Total Disaster

[calabashman]

I’m back with yet another disaster to report. I guess I just don’t get it. I love my tank and my fish and I get really get upset when I kill hem. I have a 24 gallon saltwater Aquapod and I’m told that we need to do regular water changes so I’m doing about 10% every 2-3 weeks. I’m also told that when doing them it is important to use a vacuum and suck the water & debris out from and off the bottom of the tank. So, that’s what I do. Obviously it can’t be done without some disruption of the bottom and some movement of the smaller live rocks in the tank. I take great care not to get the water to stirred up. Every time I do it everything dies and my nitrate readings go off the chart. I know, I know, so someone will reply; well stupid, if it kills your tank don’t do it. Fine except that everyone tells me it’s the thing to do and I believe it is based on everything I read. So, I’d like to read some responses that can give me ideas as to what may be wrong. I know others who have bigger tanks that go in regularly and stir up the bottom just to get rid of the waste etc and have the tank filter take care of it. I’m not even doing that. I vacuum it out of my tank with the water change. Thanks in advance. I’m listening.

 

[dcoyle11]

Do you have live sand? i have seen many times on this site people saying not to disturb it. but i am a new be so ???

 

[ifirefight]

Need a little more info...tank size,what type of substrate do you currently have? And the depth of said substrate? That would be a good starting point.

 

[alyssia]

You should not disturb your sandbed! You should only vacuum the substrate if it's crushed coral.

 

[rbaldino]

When you say "vacuum" what do you mean? I hope not what I'm thinking...
Get yourself a Python "No Spill Clean and Fill" or a similar product. You hook it up to a faucet and it sucks the water out of your tank. You're not supposed to suck out the substrate, just stir up the very top layer to remove some waste and turn the sand over a bit. Depending on the size of your substrate material, you may have to play around with the flow of the siphon or put some kind of netting over the inlet to keep from sucking all the sand out. The key here is to try to disturb the tank as little as possible.

 

[ldb007]

How many fish are in your tank? What are they?

 

[puffer32]

You shouldn't be cleaning the substate at all, thats what a cleanup crew is for If you have crushed coral, yes, you can get detris etc stuck in it, and cleaning it can cause ammonia and trates to go off the charts, thats why you should use sand instead.

 

[rbaldino]

Originally Posted by puffer32
You shouldn't be cleaning the substate at all, thats what a cleanup crew is for If you have crushed coral, yes, you can get detris etc stuck in it, and cleaning it can cause ammonia and trates to go off the charts, thats why you should use sand instead.
I'm going to have to disagree with the concept of never cleaning the substrate. I've done it for years and it's never killed anything off. The key is to not disturb the deeper parts of the substrate.

 

[crazyaqua]

I agree with puffer just use a cleaning crew and you should be ok

 

[puffer32]

Originally Posted by rbaldino
I'm going to have to disagree with the concept of never cleaning the substrate. I've done it for years and it's never killed anything off. The key is to not disturb the deeper parts of the substrate.
It just isn't necessary,I let my cleanup crew do that for me. you do have to clean crushed coral, and when you do that, you can cause all sorts of problems, even just cleaning the surface.

 

[alyssia]

Originally Posted by puffer32
It just isn't necessary,I let my cleanup crew do that for me. you do have to clean crushed coral, and when you do that, you can cause all sorts of problems, even just cleaning the surface.

 

[mace]

I am also new to the SW thing. And I was told by a VERY good "SW Tanker" if you will to not touch the sand let the clean up crew do all the work for ya that is why they are there......right.......

 

[puffer32]

Originally Posted by Mace
I am also new to the SW thing. And I was told by a VERY good "SW Tanker" if you will to not touch the sand let the clean up crew do all the work for ya that is why they are there......right.......

Yeppers!

 

[rbaldino]

Originally Posted by puffer32
It just isn't necessary,I let my cleanup crew do that for me. you do have to clean crushed coral, and when you do that, you can cause all sorts of problems, even just cleaning the surface.
Well, in my experience, there are things that can end up on the substrate that the cleanup crew may never touch, like clumps of algae, food that didn't get eaten, stuff that falls off of rock, etc. It's just my experience that cleaning the upper substrate will cause no real harm, certainly no more than a sand sifting fish or invert, and is sometimes desireable for aesthetic purposes.

 

[cannonman]

I think we are missing something here, wether or not you "clean" the sand bed, it shouldn't be enough to kill everything off in the tank, I would be willing to be that there are other problems at hand here.

 

[calabashman]

Originally Posted by dcoyle11
Do you have live sand? i have seen many times on this site people saying not to disturb it. but i am a new be so ???
Yes I have about 1.5" of live sand.

 

[calabashman]

Originally Posted by ifirefight
Need a little more info...tank size,what type of substrate do you currently have? And the depth of said substrate? That would be a good starting point.
Tank size is 24 gallons and I have about 1.5" of live sand and 25 pounds of live rock.

 

[calabashman]

Originally Posted by alyssia
You should not disturb your sandbed! You should only vacuum the substrate if it's crushed coral.
Thanks, did not know that.

 

[walmart]

snails and hermit crabs should be enough to sift the sand on the surface.

 

[calabashman]

Originally Posted by rbaldino
When you say "vacuum" what do you mean? I hope not what I'm thinking...
Get yourself a Python "No Spill Clean and Fill" or a similar product. You hook it up to a faucet and it sucks the water out of your tank. You're not supposed to suck out the substrate, just stir up the very top layer to remove some waste and turn the sand over a bit. Depending on the size of your substrate material, you may have to play around with the flow of the siphon or put some kind of netting over the inlet to keep from sucking all the sand out. The key here is to try to disturb the tank as little as possible.
Thanks, let me explain. I purchased a tank syphon set-up. It has a hose and syphoning end that actually lifts a little of the sand up as the water flows out thought the hose into a jug. The sand raises and then falls back into the tank as I move it over the botom. It disturbs the top layer of sand but that's all.