Vacuum 6mo old tank

[mattevo]

Noob question. I’ve never cleaned the rock/sand. I’ve heard from some videos after a while you don’t want to disturb the floor as it could leach stuff into the water. I’ve been running about 6 months or so and the rocks/sand are looking a bit rough. Vacuum?

 

[get-salty]

When i had freshwater, i vacuumed the heck out of everything and it would careless.

Ever since i came over on the saltier side, i've nvr ever vacuumed the sandbed.
I believe if vacuuming sandbed is your thing, you should start on day 1 and it should be fine.

Now, if your tank have been up and running for 5yrs and all of a sudden you want to vacuum it.... IMO that will cause a negative effect on things.

 

[baldyreef]

Noob question. I’ve never cleaned the rock/sand. I’ve heard from some videos after a while you don’t want to disturb the floor as it could leach stuff into the water. I’ve been running about 6 months or so and the rocks/sand are looking a bit rough. Vacuum?

I’ve personally never vacuumed mine, it would depend on your stocking and and nutrient levels and just understanding that if you do there’s a chance for a nutrient spike and orher releases as well as disturbances of whatever cuc and other critters that are living in there

 

[resortez]

When i had freshwater, i vacuumed the heck out of everything and it would careless.

Ever since i came over on the saltier side, i've nvr ever vacuumed the sandbed.
I believe if vacuuming sandbed is your thing, you should start on day 1 and it should be fine.

Now, if your tank have been up and running for 5yrs and all of a sudden you want to vacuum it.... IMO that will cause a negative effect on things.

I second this. In my personal experience, yes it will cause problems if the sandbed hasn’t been disturbed for over a year. I speak out of personal experience. The sudden change will swing numbers & I believe thats the more harmful thing over releasing sulfate gases trapped in the sand. I could be wrong about the release of gases but hitting 100% of the sandbed cause a huge problem for me.
The second time around i went through this type of situation, i hit small sections of the sandbed every other week, only doing 5 gallons at a time in order to not cause a massive swing in parameters. Avoiding taking all the animals on a roller coaster ride. That approach was much more successful & way less harmful to the coral. Again, this is my personal experience & approach. Hopefully it helps. Good luck

 

[exnisstech]

I don't touch sand but do like to keep some nassarius snails. Rocks I blow off weekly
EDIT: I do not have a pristine sand bed but there is quite a bit of life in it.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I don't touch my sandbed. However I do believe its important to keep the rocks clean, I use a turkey baster to blast them every night.

 

[get-salty]

Bright well Razor cleans your tank really well. It’ll clean the sandbed as well as the rocks.
Also bubble Algea !