Do I stir the live sand?

I have heard mixed opinions on this. I am getting algae on the top of my sand bed occasionaly.....can I stir it or am I making things worse?

 

How deep is your sand bed? If you're running a deep sand bed then don't touch it but it you only have about 1"-2" then you can stir the surface of it a little bit.

 

how longs your tank been running? if its cycling, id leave it alone.

 

I agree with both previous posters. As long as your tank is cycled and you have a SSB you can stir it up some. I have a 2" sand bed and stir it up 2x a week. I havent seen any issues from doing that. My feather duster seems to come out more when I do it, I think it likes catching the small particles floating in the water column. Also dont go crazy and turn your tank into a cloudy mess, maybe just do 1/2 the tank at a time.

 

Get some nassarius or better yet a sand sifting star (if you dont have a DSB that is), stirring the sand is just a temporary solution, it will just cover it again and you will be makin your tank cloudy ever few days tryin to keep your sand white. The Sand Star will keep your sand clean but once its clean you may want to give it a shrimp or sumthin now and then to keep it from starving.

 

the sand bed is about 2-3 inches deep and has been running for about 8 months. The water perams look fine. Would adding something like a sandsifting star or a conch do the trick? I just have always stirred the top but resently heard that it is best to leave it alone.

 

I used to have the problem with diatoms/algae etc accumulating on my sand and looking unsightly but since I added the star my substrate has been clean and bright all over. The sand star will however eat not only the algae but anything, including beneficial bacteria, but I would be concerned at 2-3 inch of sand especially if you have plenty of rock or other bio filtration

 

Would a UV sterilizer be benificial?

 

I have black sand in my tank a little over six months now. it went from a nice crisp black to a brown ugly color, it's also very shallow, but i've always heard, stirring up sand bed will release toxins, etc so I was afraid.

Anyways, two weeks ago I got a vacuum, Hagen, a long oblong plastic tube that you have to shake vigioursly that will start a siphon and suck the lighter than sand stuff. So I used it over the las two weeks and pulled up a ton of this brown stuff from all voer the place, I moved my rocks and got some moving as well. I think it was due to poor water movement, so the crap is getting a chance to sit on the rocks. I don't think it's bad getting some movement into that sand every now and then, let the filters grab it out the water as it moves.

 

Sand sifting stars eat live foods not detritus and are a poor addition to a deep sand bed since they wipe out all the fauna. I know that from a bad experience, I bought one against everyones advice and it wiped out a 330 lb DSB in 2 months. It has never been the same since.