sand

[cfrank84]

So, I was just informed i should stir my sand in my RSM..Is the sand supposed to be stirred really hard or just the top layer or so.. ive had the rsm up for roughly 3ish months and i never touch the sand.. is that a bad thing?

 

[fish scales2]

Dont do anything yet please. I have never heard this but goes against some basic principles. I will post again in just a few minutes when I get off the phone with the manufacture.

 

[cfrank84]

well i havent ever touched the sand.. im guessing maybe 2 inches? its 40lbs of sand with the biggest piece of live rock on the barebottom so that displaces some of the sand.... ive never touched the sand in the RSM or the BioCube.. both up since dec/jan i thought i had been told not to touch the sand but someone told me i should stir it on occasion so i wanted to clarify with the experts (all the ARCers) thanks for the quick response

 

[dakota9]

When I do waterchanges, I vacuum the sand bed. I do this once a week when I change the water. I dig down about an inch deep in all the sand I can get to easily. I guessing my sand bed is about 2" deep in places. This keeps all the detruis at bay. I know theres some people that would consider this dangerous, but I've never had any adverse reproccussions from doing it.

This IS NOT a recomendation that you do it........ Only telling you what I do and the results I get.

 

[cfrank84]

i thought lots of creepy crawlies lived in the sand so that why i thought not to touch it so i wanted to clarify

 

[cfrank84]

well then i will leave it alone then .. im thinking of making the biocube bb once the rocks get nice and purpled up see what all the fuss is about

 

[fish scales2]

Red Sea stated that they recomend "allow only the first 1/8 to 1/4" of sand to be disturbed and only small areas at any one time"

 

[cfrank84]

what would be the advantage to sticking my hand down there for that? i try to keep my hands out of the tank at all costs.. i glue and place everything in its perm home so i dont have to rearrange and such frag rack it high enough in the tank for my tongs to place frag plugs in as well so if most agree that its not beneficial then im gonna just let the lone hermit do what he does for the top layer lol

 

[stevot123]

I have a 55 gal. I use two sand sifting stars and some nassarius snails to keep my sand bed looking bright white. As a side note i wanted to use black originally but there is always the upgrade . . .
Also several fish keep the sand stirred like goby species.