cleaning sand?

[Dyncaus]

this may be a stupid question, but i was wondering if there was any way/ any need to clean the live sandbed in my tank, it would seem that a normal gravel siphon would suck up all the sand, and i heard not to stir it up too much or some of the bacteria would die. any help?

[alexwolf]

i bought some sand sifting stars and fighting conchs, they seem to be doing a good job. Also serpent starts are supposed to be pretty good.

[Dyncaus]

my sand bed is probably about 2-2.5 inches deep

[matt]

Dynacus, you might want to go to reefcentral and check out Ron Shimek's forum. On there he has links to all sorts of info about sandbeds, including types of animals that are beneficial and detrimental to functioning sandbeds. Hermits, sand sifting stars and gobies, bad; urchins, snails, worms, good. If your tank is big enough to support a real live sandbed, (maybe 36" X 18" min) you'll have to add some sand to bring it to 4" or so in depth. It's not hard to do if you want to.

[Pr4mncplus]

I have crushed coral and I use a standard gravel bed vacuum with a 25' hose. Works great, but then again I don't use a fine DSB. I also have several sand sifting stars and assorted snails that do a decent job of cleaning up.

[Pr4mncplus]

Thanks! I've been a member of Reef Central and just found out about this website. Can't wait until the October meeting. Nice to have something here in San Antonio.

[Pr4mncplus]

Oops, sorry. Meant to say the NOVEMBER meeting.