Cleaning substrate

[ramone]

Two questions; How often are you supposed to siphon detritus and dirt from substrate? and is it true that when you top off your aquarium due to evaporation you are to use fresh water and not pre-mixed salt water of the same salinity? I have a 40 gallon aquarium with 30lbs. of LR and 30lbs. of LS. I was just concerned that while I am cleaning the sand that I might be removing something useful. <img src="graemlins//confused.gif" border="0" alt="[confused]" />

 

[fish magnet]

I usually siphon my substrate every time I do a water change. A lot of nasty stuff sits down there and it's good to get rid of it. Yes that is correct only add freshwater when topping off your tank. through evaporation the salt won't evaporate just the water will. So when you have evaporation your salinity will go up, and by adding freshwater you will keep it at the proper levels.

 

[marty]

Do you have a cleaning crew? Having one will help keep the substrate clean which will reduce the amount of "vacuuming" you will need to do when doing water changes.
HTH

 

[marine qa]

Ramone, You should not vacuume or even stir your LS. In doing this your are certainly removing useful stuff and hurting/destroying the LS's ability to act as a filter.
Furthermore, you should make sure to have at least 4 inches of sand. I dont know how many inches 30lbs provides in a 40 but I bet its less than 4 inches. I have about 95lbs in a 46. This depth will ensure that levels of sand have no oxygen, and it is these areas where wastes are broken down.

 

[fshhub]

DO NOT VACCUUM OR STIR SAND
you can vaccuum or use a turekey baster to blow or vaccum loose stuff off of your rock, but do not disturb your sand bed
and i too, like marine qa, would have more sand
HTH

 

[ramone]

As far as my cleaning crew, I have the following:
7 Turbo snails
4 Blue legged hermits
3 Red legged hermits
1 Cleaner shrimp
1 Pencil urchin
1 Chocolate chip starfish
1 Feather duster
My sand bed is a mixture of Aragamax Select and Live sand. Maybe closer to 35 lbs. The sand bed depth is about 2 inches. I was told and have read in a recomended book (The New Marine Aquarium, by Michael Paletta ) that the sand bed should not be more than 1 1/2 to 2 inches. <img src="graemlins//confused.gif" border="0" alt="[confused]" />