Dirty, dirty bottom.....

[wdebenedettojr]

So today I decided to gravel vac my sand for the first time in longer than I would like to say. Couldn’t believe the junk I pulled out of the sand bed and I stir my sand every month or so too.

I know the big fad now a days is no substrate but I just can’t get over the look of not having sand. The look of nice clean sand just makes everything pop!

so just a reminder to everyone, clean your dirty bottoms every once in a while!!!

 

[Joker]

How far down did you go into the sand bed?

 

[wdebenedettojr]

How far down did you go into the sand bed?

About half way. I’m sure in certain sections I went lower but I tried for about half way

 

[gobyvin]

I honestly find the fear that people have about disturbing sandbeds odd. It takes a deep bed of very fine sand (oolitic) that is downright nasty and really irresponsible husbandry to create a chemical meltdown through sandbed disturbance. Even that can be avoided if you are removing the water completely as you clean it, (need a lot of water, but it is worth it when doing catch up cleaning). I just did a massive sandbed changeout and removed all the sand from the tank to wash in seawater, that sand remained cycled and did not sour, but I heated it and aerated in a cooler while waiting to reuse it. I have done this many times in the past, and maybe I get lucky because I use water like I make it rain.

 

[highfive52]

I turkey baste sand in between water changes. Puff it up good. Corals love it. Extra food