Vacuuming a sand bed or not That is my question
 

I used to vacuum my sand to keep it clean, but not anymore. I now have orange spot sleeper gobies in each of my tanks, and they do the job for me.

Can you make your fonts a bit smaller? I can still kind of read it...

The difference though is that they don't disturb the whole tank all at once my friend that not comparable. The cleaning lady with her gigantic vacuuming and spatula destroy the whole ecosystem in one shot. How do you think the filtration is affected.

Soory but their seem to be an issue with the controls at this end sorry, do you have an opinion worth publishing ?

Having recently disturbed my sand bed, and seeing the garbage that came out of it, I'm thinking vacuuming might not be a bad idea. In fact, I'm vacuuming it right out today and replacing it.

Are you new here? Half the crap I write isn't worth publishing. Do you have any comments worth reading?

8 foot by 2 foot sand bed 4 to 6 inches deep vac about 10 % of the sand every water change sandbed is 11 years old tank still reads 0 nitrates that IMO is enough proof that regular maintenance keeps sandbeds from becoming nitrate traps.

Since I'm removing part of my sand today, I'll post a pic of what comes out after a few years of not disturbing the sand. It ain't gonna be pretty.

My sandbed only covers half my tank bottom(other half is covered in crushed coral) average depth is 1 inch and with all the snails, sea cucumbers, bristle worms and crabs it stays relatively clean

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.

With sufficient flow and livestock to clean the sand that's maintenance right there.

When I first got into the hobby I was told in no uncertain terms by several reefers that I had to mIntain my sandbed with frequent cleaning. I however listened to the advice of 2 local long time reefers which is las long as you have good water flow and a cleanup crew you will not have to deal with sand cleaning.

Ultimately the choice is yours you have to decide and if you want to clean it great if you let the inhabitants maintain it great the choice is not ours to make. We can only suggest what has worked for us in the past I steadfastly refuse to listen to people who say that you have to do it this or that way.

I use a eheim vacuum and go over the sandbed on my non wc week (biweekly). I have lots of snails, 2 abalones and close to a dozen conches as cuc but they do not make the detritus disappear so vacuuming helps a lot.

Guess I fall under the category of cleaning lady with my giant vacuum and spatula destroying the entire ecosystem and biological diversity of my tank while making my tanks filtration suffer.

What do you think is in your sand bed that you don't already have in your live rock? Why is actively removing debris from a closed system destroying an ecosystem and why should my filtration be negatively affected from doing so? Is my tank then less capable of processing and filtering then yours is? Is my cleaning lady approach setting my tank up for failure and yours has a far greater chance for success because you keep this "vital and unique" ecosystem intact?

How is the filtration effected? Why should I not clean my sand on a regular bases? And why should I only do so when my tank is experiencing problems as you suggested? Why is doing it then a good idea and not the rest of the time? And what problems actually constitute an appropriate time to do and why does that problem lead you to believe you in fact should be cleaning your sand bed?

So should I get on board with you and put this to rest because us crazy sand cleaning people need to know the facts and that the notion of actively remove debris from our systems via maintaining the sand bed is just silly and if doing so where are actually just tyrants of our ecosystem and creating shortcomings for our tanks filtering and processing capabilities?

I don't care if you don't want to flush that toilet you call a sand bed by actually maintaining it but i don't think its appropriate to label those of us out there who do as "this group", "these clean freaks" and try to imply we are doing something wrong and you need to create some thread to out it all to rest so we finally get it! I would hate for a new person in the hobby to read your post and come to the conclusion they should not be cleaning and maintaing there sand

lol

Tear down that tank and remove the egg crate...I know you want to!

Aquariums sand beds and natural ecosystems are like comparing a picture of New York City to the real thing. They're imperfect recreations and expecting them to operate like the ocean is, at best, a joke.

Keep your sand bed shallow and clean it often. Five minutes of gravel vacuuming > a year's worth of cleanup crew activity.

Here is a pic of 50g water siphoned to remove a third of my 1.5" sand bed after 3 years.

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...ps9b2c5743.jpg

i turkey baste my sandbed every couple days to get all the crud into the water column and hopefully out of the display. prob only 10% does before it settles again but the corals love it. i'm going back to sucking stuff out weekly again as well.

Ewe!

We should ask that pail full of crap wether it thinks we should be maintaining our sand beds. That ecosystem looks so biologically diverse that I wouldn't be surprised if it actually could answer back.

A few places have their ideas also
 

I did a few LFS in the area and they all said the same thing as Diana here. You have a population of critters in your sand bed that establishe itself . If every week or two weeks you disturb that ; your getting rid of alot of helpers and those bacteria who helps you. Never mind shallow or deep it doesn't matter. Like they said if you have deposit of detritus, its because you don't have the correct CUC . Many do the vacuuming to avoid putting out for the right amount of cuc. But the down side is your compounding the problem by destroying lots of bacterias and critters on your side. They even pointed out an example of a nut case with a spatulas on the tank sides because they didn't like the colors. LOL like he said the dim witted did realise it was her bacterias working for her denitrifying her tank and transforming the polutants into less damaging chemical and elements rejouvenating and making it available to the corals. But no it wasn't pretty. Nature has its ways and works , you just have to let it. In any case theirs no right or wrong in this hobby just styles, if it works for you and enjoy your workload happy reefing. :thumbup:





http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/q...nscleaning.gif

So all those who don't do what YOU preach and have great tanks no nitrate issues for years , how do you explain that. i used the clean freaks because we're bombarded by you people all the time about it. In my club 2 of you came and started bullying the rest into doing thats, as if it was a crusade, your aggressive deffence versus when i say its a question of style and a choice , you've gone Off the chart , like the same who came into are quiet club and started this issue. Now because you and your crusades it has split everybody for no reason than self gratification i guess. Thats why i've posted in every site i could think of and see the result, talked to all the LFS i could find and see. It is a personal choice no doubt about it a style, because it seems to be split in the middle. So again those who dont do it and have no issue how do account for that?

It's still moving. I'm a bit worried.

You don't like the font size don't give the option at all then.....and i wont give a stupid answer to a .........remark.

Be nice or I'll ban you in about 2 seconds.

spank him with a spatula first please. :lol:

Yep like i said you do react the same way making fun of those who chose not to vacuum and then bully them its the same here , chow, done here , not worth it.

Right?? Did I mention I'm sick and cranky today? And have a 50g drum of sludge in my living room trying to kill me? I should have vacuumed my sand bed...

sell it as miracle mud =)

You.Are.Brilliant.