Topic: siphoning sand

[Frogfish]

What is everyone's thoughts on siphoning (cleaning) your sand.

My tank has been up for 10+ years. It has a shallow sand bed... 1+ inches.

Anytime I move some thing in the sand, it kicks up a nasty looking cloud of crap. The corals love it as they all come out to feed. But I am wondering if it would be a good idea to siphon all this crap out.

Of course I would do it over the course of about 3-4 weeks so as not to totally ruin the bacterial colonies in the sand.

[Cyber-Burn]

How much of the sand bed are you wanting to clean off Steve?  Since its a SSB I think you should be fine, there is a chance that you will release some nutrients back into the water column, but then again you are doing this everytime you move something that is in the sandbed.

[oldsaint]

IMO, SSB keep it stirred and do it regularly. Vacuum when you do your water changes. IIRC, the bacteria are pretty well attached to the grains of sand. The tiny amount you would vacuum up is minuscule compared to the multitude that's left behind. If you've never vacuumed or it's been a while since the last time, I would start with 1/4 of the bed or smaller at a time.  Then you can continue stirring from there. I've seen many beautiful tanks where people say they stir their beds everyday. One huge tank, well over 1000g that changes the entire bed out every year. 

[Frogfish]

what a pain in the a$$ to change out a bed!!!!

I think I will probably start siphoning up some of it... probably 10-15 percent at a time... take 5-6 weeks to get it all.