Do you clean your sand bed?

[Myka]

During water changes, I use a siphon hose to suck out any detritus on the surface, then I gently stir my sandbed in it's entirety hovering above it with the siphon as I stir. If you haven't done this before, this can be very dangerous since an undisturbed sandbed will often have areas of Hydrogen sulfide (black stinky patches), and the release of these areas can lead to a major algae bloom, and possibly crash the tank.

If you haven't stirred the sandbed before, but want to start you need to start off slowly by only stirring maybe 10% of the sandbed per week. Each week do your old 10% plus a new 10%, and keep up on it.

[Piscez]

I used to do the above unitl I got my Yellow head sleeper goby now I never touch it as it's always clean, I call here Catherine (my wifes name!)

[walloutlet]

Originally Posted by Piscez

I used to do the above unitl I got my Yellow head sleeper goby now I never touch it as it's always clean, I call here Catherine (my wifes name!)

Nice!!!!

[BlueWorldAquatic]

Sand sifting stars and dragon gobies. Get them and you won't be touching the sand bed too much after that.

I stirred up my sandbed in my personal tank at home, and killed my frogspawn after some bacteria got into it.

Ken - BWA

[Coleus]

I rarely touch my sand bad but this is good to know.
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NEW MEXICO DISPENSARIES

[Myka]

I have sand dwelling critters too. I'm a big fan of Fighting Conches and Orange Lipped Conches. I don't like sand sifting starfish because they are predatory, and will strip the sandbed of pretty much all life. I really like Rainford's Gobies for sifting.

[RuGlu6]

Just go BB ! (bare bottom) no cleaning no steering, no problem