How often do you vacume your sand bed?

Matt, but if you vacuum too "far" down on a well established sandbed, then you could potentially leak sulphides into your tank right? I have a 12gal nano reef than I have NEVER EVER touched the sand or liverock for the 4yrs I have had it. When looking at the sand bed from the front of the tank you can see some slightly colored spots deep into the sand bed, some greenish and some redish. There are TONS of worm holes, mini brittle stars, bristle worms, clear string looking worms, and much more that I see going in and out of the sand and rock at night. Could my sandbed be in that bad of shape for not ever touching it after over 4 years.

Thanks,
Mike

 

If you have that kind of infauna in your sandbed, you probably do not have sulfide....altho....I am no expert! But just the action of the critters going up and down in the sandbed bring oxygenated water down into the bed.

Why did you want to vacuum the sandbed? Are you having problems?

 

I actually don't want to vacuum this sand bed at this time. I am getting close to being finished with my setup for my new tank (largly with thanks to all your help and inspiration) and haven't totally decided what to do with this current nano-reef setup as I didn't originally intend to have 2 reef tanks. I thought about a small seahorse tank, but not sure I want to take that chance with a 12gal eclipse that ONLY has the eclipse filter with bio wheel removed, a powerhead (rio 200) and heater, appx 15lbs live rock and appx 3.5in sandbed. Thought about trying to move some of the rock and or sand into my new tank, but with the outbreak of anemone majano I don't want to introduce any rock or sand that might have a chance of bringing that over to the new tank.....silly question but is there any chance for fish to bring that over if I put water from the new tank into a fish collection cup then net the fish and put them into that cup with as little possible water from the old tank?

Thanks!
Mike

 

I wouldn't think fish could carry that over, but if you want to be paranoid about it (hehe like I am!) give the fish a 20 minute or so fresh water dip.

Match Temp and pH of the freshwater to the tank water...

You could also sift through the sand and physically remove the beneifcial creatures, eg. starfish etc to put into the new tank.

Keep the nano for a QT tank! ;D

 

decisions decisions...i'd be soo worried about harming my 3 fish (2 true perc and 1 six line wrasse) by putting them in freshwater for any amount of time, that just seems soo odd to me

QT tank? not familiar with QT

 

Pontentially,but I've never had a serious problem with that, occassional bubbles, that's it.

It sounds like your well stocked with detrivores and your sand is doing well. I've never been a big fan of worms and my Six Line Wrasse took care of the ones I did have. I could use more snails or stars or the like in my sand though... but for now I just hit dead current spots with my siphon. THe one spot I was thinking of where I got a lot of red debris was right over where I feed the fish (often cyclop-eeze) and so I tend to siphon there occasionally or else diatoms show up. I will say my ricordia shroom is loving that spot though and getting quite large.

 

John:

Do you not like deep sand beds? Thats what it is sounding like. From your posts it sounds like you prefer a 2 inch sand bed. BTW John, Your blue Linkia starfish that I saw in one of your posts months ago inspired me to get one.

J

 

Jay,

Very perceptive LOL DSB's always remind me of the Septic tanks we used to have before sewerage.

I still have my blue linkia Been moved many times now, even rescued him from a powerhead the other day and still surviving. Ever seen a starfish sucked flat, simply amazing

John

 

I get it...like comparine the anarobic bacteria in the DSB to the enzymes working in your backyard septic tank.

Hey John, does your blue star move around very much? Mine hardley moves at all. In my other tank...the one thats been up for a year I have a orange linkia that boogies all over the tank everyday. I have the Blue on in a tank with a low bioload and doesnt have near the food supply. I was thinking about moving the blue one into the older tank thats more mature, mabey he would do better and move around more. I currenyly have 1 lawnmower blenny. 1 clown percula, 1 big Domino Damsel. 1 Coral Beauty, 2 big Green Brittle Stars. 1 orange Linkia Star, About 100 blue hermits and 50 snails, 1 small serpent star and about 20 corals. The fish are pretty small except the damsel and my sand bed is 4-5 inch with tons of worms, tiny stars and pods. I would say that my sandbed is very healthy and capable of the bioload. I also have 2 productive skimmers working on this tank. In your opinion would it be safe to move the blue star in here with the other circus I have going on in there? Other opinions are welcome to....hint hint. Guess I should almost open a thread for this but a yes or no is all I really need.

Jay