Vacuuming sandbed?

[krash7172]

I have a raised built-in and would siphon or stir the bed when the tank was new mostly for appearance. It was a pain. A couple years later and I have only about 1" sand and a diamond goby.

 

[Brad ward]

What are the pros and cons of vacuuming the sand bed? I’ve heard of some people doing it but I’ve never done it.

Vacuum crushed coral because it’s a detritus trap
Don’t vacuum sugar sand

 

[Jholley565]

Vacuum crushed coral because it’s a detritus trap
Don’t vacuum sugar sand

Didn’t think about that. I do have quite the significant clean up crew to help with that. I might add a few more sand dwellers for this reason.

 

[KyOsIBa515]

Little late to the post...however, I figure better late then never.
This is an ongoing question in the hobby and much sheer opinion base. Therefore, I will leave mine and my experience...it depends. Are you running a fish only? Or reef? And type of substrate?
I have for sure used a siphon on my substrate but every time it was when the tank was immature...and by that less than a year and a half old. A lot happens biologically in that time...you’ll fight a lot of random algae and other things popping up and siphoning it can help get rid of it entirely rather then just suspend the algae.
If in fish only systems with crush coral as substrate I would siphon all the time as detritus becomes trapped and become a nitrite and ammonia trap....however, in a reef system with finer substrate and when we rely on beneficial bacteria from the rock and live sand (once established) to siphon it would just be taking that away.
In an established system agitating the bed a few times a week to help suspend detritus and debris will help keep it clean. Also, hit your empty spots on live rock with a turkey baster. Inverts will help clean the sand up as well. I have done all that and never really worried too much about siphoning and the tank and bed always look good.
Good luck!