you have sand... do NOT vaccum your substrate. not only will it cause a sandstorm, but you will also be removing all the beneficial creatures as well as the bacteria that helps prevent nitrates.
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- Thread starter cullyisgully
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you have sand... do NOT vaccum your substrate. not only will it cause a sandstorm, but you will also be removing all the beneficial creatures as well as the bacteria that helps prevent nitrates.
I vacuum my sand substrate with no problems and no sandstorms- not the entire area, just the areas that are not covered with LR or where I can see obvious debris. (Also have some hermit crabs in there.)
then you are reoving all the biological critters and bacteria that cover the surface of your sand
I appreciate your input. Do you really think I'm removing all of the good bacteria and biological creatures by vacuuming 10-20% of my sand with visible debris?
If that's the case, I'd be more than happy to stop since I don't exactly like doing it anyway.
This is what the LFS "taught" me WAY back when they came and hooked up my first tank, and I've been doing it ever since, with all my tanks.
So should one never vacuum their sand substrate? Just perform the water changes? What do you do with the visible debris and fish waste?
Thanks again for your input.
If that's the case, I'd be more than happy to stop since I don't exactly like doing it anyway.
This is what the LFS "taught" me WAY back when they came and hooked up my first tank, and I've been doing it ever since, with all my tanks. So should one never vacuum their sand substrate? Just perform the water changes? What do you do with the visible debris and fish waste?
Thanks again for your input.
I just looked around on five different sites I found. A couple recommend "surface" cleaning only and not to agitate the sand too much.
A couple mentioned sand-sifting gobies, which I did have and plan to replace soon. One said never do 100%, and to do it in sections on different days.
This one said:
Poorly maintained substrates, however, tend
to accumulate detritus quickly and if this is not dealt with, anaerobic (oxygen poor) areas could develop as bacteria use oxygen to break down the detritus further. This can eventually lead to major problems. Detritus often acts as a source of phosphate as bacteria
decompose it and release stored phosphates. These phosphates then act as nutrients for undesirable algae growth such as "hair algae" (Derbesia) and "slime algae" (cyanobacteria). As there are still hobbyists who use undergravel filters with relatively thick substrate beds and others who would like to use a substrate in their
reef aquariums for aesthetic reasons, it is important to find a way to deal with detritus.
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~delbeek/gobies.html
This site also recommends the gobies (I love gobies). I think I'll just get more gobies and take out LARGE debris with a net. I'll probably still vacuum the sand (less so in the reef), just lightly and not as frequently.
A couple mentioned sand-sifting gobies, which I did have and plan to replace soon. One said never do 100%, and to do it in sections on different days.
This one said:
Poorly maintained substrates, however, tend
to accumulate detritus quickly and if this is not dealt with, anaerobic (oxygen poor) areas could develop as bacteria use oxygen to break down the detritus further. This can eventually lead to major problems. Detritus often acts as a source of phosphate as bacteria
decompose it and release stored phosphates. These phosphates then act as nutrients for undesirable algae growth such as "hair algae" (Derbesia) and "slime algae" (cyanobacteria). As there are still hobbyists who use undergravel filters with relatively thick substrate beds and others who would like to use a substrate in their
reef aquariums for aesthetic reasons, it is important to find a way to deal with detritus.
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~delbeek/gobies.html
This site also recommends the gobies (I love gobies). I think I'll just get more gobies and take out LARGE debris with a net. I'll probably still vacuum the sand (less so in the reef), just lightly and not as frequently.
wait... how are you going about vaccuming it?
just barely touching the surface is okay. but i suposed i pictured how you would normaly vaccume a CC or gavel substrate. that can actualy cause a tank crash by releasing built up gasses and such in your substrat such a CN-, especially if you havent done it an then suddenly do. this is why SOME sand sifting critters are recomended, they help release these pockets that can form in smounts that are not harmful. they can also eat and very slightly stir up the surface (such my walking over it even) of the sunbstrate to keep the debris off of it which has to do with the anerobic bacteria you mentioned.
removing the top layer of sand will remove the bacteria, however.
this is why a lot of flow is important in a sw tank IMO. it keeps debris and such in the water colum to be removed during water changes or sucked out by your skimmer.
as long as you arent removing the actual sand, but just slightly removing any debris in there, you will actualy be okay. sorry about that. i guess i jsut have a different idea of "vaccuming"substrate instead of just applying a slight current over it
just barely touching the surface is okay. but i suposed i pictured how you would normaly vaccume a CC or gavel substrate. that can actualy cause a tank crash by releasing built up gasses and such in your substrat such a CN-, especially if you havent done it an then suddenly do. this is why SOME sand sifting critters are recomended, they help release these pockets that can form in smounts that are not harmful. they can also eat and very slightly stir up the surface (such my walking over it even) of the sunbstrate to keep the debris off of it which has to do with the anerobic bacteria you mentioned.
removing the top layer of sand will remove the bacteria, however.
this is why a lot of flow is important in a sw tank IMO. it keeps debris and such in the water colum to be removed during water changes or sucked out by your skimmer.
as long as you arent removing the actual sand, but just slightly removing any debris in there, you will actualy be okay. sorry about that. i guess i jsut have a different idea of "vaccuming"substrate instead of just applying a slight current over it
IMO, the traopic marine pro is better, however, it is too good for your tank with yoru limited coral selection. you will constantly have high Mg and Ca.
