Vacuuming DSB...

[islandgirl]

I read somewhere that it isn't advised to vacuum the sandbed because it takes all the things out of the live sand. Is this true cause I vacuum mine, I'm just really careful about sucking up sand!

 

[buzz]

Do not vacuum your sandbed. Not only will you suck up the sand, but yes, you will disturb and kill the life in it, which defeats the purpose of having a DSB. Get some sand sifters/shifters to clean the sand bed, like nassarious snails, conchs, etc...

 

[slick]

What are you sucking off your sand? And you should never disturb your DSB.

 

[islandgirl]

See...this is why I asked I've only vaccumed twice and done numerous water changes. I'm glad you guys told me so I won't do it again I would like to get a sand shifter but honestly not sure what. I'm afraid if I get nassarius snails, my hernies will have a free lunch! Can I put a conch in a 37gallon tank?

 

[slick]

I think that would be ok. Also if you have ls you will have all kinds of worms and stuff taking care of your dsb.

 

[thomas712]

I must agree with the other posters here that you do not desturb the sandbed. As stated you can kill the necessary infauna that is required for a healthy sandbed, which will also take care of any detruis buldup that you may see on top of the sand. If this is a mature sandbed then you may also have anoxic areas that are BEST left undesturbed. You would highly regret releasing the processing nitrates, the anerobic bacteria, and any possable hydrogen sulfide that may exist. Let it be.
Thomas

 

[islandgirl]

What does anoxic mean?

 

[hairtrigger]

It means that if you disturb those regions of your DSB, poisonous gasses that have built up, and are safe under the DSB, may be released. In turn, that could crash your system.

 

[luvnluk]

I have a snail that buried itself into my DSB the day I added him and has not surfaced since, however, I can see that he has been moving around by the disturbance in the sand bed. I'm not sure what type of snail he is - I first thought he was a cerith snail but now I'm doubtful. Anyway, will he release poisonous gasses from the DSB that are not ready to be disturbed?