To clean or not to clean, that is the question -
Whether 'tis nobler in the tank to suffer
the detritus and phosphate buildup of outrageous substrate
or take up vacuum against a Sea of pollutants
and by removing end them? To purge, to clean -
be done; and by clean, to say we end
the heartache and thousand natural shocks
that sand is heir to? 'Tis a consummation
devoutly to be wished. To purge, to clean.
To clean, perchance to release toxic sulphides; aye there's the rub,
for in that undisturbed substrate, what pollutants may emerge
when we have shovelled out the sand,
must give us pause.

:)

Went bare bottom and never looking back. Forget all the "cuc" for sand and clean it from the start. No way they can keep up.

I would do the same if some idiot hadn't put egg crate across the bottom of my tank!

Way to go....now Buddy is going to make another thread on the do or don't on using egg crate

This bad boy is awesome for cleaning bare bottom. May be a wee under powered for crushed gravel and wouldn't use with sand.




http://www.jlaquatics.com/images/ehe...ck_vac_pro.jpg

You do not have a proper DSB, so you are responsible for keeping it clean.
Sand sifting fish will only filter out what living animals are in the sandbed. They will not eat detritus, only temporarily disturb it.

IMO sand is just a toilet you can't flush. Eventually (even years) that toilet is gonna fill up to the brim. Want the aesthetics of a sand bed, then start bucketing all that s*** out on a regular basis. Sand beds should be maintained and cleaned religiously IMO which is hard to do a good job of with live rock, coral,etc in the way. Never mind when that toilet bowl starts to fill up the the brim it will eventually start to wick all it's yummies into all that pretty live rock you got sitting on top of it. Sand has one purpose and one purpose only in a tank, aesthetics. It offers nothing more to the health of the system. And gives the user a false sense of security that they don't need to be removing the debris that builds up and that somehow that sand bed indefinitely process all that s*** for them. So IMO if you want to look at a pretty sand bed and not a pane of glass then it needs to be maintained.

my candycane pistol shrimp would hate me if I took it out:cry:

Your grammar is a little hard to understand. Where is this board and discussion your talking about? And where is it you plan on "publishing" the results? I voted no.

I have a Melanurus wrasse that for a year or two had the comfort of a sand bed. After I went bare bottom he adapted. I have to admit it freaked me out a couple times when I went down to check things in the morning when the lights are out and found him laying on his side on the bottom.