Sandbed cleaning?

[Hehe]

is it advisable to clean the sandbed once in a while?

normal sandbed not DSB. 1-2cm.

clean as in suck out the sand, dn stir in a basin or pail of tank water.

[albinosage]

To suck out the sand completely to wash is a bit extreme. The flying sand and particles when you siphon them out and put back in will stress the fish and corals.

Actually there is no need to clean the sand so thoroughly, because the sand bed, no matter how shallow, does house denitrifying bacteria, which will clean the sand for you. If you take the sand out completely to wash, you are killing the beneficial bacteria, and the resulting die off may cause a spike in ammonia or nitrate.

Problems like diatoms or algae only affect the top layer, so your cleaning routine can include siphoning the sand lightly to get rid of the gunk. I usually do this when I'm changing water.

[[V]tEc]

is it advisable to clean the sandbed once in a while?

normal sandbed not DSB. 1-2cm.

clean as in suck out the sand, dn stir in a basin or pail of tank water.

what i do once in a while.....take a long hose, connect 1 end to ur sump wool filter, the other end juz above ur fingers.....use ur finger to dip into the sand n stir, the dirt will be sucked into the hose in ur hand to the filter in the sump.....quite time consuming but the sand will be alot cleaner after that....i did that for my dsb n all LS is okie......but do at ur own risk....