Water change question

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jay917

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Mar 12, 2005
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I was wondering when i do a water change do i syphon the sand as well or just take out the water. I syphoned the sand and my nitrates jumped up but my ammonia and nitrites and ph are still stable.
 
Some will tell you to vacuum the sandbed, personally I think it to be one of the worst things you can do. If you want to remove excess pollutants, fan the top of the sandbed gentley before the water change so the detritus works it's way back into the water column. This allows you to remove some via the water change, your skimmer/filtration equip a second chance at removal and it will feed some corals if any. If there is an abundance, you should also look at cutting back on the amount and frequencey of your feedings as well as possibley bolstering your clean up crew.

In short, just siphon out the water. :wink:

Cheers
Steve
 
c'mon steve it all depends on the type of sand bed.

is it a ssb or dsb?

i would syphon the ssb all the way to the glass and rotate around. a little here one week a little there the next. not all at once. if its a dsb (i do not have a dsb) i would somewhat agree with steve or just get the top layer. i wouldnt suggest stiring as some may suggest
 
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