Do you clean your sand?

My 75 gallon tank is almost a month old. It's a FOWLR for now, but will become a reef. How do you all feel about cleaning sand? Years ago I had a 10galreef, it was amazing looking! up for 4 years. I never cleaned the sand, it was full of life.

Before my 75 becomes a reef, I would like to know if I should let the sand go live, or clean it.

I do have a skimmer and a fuge. I do plan on getting a yellow watchman goby. And my sand is maybe over an inch thick.

If you clean your sand, how oftan do you clean it?

 

I only clean the sand where it touches the glass on the front panel...I just like it nice and white.

 

If you 'clean' it, it's still gonna be live sand.

I wouldn't bother. If you needed to, you could siphon tube it for WC's, I sometimes do, not every time though.


And, kudos on your 1" SB.

Mines a 1" CC bed.

 

Thank you I've just been reading on how some people say sand beds that aren't cleaned are the ones to give you truble down the road with algae.

 

There are a whole lot of variables that people tend to overlook that make the difference. On opposite ends of the spectrum, a shallow sand bed should be vacuumed periodically to keep it clean, while a deep sand bed should not be disturbed.

 

i like to mix my sand up when i clean the tank. is it needed i dont think so. but it does help get more junk out of my system.

 

I also stir up just the surface of mine when doing water changes.

 

I dont vacuum my sand. I prefer not to disturb it unless I need to siphon off some cyano or something.

 

My sand bed is anywhere from 2.5-3 inches deep all round. Is that considered a "deep sandbed"? I have a 29 gallon 30" w 12" D.

And I haven't done a water change yet, only 4 weeks into my tank, but I don't plan on siphoning through the sand when I do. I'm letting it go oh-natural.

 

Not technically as I believe 4" or greater is where most consider a DSB to start (others will say 6").