Vacuum aragonite sand or not

buckshott

buckshott

Member
I have 40lbs of live aragonite sand for my 39 gal. tank. It has been about 2 weeks into it's cycle. Do I need to (when it is time) vacuum my tank when I get my fish all in, and when the bad stuff starts to accumulate; Or can I just get the cleaner packages and they will take care of all of the bacteria, uneaten food, algae etc.?:notsure:
 
reefnut

reefnut

Active Member
Sand beds should never be vacuumed. The sand bed will become alive with worms and micro critters from the live rock. These critters that live in the sand on top of your cleaner crew will keep the sand clean.
After the cycle get some Cerith Snails & Nassarius Snails. They will burrow into the sand and help keep it clean also. Just get a few to start and as your sand bed matures add more.
Stay away from sand sifting starfish and gobies... they will get the beneficial critters living in the sand.
 
mudplayerx

mudplayerx

Active Member
I have been vaccuuming my sand bed for about 2 months now, once a month and so far have only had positive results.
I don't push the siphon into the sand like in a freshwater tank, I position is slightly above the sandbed. This siphons all the poop and whatnot but leaves the sandbed largely undistured.
I can see vaccuuming the sand being a problem if you approach it like a freshwater tank, but my opinion is that if you are careful to not disturb the sandbed, you are golden.
 
scotts

scotts

Active Member
I gotta agree with Reefnut here. A sand bed is there to have bugs and critters and stuff that eats the waste in your tank. If you vacuum the sand bed then you are sicking out the good critters in your sandbed. Short term you may remove waste from your sand bed, but long term you want your san bed to be able to have enough bacteria and critters in it to be able to break down the waste that falls on your sand bed.
Scott
 
reefnut

reefnut

Active Member

Originally posted by Scotts
I gotta agree with Reefnut here.
:cheer: Thanks Scotts, I haven't read that in a while...
 
mudplayerx

mudplayerx

Active Member
Dunno, if you just use the siphon to get the detritus, but don't even cause the sand to float up I don't see a problem. :notsure:
 
buckshott

buckshott

Member
Yeah the old man is in the top 3 of my Seinfeld days. He's so loud and obnoxious. He's loud in anything he's in.
 
scotts

scotts

Active Member

Originally posted by mudplayerx
Dunno, if you just use the siphon to get the detritus, but don't even cause the sand to float up I don't see a problem. :notsure:
Can you see the bacteria in your sand? If you are sucking up the deitrus(sp?) then you can be sure the you are sucking up the bacteria in your sand.
Reefnut I have a strange way of agreeing with a the sharks here, just kind of a kiss up thing I guess.
Oh yeah, Kramer is da man.
Scott
 
mudplayerx

mudplayerx

Active Member

Originally posted by Scotts
Can you see the bacteria in your sand? If you are sucking up the deitrus(sp?) then you can be sure the you are sucking up the bacteria in your sand.
Reefnut I have a strange way of agreeing with a the sharks here, just kind of a kiss up thing I guess.
Oh yeah, Kramer is da man.
Scott
I have over 1.5 pounds of liverock per gallon, so I'm sure I have adequate bacteria in my liverock, not to mention I have two hang-ons which act as fuges (each hold 1 gallon).
John Tullock tells me to siphon detritus, and he hasn't let me down yet! I am going to start an extremist marine hobby group and we will march in the streets holding posters of Mr. Tullock dressed like a imam.

The streets will be filled with the saltwater of the nonbelievers!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top