Win is clean to clean

[oodan]

Hay all well I have had my fish tank for about 2 years and I have never Changed the sand I only ask because I see green and win I do a deep water change "move rocks scrub walls scrap down and change water " I do this like once a month I do water change once a week and I rub glass every day so my question is I have never touched my sand bed ever and I see stuff growing in there win should I change and how do I do it all or part ?

 

[oodan]

 

[jsker]

You only have fish right? If so I would vacuum the sand bed when you do a water changes, then put some snails, crabs (aka clean crew) to clean you rock. I would also check you parameters to see if your phosphates and nitrates are high, and if so you might be over feeding.

 

[jsker]

ahhh you have corals too. do the above plus check you Ca, Mg, alk. You have keep it simple maintenance for two years and I would try to keep it that way and not make to many changes at once. Vac the sand, cleaning crew, and water changes. If you have some algae build up and the rock, use a tooth brush, and I tile brush to knock off the build up.

 

[oodan]

ahhh you have corals too. do the above plus check you Ca, Mg, alk. You have keep it simple maintenance for two years and I would try to keep it that way and not make to many changes at once. Vac the sand, cleaning crew, and water changes. If you have some algae build up and the rock, use a tooth brush, and I tile brush to knock off the build up.

Thanks ya I have a lot going on in my tank just don't want to mess anything up thanks so i have 2 clown fish a goby a lil blue guy and a thin pencil looking fish he is blue as well I have about 10 snails that go in the sand and like 2 real big regular snails and a lot of small ones and I have new baby snails like every morning a shrimp and a few anemones I also have a starfish a sand one I feed the tank a small pinch of flakes in the am like very small maybe pea size and win I get home from work I feed them frozen food I buy the cubes and I cut them in half is this to much for my tank ?

 

[jsker]

Very nice system, I have been battling hair Algae for the last 4 week do to light upgrade and my sand bed is very dirty so I have been vacuuming with water changes. I am bring in a couple more crabs and a sally light foot to clean the hair algae off the rock work. You are feeding way less than I do. I just purchased a set of oxo cleaning brushes and a turkey baster to clean my rock work and besides water change vacuuming I am letting the sump do the filtering. I am running GFO to control my Po4's and dosing carbon to keep my nitrate down. I have about 40 corals in at 72 gal DT. By looking at you system, it looks pretty good and I understand why you want to keep up on the maintenance before you have an issue. here is the cleaning brush set I just purchased, better than a tooth brush :) http://www.amazon.com/OXO-Good-Grip...&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00 and easier to grip.

 

[john.m.cole3]

if you do decide to vacuum the sand, make sure to only do a small section each week during your water change. I like to aim my powerheads at the rocks and crank em up high for a minute to blow off excess detritus right before i do my water change also. @jsker is giving you good advice. Let us know how things go!