cleaning cc

[teen]

i dont want to be mean, but im lookin for ways to clean my crushed coral, not tips like switch to live sand. i have a layer less than 1/4 inch and its actually crushed shells, and i personally like it better than sand. do i purchase a vacuum from my lfs and then just sift through it? or do i have to take it out and then rinse it out? i figure if i take it out, ill rinse all the beneficial bacteria out of it. thanks to any one that can help :happyfish

 

[nicetry]

Vacuum/syphon it out when you do your water changes. A shallow bed should be relatively easy to keep clean.

 

[teen]

doesnt the vacuum suck up the shells along with it? or its not powerful enough to ?

 

[slick]

Try a vacuum and see what happens. If it sucks the shells your only out a few bucks.

 

[mombostic]

Get the right kind of vacuum that prevent the pieces from going all the way through. Any aquarium vacuum should be okay. I had cc before, and just really dig down in there and suck up the gunk. 1/4 inch, you should be able to get all the way to the bottom and do a really good job of cleaning. I definately would not take any out and rinse it. Not only would you be hurting your bacteria colony, what a mess!

 

[teen]

thats what i thought, im gonna try and get a vaccum this wek. how often should i vaccum it?

 

[trainfever]

Some vaccuums have a strainer in the tube to prevent things like gravel and crushed coral from being sucked up. Mine has one that is removable.