When to "vacuum" ??

[sssnake]

My tank's been up and running for almost two months now. I've already gone through the brown algae phase, and am presently going through the green algae phase. So far the green algae is not that bad, much less than what the brown stage looked like all things equal.

A bit of debris has accumulated on the sand bed in some spots. Is it safe to siphon this stuff out or should I wait a little longer.

[amcarrig]

I'm not sure that you need to vacuum at all. Just stir up the detritus and let your filtration pull it out. Add some polyfilter or a filter sock while you stir it up if you'd like.

[coral reefer]

Hey fellow reefer! That is a good question...I have never vacuumed my substrate! Whether that is due to my water flow being sufficient and suspending the detritus etc. in the water cloumn for the skimmer to remove or I have an abundant amount of bacteria/polychaete worms and other beneficial organisms to help keep this under wraps. You could remove it now and try to increase the water flow to that particular area if this remains a constant over time to alleviate this from occurring over time imo! Amcarrig is right in that you shouldn't need to vacuum you substrate, but in this case it may be best to get rid of it quickly instead of having the waste suspended in your water column, especially if it is a substantial amount-not a pleasant site to see floating detritus in your water also, some may settle in your rock work and on top of coral, decreasing the light to your tank.
But again, vacuuming shouldn't need to be done on a regular basis...