to vacuum sand or not

I had a crash with losing my fish this past Saturday. I am struggling with nitrates - anyway, I have really never vacuumed my sand before. I had an engineer goby that always kept all areas moving with tunnels and such...anyway, I have been doing water changes and started vacuuming the sand. Not that much gunk seems to come out of it and it's teaming with worm life...should I just let it be or could the sand be contributing to my high nitrates? Some have suggested perhaps removing the sand bed but it obviously is very healthy. Any thoughts or opinions on what to do?

 

It really depends on how deep the sand bed is.

How often you vacuum it.

Deep sands bed are best left to sand sifters/stirs IMO. A sand bed 1.5 inch and less is fine if it's routinely vacuumed. It's best not to start vacuuming the entire SB if you have not done so in awhile. I do it by sections, with each water change.

Tiger tail cucumber has been a favorite sand mover of mine. They leave a little pile of clean digested sand as they ago about their business. lol.

 

Unless you have crushed coral, leave it be. Even in a shallow sandbed, there can be compounds best left out of the water column.

If you do have CC, vacuum it in sections, as Coralline mentioned.

How long has the tank been up?

 

You should always clean the sand. I had the same issues when I stopes cleaning my sand. But everything is under control now. I'm not a expert this is just coming from my personal experience

 

I have never cleaned the SB in any of my tanks and have no Nitrate issues.Agree with Greg.

 

That's what great or frustrating about this hobby - there aren't always clear cut answers - we need to judge what's best for our tanks based on what we've learned and our unique set ups....

 

I once posted my opinions on cleaning a sand bed, and thought it was general knowledge to leave it alone, then I got slammed by a few members ;D and realized that some people have their own ways of keeping their tank maintained. IMO and Experience for a year and a half, I've not touched the sand bed. I keep Nassarius snails, several worm species, a cuc, and a cucumber that routinely scours the surface, and I have no water issues. This is only MY way of skinning the old Cat, but it's been working for me, and I plan on keeping it that way.

 

depends on your CUC, IMO is your fish, snails, inverts, can clean the sand alot better than vacuming it out.

that being said you can vacume but it might be more trouble than its worth in the long run. natural is always better.

just plan it out, a dimong goby, good snail crew, and possibly cucumber can keep it way cleaner than you can

 

Agreed except the Diamond Goby.Most sand sifting fish will end up starving after all the food is gone from the SB and they make a real mess dropping sand all over corals and LR. Nassarius snails and/or Fighting Conch have been all I have ever needed to keep my SB clean and stop the compacting.