Do you clean your sand?

[afboundguy]

Do you clean your sand? I've never really cleaned my sand other than occasionally sucking up a little sand if there's ever been algae on the sandbed. I've never really had an issue without disturbing/cleaning it and was just wondering what everybody else does?

 

[Jbissell1289]

Need one on there for occasionally. Lol. I’ve siphoned it once And agitated it maybe twice since set up in October.

 

[GraniteReefer]

Most of my tanks run filterless so during large weekly water changes I aggressively turkey baste the sandbed lifting the detritus into the water column. I then drain 20-95% of the water depending on tank size (5g in my 25, nearly 100% in my 1.75g reefbowl) and replace with new SW. sometimes on my small tanks I will turkey baste, drain 100% then refill 25% turkey baste again drain it then fill 100% new

 

[afboundguy]

Need one on there for occasionally. Lol. I’ve siphoned it once And agitated it maybe twice since set up in October.

I added a rarely option lol...

Most of my tanks run filterless so during large weekly water changes I aggressively turkey baste the sandbed lifting the detritus into the water column. I then drain 20-95% of the water depending on tank size (5g in my 25, nearly 100% in my 1.75g reefbowl) and replace with new SW. sometimes on my small tanks I will turkey baste, drain 100% then refill 25% turkey baste again drain it then fill 100% new

I usually do a 4-5 gallon weekly water change in my 25'ish cube but never really stirred up the sand. I can see the almost 100% change on the small 1.75 gallon tank and stirring that up makes a lot of sense.

 

[absolutecarrot]

I clean my sand every week during a water change especially since theres quite a bit of algae growing on the sand bed.

 

[gobyvin]

I don’t aggressively clean the sandbed every weekly water change, rather, I do it as needed.
When detritus builds up and is noticeable.
I also do this in quadrants, over successive weeks when it is necessary. I try not to disturb the whole tank at once. I do use a gravel vac to purge detritus for these changes.

 

[FREAKINRICAN69]

The goby takes care of that lol. Diamond goby is by far the best beast ever but you have to have a screen on the tank where it’s housed.

 

[jazzsam]

I do have 2 sand sifting starfish

 

[gobyvin]

The goby takes care of that lol. Diamond goby is by far the best beast ever but you have to have a screen on the tank where it’s housed.

Good advice, sand sifters in the Genus Valencienna or Amblygobius
are great helpers and can take care of that for you. I would suggest you run mechanical filter media somewhere in the system if you use them and change or wash that often. They can make a mess if there is detritus built up.

 

[FREAKINRICAN69]

Good advice, sand sifters in the Genus Valencienna or Amblygobius
are great helpers and can take care of that for you. I would suggest you run mechanical filter media somewhere in the system if you use them and change or wash that often. They can make a mess if there is detritus built up.

+1 TY CHIEF...

 

[FREAKINRICAN69]

I do have 2 sand sifting starfish

How good are they? And are they only out when the lights out or?

 

[jazzsam]

How good are they? And are they only out when the lights out or?

They are decent. I like them because they go deeper into the sand to spots you would not clean.

 

[FREAKINRICAN69]

They are decent. I like them because they go deeper into the sand to spots you would not clean.

GOTCHA...GOOD TO KNOW. MAYBE WHEN I SETUP THE 200G I'LL GET A PAIR OF THEM.
MY DIAMOND GOBY HAS BEEN GOING BANANAS IN MY 80G