Cleaning Tank

[Jeremy_holt]

When I take water out of the tank should I suck the sand up in the siphon or just remove the water. New to this and don't want to disturb the Live Sand if that is bad. Thanks

[stuccodude]

i take water out and i pull the sand away from the front glass to clean the glass and put the sand back but thats all i disturb with the sand, i believe you can siphon the sand but you have to do it from day 1 and never stop. traditionally your not to disturb the sand espicially if its a deep sand bed, good luck

[reefhead165]

Don't touch the sand.....

[ShootMe]

Originally posted by reefhead165
Don't touch the sand.....

+1

Just leave the sand be.

[reefhead165]

if u want the sand to be clean get a sand sifting goby or sand sifting star fish. Try your hardest not to touch it.....

[tmz]

It does not hurt at all to puff up the surface of the sand every few days with a turkey baster in order to put decaying material in the water column.

Why do you folks think it should not be touched?

[stuccodude]

theres a highly respected local reefer in my area and i was told by our LFS that he works on his tank every day(retired) and he digs his hands into the sand almost dailey to keep that fresh look, ive seen his tank online and its a totm kinda tank but my own experince i do pull the sand back from the glass once a month to clean the glass and have asked on this site a long time ago if thats ok and a bunch of reefers said yes, good luck, ive never had a problem

[Jeremy_holt]

Thank you all very much

[Achapman]

The sand sifting goby does the same thing we would do don't they?

[tmz]

Originally posted by Achapman
The sand sifting goby does the same thing we would do don't they?

exactly so do a number of other sand sifters. I don't know where this don't touch the sand misconception comes from. By allowing the sand to accumulate detrius a nasty mess is often the result. I believe the only caveat would be aginst sifting to deeply in a deep bed which has been undisturbed for a long while. In this situation, there is a possibiloity of releasing some hydrogen sulfide which may have formed and can be toxic to fish. Even then with good flow I have never heard of an actual case of fish death from hydrogen sulfide release in and aquarium.

[Brandon Cassidy]

I grab a little sand off the top layer just to get the nasties out. I dont have a skimemr yet, but this works like a charm.