Substrate Vacuuming?

[bj5z25]

I have a 75 gal reef tank that has been set up for 3 weeks. I have course and fine sand mixed together as a substrate. THis weekend i am going to perform a water change, do i need to vacuum the sand? If so will the sand get sucked up through the vacuum?

 

[tripper]

Do you have a DSB or a shallow one? In my tank I only vacuum the substrate if it looks like it needs cleaning (if that makes sense). You will inevitable suck up some sand, which you can rinse off later and add back to the tank if you wish. If you do have a DSB, I would not vacuum it except for maybe the top 1/4". HTH

tripper

 

[bj5z25]

well my sand bed is about 2" in the deepest spots, and it rangees from 1 1/3 to 1 1/2 everywhere else.

 

[Devilishturtles]

I don't have a DSB, but when I do water changes, just briefly run the vaccum head over the sand. It will get some of the buildup and die off, uneaten food, and all the other stuff. You may lose a little sand, but for the most part it will stay in the tank. Like already mentioned, if you are using the bucket method that is (and not a python) just scoop the sand back out of the bucket, and put it back in your tank.

 

[seaham358]

No need to vaccum the sand bed unless there is lots of detrius on the sand. When you add a clean up crew you probably never need to vaccum to sand bed. I only vaccumed the sand bed to get rid of cyno bacteria. Whats nice about having a tank with a clean up crew is they do the work and you watch.