to vaccum or not to vaccum?
- Thread starter pebbles
- Start date
pbienkiewi
Member
When I do water changes I vaccume all the crevices in the rock work. Once every several months, I stir up 1/4 of the sandbed and suck it up when I do my water changes. But I also have a refugium that breaks down waste.
T
tizzo
Guest
If you have sand there is no need to disturb it. If you should see detritus on the bottum then you can gently stir it up with a turkey baster right before a water change, but with the correct amount of current in your tank, waste should not really have an opportunity to even hit the tank floor.
hot883
Active Member
Originally Posted by pebbles
I have a 40 gal tank with 43 lbs of lr & 4 inch sandbed, I've been reading that disturbing the sandbed is bad, but I thought you were suppost to vaccum the sand to get the bad stuff out? So which is it? Vaccum or just remove the water without messing with the sand? Thanks
"Sweeping" the top as to make it cloudy slightly is ok, just not turning it all over etc. HTH
I have a 40 gal tank with 43 lbs of lr & 4 inch sandbed, I've been reading that disturbing the sandbed is bad, but I thought you were suppost to vaccum the sand to get the bad stuff out? So which is it? Vaccum or just remove the water without messing with the sand? Thanks
"Sweeping" the top as to make it cloudy slightly is ok, just not turning it all over etc. HTH
crazyzeus1
Member
Sand question...
We have our LFS do the service on our tank every other week. They use this long tube thing to suck up sand, swirl it around, & then when they pull the tube out of the tank, the sand falls out of it.
Are they cleaning the sand too often/too much??? Could this have an impact on the number of copepods in the tank? We have a Dragonet & I don't want them to take the pods out!
We have our LFS do the service on our tank every other week. They use this long tube thing to suck up sand, swirl it around, & then when they pull the tube out of the tank, the sand falls out of it.
Are they cleaning the sand too often/too much??? Could this have an impact on the number of copepods in the tank? We have a Dragonet & I don't want them to take the pods out!
crazyzeus1
Member
Our sandbed is about 4 inches deep
dad
Active Member
OK, There are many theorys on this but this is what i beleive: A dsb should NOT be cleaned! EVER!
When this is done; you are actually doing more harm than good. A dsb is there for a reason. It is part of the natures filtration system.
It does though need to be turned over though. This is why we need sand sifters.
This can be done through snails,fish, some crabs, among many things including bristle worms and more.
When I first started this hobby bristle worms were the most worse thing you could have in a tank. Now you can buy them on ----.
There was a thread that went forever on here about dsb's killing your tank. Not sure where it ended up?
So if I was you i would NOT clean my dsb or let anyone do it. make sure you have something in your tank that does go though it, and keep me posted if I am wrong, lol
When this is done; you are actually doing more harm than good. A dsb is there for a reason. It is part of the natures filtration system.
It does though need to be turned over though. This is why we need sand sifters.
This can be done through snails,fish, some crabs, among many things including bristle worms and more.
When I first started this hobby bristle worms were the most worse thing you could have in a tank. Now you can buy them on ----.
There was a thread that went forever on here about dsb's killing your tank. Not sure where it ended up?
So if I was you i would NOT clean my dsb or let anyone do it. make sure you have something in your tank that does go though it, and keep me posted if I am wrong, lol
tormented
Member
Well I feel like an idiot. Ive had this tank up with a DSB for over 7 months and im only just learning i have too few cleanup crew and not to stir it up.
Im also learning that my past aquarium knowledge was sorely lacking.
No more stirring by hand and in a few days ill have alot of cleanup crew.
Thx for the info guys. Ill post if I see any changes, good or bad.
No more stirring by hand and in a few days ill have alot of cleanup crew.
Thx for the info guys. Ill post if I see any changes, good or bad.
crazyzeus1
Member
I asked my LFS service guys (who come every other week to do water changes, clean the tank, etc) not to clean the sand this time. We have a Dragonet & I was also worried that when they clean the sand, they're sucking up copepods!
We have two brittle starts, 3 Turbo Snails (those really big kinds...I think they're called Turbo), a bunch of other snails, hermits, Emerald crabs...and I've seen various bristle worms around the rocks.
So you think I'm OK telling the service guy not to vacuum the sand?
We have two brittle starts, 3 Turbo Snails (those really big kinds...I think they're called Turbo), a bunch of other snails, hermits, Emerald crabs...and I've seen various bristle worms around the rocks.
So you think I'm OK telling the service guy not to vacuum the sand?
