just too many life forms living in all of the crud aka mulm.

Agreed, but what about a FOWLR? There's no CUC to be found..

Imo the sand is home to lots of pods and worms which are all great food for grazing fish.

 

[mfinn]

Just a curiosity question here, does anyone here NOT disturb their sand bed? When doing water changes or anything like that? Does anyone use leave that completely to their sand sifting tank inhabitants? Or do you all consider sand cleaning a must do?

I have a wide open front area with sand and I do use my python water change hose with the sand vacuum tube on every water changes.

 

[CapitalCityAquatics]

Just a curiosity question here, does anyone here NOT disturb their sand bed? When doing water changes or anything like that? Does anyone use leave that completely to their sand sifting tank inhabitants? Or do you all consider sand cleaning a must do?

I like to just hover. But if the sand is really dirty I'll give it a little stir