does anyone vacum the substrate? the reason i ask is my tank has been running for about 5 years and there are some dead spots under the rock where i can see grey matter build up its not really accessible to get at ,wondering if this could have some bearing on the recent apperance of some cyano ?the substrate is aragonite (small type) i do weekly water changes water perimeters are all good ,also should i vacum the accessible places ? or leave it alone?
vacum substrate
- Thread starter ollie51
- Start date
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mmkeeper
Well-known member
You might try blowing it off with a powerhead during a water change. I vaccume the top 1/2 inch or so on my sandbed
Krish
RF STAFF
It's definately good to vaccum your substrate to remove any detritus/waste that may be collecting there if you don't have sufficient critters to take care of it. Even then, they don't always get it all. Just be careful not to go too deep into the sand bed if you are running a dsb 
Reeferdude
Reeferdude
There are many schools of thought regarding sand beds and their maintenance. There will come a time where a dsb may become saturated and either need replacement or cleaning. If it's merely for aesthetic purposes it may need regular cleaning.
plack
Sea Otter
" I vaccume the top 1/2 inch or so on my sandbed"
How do you keep from vacuming up the sand with it assuming this is not crushed coral ???
I always end up strugling with a sponge inside a tube attached to a hose (sponge is at the top of the tube near the hose) and waiting for The sand I just dug into fall's down. I then siphon up what I can but it never really is that easy unless theres a trick to it I don't know?
Paul
How do you keep from vacuming up the sand with it assuming this is not crushed coral ???
I always end up strugling with a sponge inside a tube attached to a hose (sponge is at the top of the tube near the hose) and waiting for The sand I just dug into fall's down. I then siphon up what I can but it never really is that easy unless theres a trick to it I don't know?
Paul
seahawkone
Active member
I have a 6"SB divided at 3" with screen I vaccum top2" I'll tell you how I save a lot of my sand. Vaccum in one hand discharge end of hose in the other hand. Thumb on discharge end of hose for makeshift on/off water flow. Let water flow pickup the depth sand you wish to clean raise vaccum tube a little off SB stop/start water flow a few times. Now regulate a slower water flow till sand starts to fall raise vaccum tube.Let sand fall back in SB waste will seprate flow out discharge.
jeffnewt
Barred Morey
It also helps to "pull" the sand into the tube with a quick spurt(pinching the hose) and then wait for the sand to settle down in the tube. Then let go for another spurt sucking the ditritus out, and then repeating. It takes a few times to get the feel for it, but it really helps to pull with the high suction wihtout taking the substrate too far into the tube.
acrodesiac
Well-known member
tinmanny
Member
I started using a 35 gallon drum to empty into so I could track how much water but then I added a sock at the end and now I catch all the sand I suck up not a lot. I wash it and put it back but the trick is to do different spots on the bottom every time to give all the critters time to recoop from the last time by doing different areas all the time you only vac the same spot maby monthly.
By the way my vac has a 2" di end about 12" long and the sand just rolls around in it because it has less velocity than the hose itself
Manny
By the way my vac has a 2" di end about 12" long and the sand just rolls around in it because it has less velocity than the hose itself
Manny
acrylic_300
Cleaner Shrimp
you can dump the water without dumping the sand...it tends to stay in the bucket. Spoon it into a container with a lid then release it back to the sand bed.
Ollie I would diffinatly not touch your dsb. A 5 year old dsb with signs of grey sand is best not to screw around with. With a bed of this age it has set up and is running its ecosystem of various bacteria types. Screwing around with it now (beyond removal) is just playing with fire. Your bed has and is doing what it is designed to do. Some nutrient removal, sinking of nutrients and end product and so on. Its now just a matter of how long it can continue to do that. A bed of that age now be turning into a nutrient producer, its natural for cyano and other algaes to become prominate as they are now the sinks. Havest them and you will continue to export. If you stir up the grey sand (which is anaerobic and thus produces sulfides) you risk the chance of putting these sufides into the water system...not a good thing
Mike
Mike
I agree with Mojo...it's best not to disturb an older sandbed. When my DSB reached 5 years old, it was definately beginning to show its age and starting to approach the end of its useful lifespan in my tank. I did try to gently increase water flow above the sandbed in the hopes of keeping more of the organic particulate matter in suspention in the water column, thus hopefully reducing the load on the sandbed. I was careful not to disturb it. When I moved the tank 2 years ago, I removed the sandbed entirely. Honestly, I was suprised at how clean the sand was, and I also noticed very little odor of sulfides from it. To qualify that, my reef was always a pretty low bioload when I had the sandbed, rarely more than one or two fish in there at any time.
MikeS
MikeS
I assume this grey matter is on the surface, and not at depth. If at the surface, there is no problem with siphoning it out. And don't worry about siphoning out a small amount of sand along with it. You can easily add a thin (1/2") of new sand to your tank with a funnel and a large-diameter tube.
As advised above, don't siphon the whole area at once. Try to limit yourself to 1/4-1/3 of the area in one siphoning.
