Vacuuming Substrate... Good idea or bad idea?

[sf_ramsden]

I did a quick search on the forum and didn't seem to come up with much, so I thought I would start a new thread.

Who here vacuums their substrate when doing a water change? Any reasons why I shouldn't start to do this? My only fear is that while I will be taking away detritus, I will also be taking away beneficial bacteria. I would say mine is no more than 2 inches deep in most areas. But I have definitely started to get a good amount of detritus build up and don't want it to become a problem down the road... Let me know what you think!

My substrate is not sand but instead more like a crushed coral. This is what I used:

 

[Nuocmam]

Every once in awhile I vacuum mine but mostly stir up the surface with a chopstick from time to time. Just to get the junk in the water column to get skimmed out.

 

[sf_ramsden]

Every once in awhile I vacuum mine but mostly stir up the surface with a chopstick from time to time. Just to get the junk in the water column to get skimmed out.

I have been stirring up the top layer at least once to twice a week, but this doesn't seem to be making a dent. I have an MP10 in a 34g Solana, so I wouldn't think it's the flow, but I could be wrong. I wish the Solana had a second intake besides the overflow near the top to help with the center of the water column. I also have quite a few snails that I thought would help me out, but maybe they aren't eating the detritus like they are supposed to.

Anything else that takes care of detritus that is reef safe, ok in a 34g tank & won't knock around frags?

 

[sf_ramsden]

I wanted to bump this one last time for the night time crowd... Then will see what the early crowd tomorrow morning has to say as well. I am going on vacation starting Sunday and would like to get the tank as clean as possible before I go. Just looking to hear from those that do or have vacuumed their substrate before and if they recommend it. Also, would like to hear from some people that don't recommend it and why.

Thanks!

 

[xmetalfan99]

I don't do a thing with my substrate. Any stirring of the sandbed is done by my nassarus minions. You might just need a better cleanup crew.

 

[GR808]

I do about a 15-20g WC on my 120g every 2 weeks and when I do I use a gravel cleaner to clean some detritus from my substrate. I've been doing this regularly for about 8 months at least. Since doing that I've had no cyano or algae on my SB and my nitrates has always been 0. I don't get to clean every nook and cranny but just a rough cleaning. I don't know if I shouldn't do that or not but for me it's been working well and I have been getting good growth from my corals. I believe that most of my beneficial bacteria resides in my LR. My SB is about 2" much like yours but I think if your running a DSB it would be a different story.

 

[PR_Reefers]

I think you should be fine...I certainly don't think it would could hurt much! if some bacteria are removed anyways they will probably recolonize quickly! if your worried about the detritus accumulation I would go for it...

 

[River_Styx]

I do about a 4 gallon water change on my 29 every week and every week I vacuum my substrate (which is basically the same as yours, brand and all). A lot of people have advised others that they shouldnt do it so frequently but my tank has been running for over a year and all my parameters have remained both excellent and constant. So I guess what I'm saying is I approve of vacuuming your substrate :P

If you've had your tank running for a while and then decide to vacuum the substrate do so slowly or you'll release too much detritus into the water and may shock your system.

 

[nixer]

it would really depend on what you ahve for your substrate and the grain sizes.

 

[sf_ramsden]

it would really depend on what you ahve for your substrate and the grain sizes.

Size of the grain is in my first post...

Bump for the morning crowd

 

[Reef Keeper 18]

Vaccumed every week before. Got a lot of crud out of my water. Now i got a goby a sand sifting starfish and two narcissius so They do the job.

 

[sf_ramsden]

I have at least 5-7 nassarius snails... Maybe I need more in a 34 gallon? Plus I have another 5-7 astreas, 3-4 florida ceriths, 2-3 nerites, and probably 20 dwarf ceriths.

 

[VegasRick]

You probably wont get a whole lot of responses because there are a lot of variables and differing opinions. The type of substrate you use is different than what most people use for a sand bed and there isn't a lot of information about it.
If it were my tank, with the grain size of your substrate, I would vacuum it with with every water change. What you need to be careful of is releasing hydrogen sulfide into the water column

 

[Nate82]

I think your issue is with your substrate... If you have a finer grain size, nassarius snails or anyone else in your CUC could get in there and clean it up. You could probably get away with vacuuming, but changing your substrate would most likely save you from doing that in the future.

 

[gparr]

I have a teflon/plastic "meat" fork (two prongs) that I rubberband to my syphon hose and drag through the sand as part of my 15-gal. water change process. Most of what the fork stirs up gets sucked out by the syphon hose. I usually fill the first 5-gal. bucket with substrate stirrings. The next two buckets are straight syphoning from the water column which removes a good portion of the rest of the "stirrings." I keep a thin sand bed, 1-in. maximum. If your sandbed is deep, just stir the very upper layer. If you go very deep in an established sandbed, you could stir up some things you don't want in the water column.
Gary

 

[lps1212]

I also vaccum my substrate when doing a water change also stormin the rocks to get all that dirt in the creveces it does help I believe like stated earlier cyano and algae aren't much of a problem after doin that on a regular

 

[sf_ramsden]

I have a teflon/plastic "meat" fork (two prongs) that I rubberband to my syphon hose and drag through the sand as part of my 15-gal. water change process. Most of what the fork stirs up gets sucked out by the syphon hose. I usually fill the first 5-gal. bucket with substrate stirrings. The next two buckets are straight syphoning from the water column which removes a good portion of the rest of the "stirrings." I keep a thin sand bed, 1-in. maximum. If your sandbed is deep, just stir the very upper layer. If you go very deep in an established sandbed, you could stir up some things you don't want in the water column.
Gary

Thanks for the idea about using the meat fork. Sounds like I may try this going forward.

For the water change I did this morning, I did my usual: Scrub glass, used a pipette to blow any detritus off the rocks and substrate, stirred up the top layer of substrate, changed out filter floss, did water change. This time around I also replaced my Chemi-Pure Elite as it was probably over a month or so since I have done this.

I am not having algae issues of any kind really (besides bubble algae). I am just a little worried of the detritus build up since my tank is really only 3 months old at this point and it already seems excessive. I may just be over-exagerating the whole thing, who knows.

 

[carlosR]

I don't think it's necessary or a good management tool. Like's been said your clean-up crew should be taking care of things. An occasional stirring probably is a good thing but not the old vacuum your tank to clean it. Remember with any luck you are creating a type of ecosystem and unfortunately it's a closed system so less flexible than the ocean when things get really stirred up. Good luck.