Proper Substrate Cleaning Procedures?

What are everyone's thoughts on how to properly clean crushed coral substrate?

Should you just scoot over the top with the siphon or actually push it into the bed to suction up detrius from underneath?

 

I had crushed coral bed for about 4 to 5 months when I started and then replaced it with reef sand.
I used to siphon just the surface since when I pushed the gravel vacuum down to the bottom of the substrate it moved way too much crap around, bringing my nitrates up to 15-18ppm.
Crushed coral looks good for a while though until it gets dirty.

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So how would you go about changing out the CC for sand? My tank is fully stocked with fish/ inverts/ corals.

 

Siphon to the bottom. Siphon under your rocks from time to time too. I love small crushed coral. I have no problems with nitrates. CC is much more live for me and cleaner. No problems after 2 years. did a sand bed for 2 years and hated it.

I've had less algae and problems with gravel/ crushed coral.

 

Hmmm... I try to do my best with siphoning but getting under my rock is tough especially since I have a YWG and Pistol Shrimp. I'm worried that if I go digging around their burrow, the rock might shift and crush um

 

Nah he should be fine. Do it slowly. I have a Japanese pistol shrimp under my rocks and he always moves away. They are super fast. Well at least mine is.

 

ehhh you're not suppose to disturb live sand beds it messes the entire thing up >.< sorry i'm not expert enough to elaborate more on this but here is a quick pic and a link to something you should readRon Shimek's Website...Deep Sand Beds

 

well...

what ive learned over time is that there isnt really a wrong way to reef.(in a way!!)

Ive seen things that work for some and other things that worked for others

dsb, undergravel filter, mechanical filters, bio filters, fudge, sand, rubble, no substrate, crushed coral, miracle mud, skimmer, no skimmer

they have all worked. Just what you want to go with really.

ime with crushed coral and gravel you will want to siphon and push down underneath.
i look under my tank with a light. my stand allows me to look under and that usually tells me where i need to siphon.

Good luck! happy reefing!

 

The way I switched was tedious. I also had fish and some soft coral at that time, so I kept the rock and fish in buckets with the tank water, then I scooped the cc out and dumped it in the tub to find snails and other creatures I didn't want to kill. Then put the rock first, spread the sand and added the water. I did it as fast as I could and with no help. Nothing was lost and it looked very pretty with reef sand.
My brother in law just poured the sand directly on top of the cc and it eventually settled to the bottom and in between the cc, then he added some more sand and that was it. His tank has major nitrates problems but it is due to overfeeding tons.

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how deep is your cc imo you can siphon it without problems the only type of bed that i wouldn't vaccum is a deep sand bed 4+" deep, imo you should vaccum cc to keep good water. if you have enough rock you will have a good filter for denitrification.