To sift or not to sift, that is the question!

[mathman]

Several years ago when I purchased my sand at a LFS I was told to create a deep sand bed for beneficial bacteria. I was then told that I would need to maintain the sand by "gravel vacuuming" and general moving of the sand so as to release gases and to keep the gravel from turning into a hard concrete chunk. This weekend I was speaking with some really experienced reefers and they were flabergasted that I still vacuumed my sand. I was told by them to stop immediately because I am removing or killing some valuable microorganisms.

I have some hermit crabs and algae is not a problem. I just vacuum whenever I do water changes for the above mentioned reasons (and to remove detritius material). Should I stop messing with my sand?

[Pomacanthus1]

Yes, absolutely! The fauna you kill by vacuuming are not only great detrivores, but they're also what keep the DSB from turning into a huge clump. It's likely that you have no anaerobic bacteria due to the vacuuming, and thus no nitrate processing in the DSB.

If you haven't already read this, please do: www.rshimek.com/reef/sediment.htm