sand bed stirring

[twriedel]

Can someone tell me what the pros and cons are regarding stirring up the sand bed on a regular or once in a while basis opposed to leaving it alone. Is it bad or not or is just a matter of opinion?

[Obi-dad]

You can stir shallow sand beds (SSB), in fact this can feed your corals, but don't stir a deep sand bed (DSB). That can release bad chemicals which could harm or kill the inhabitants.

[twriedel]

What is considered a deep sand bed? I have a 120 w/ a 2 inch sand bed. I thought stirring it up might help with getting rid of a little red slime and help feed my reef. Also, the sand turning colors (red/green); good sign or no big deal?

[cuongvynguyen]

A deep sand bed is at least 4" in depth. You will know when you see small bubbles in the sand against the glass. It is OK to stir up and clean the top inch or two of a DSB. I always do this at every month water change when I blow out detrius from the rocks and siphon it off along with the top inch or two of the DSB.... DSB does require maintenance for long term success, everything in a aquarium does.

[Obi-dad]

Just be careful with stirring a deep sand bed, there have been threads here talking of disaster even when the poster said they were stirring just the top.

[jbabbitt]

Most of the time stirring it up will not get rid of the red slime you are talking about. Cyano will appear gone, but will settle once again, you must find the source of it....Lack of light, flow, etc. Or, use chemiclean, or redslime remover, if you want to go with the chemical version. I do not recomend this, but I did do it once and it worked.

[FlipFlops24/7]

My cerith snails seem to "mow" through the first inch of sand pretty well. Maybe you need some more creatures to stir up your top layer of sand. I plan to get some sand sifting starfish soon too.