Interesting thread advocating for us to clean our sand

[jcnkt_ellis]

So, I came across this thread and it started to change my outlook on how sand beds work:

http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f6...ed-160389.html

The gist of it is that everything, all the way down to the bacteria, poos and the best way to clean the poo is to siphon/clean the substrate. It goes on to explain that the side effect of poo left in the tank is phosphates.

Moving deeper, they make the argument that algae is not efficient at absorbing phosphates or other excess nutrients and reactors, that do not get fresh material regularly, add to the phosphate problem.

Since I have a small fishless tank that needs to be low nutrient, I've been following the advice presented and do not use anything but an ato. With weekly water changes and substrate siphoning, I have a healthy thriving sps reef. It's anecdotal for sure, but the above article quoted enough scientific articles for me to pause and really read what they were saying.

[rrasco]

Here's my sand bed story: My tank was doing 'good'. Corals were all growing and had excellent PE. I can't even remember the last time I had to clean my glass, but I had algae growing on one rock and on my sand, it was impeding my corals and had to be stopped. I could not get it to stop growing no matter what I did. It's important to note all the rocks in my tank, except this one, I dipped in a bucket of h2o2 during my long-standing battle with this foe. I never had any sand sifters nor siphoned the sand due to the abundance of corals calling it home. I finally decided that this rock along with my sand bed must have bound phosphates and as they were released into the water column they were immediately being metabolized by the algae nearest. It was time for new sand. I ripped up my sand bed and removed this rock from the DT. The sand I removed was DISGUSTING. I siphoned what I could and what came out of the sand confirmed my thoughts, it had to be a likely contributor to my algae woes. I can't say with certainty this was my only problem, since I actually removed all of that algae in this process, but the little bit that was growing here or there has receded and doesn't seem to be surviving like it once did. I'll hold out for a final conclusion, but I seriously debated going bare bottom after this. I like the natural look of sand too much, so I put new live sand in. This time around I am making an effort to stay on top of sand bed maintenance, both through siphoning and critters. Only time will tell.

[Big_Pun]

I've had better results with cleaning my sand bed. I also clean out my sump of poo, I see no reason to let it sit

[jcnkt_ellis]

Prior to this additional research, I was a fan of DSBs and letting it all sit. Now, I siphon. What surprised me even more, though, was the argument that refugiums do not really do anything, and reactors create problems if they are not properly maintained with fresh material. In the end, the only piece of equipment that is really advocated is a skimmer.

Siphoning the substrate when doing weekly/biweekly water changes + a skimmer is all that is needed, so they say. At that point, the cost of owning a reef is greatly reduced.

[ramsey]

I'm also a fan of stirring and siphoning the sand bed. Interesting about the refugiums.

[Paul28]

Everyone has there way in this hobby to make it work everytank is deferent some have luck some don't me ive been lucky my tank is almost 9 years in November and ive never messed with my sand bed but I tell you what WOW the stuff that live in my tank ive never seen before and the way all my rock are attached by crazy little sponges I don't like to kill the little worms and baby star fish that live though out my sand bed if food hits the sand bed is neat little pods little worm things come out of the bed to eat no food wasted but that's just me love my little worms in the bed

[jcnkt_ellis]

In all honesty, siphoning should not kill all those little critters. I'm a big fan of them myself. It's just that at the end of the day, those critters poop too and if its not being siphoned its just sitting there....

It's the crux of the DSB system, you eventually reach the point of no return where your sand is so loaded with poo in various stages of decomposition that any disturbance of the sand will release all those built up toxins into the water column and cause a crash.

[Paul28]

the little baby worms and star fish will get sucked out and will die in the bed and make dead spots they cant move through there little holes anymore and they die if messed with it will make little black spots in the bed I don't know its me it will kill them

[Paul28]

o yeh it will happen one day your rocks to its called old tank syndrome it sucks I found a great way to prolong old tank syndrome it is Waste Away but that just me it worked for me it broke a lot of detritus in my sand bed down great product

[jcnkt_ellis]

At the same time, those little critters moving through the bed are pushing the poo deeper. They help migrate the waste to the bottom of the bed where it can't be sweeped up by the powerheads and flushed to the sump where the skimmer waits. Then, as time moves on, the poo fills up the bed from the bottom to the top. It's call "old tank syndrome" as well as other names when your sand bed fills up with poo and the only advice given is to pull out the substrate and start fresh. If you siphon from the beginning and get the poo out, there is no need to refresh the substrate.