are you supposed to vaccum a reef tank?

[palmero]

when i had my reef tank few years ago i found that the gravel/sand got dirty pretty quickly, but when i would try to clean up the gravel (little vaccuming) the tank got cloudy and the soft corals didnt look too well. Alot of slimy material would appear to shed off my anenome.

So now for the next time i just would like to know the best way to periodically clean the tank. Is vaccuming a good idea? Or just clean the glass? TIA

 

[seaham358]

What did you have last time for a substraight crushed coral or sand?
Sand is the way to go now so no vaccuming is needed, you get a clean up crew of snails and crabs and let them do the work.

 

[MT79]

vaccuming a good idea?

No, if you disturb an anoxic area in the sand bed it could cause the tank to quickly crash along w/ the fact that it stirs up alot of nasty stuff as you've noticed. Vaccuming is generally not advised, although some people do it. Keeping the sand bed well stirred via critters like nassarius snails, worms, etc. is the best way to keep it from accumulating large amounts of detritus/debris. FWIW, I like to use a turkey baster to clean my LR when I do my weekly PWC to remove some of the "junk" from the tank . HTH

 

[palmero]

ok good advice thank you....i had live sand

 

[Hara]

I vacuum the rocks and the sandbed with a rigid piece of tubing attached to an airline tube, this allows me to get the detritus off the rocks and the sandbed without disturbing the depth of the sandbed.