Disturbing sand

[Nonfamous]

Not sure where this should go so I'm putting it here.

At what point do you want to refrain from disturbing the sand bed? I know on a tank with a DSB it can be real bad. Mine is about 1 1/2" to 2 " deep and right at a year old. I've been messing with the top 1/3" - 1/2" when cleaning the tank. Should I stop doing this or can I go even deeper to get new sand to the top? (I have nasty looking sand and have yet to find an answer for what it is and what causing it.)

FWIW, My Maroon clown cleared a spot, down to clear glass, behind part of the rock structure. I watched it do part of it. It used its tail to blow it away. Any chunks that were there it moved by picking them up with its mouth! Crazy stuff for a clown.

 

[Smitty]

With a sand bed that shallow, it should be fine to clean all the way down to the bottom without any issues. I use to do it all the time before I got my diamond goby...now he keeps it clean for me.

 

[appleton]

I siphon my sand once a month,but thats just my preference.

 

[RockStacker]

2 inches would not be deep enough to support the kinds of bacteria that colonize deep sand beds so you should be ok cleaning everything.
One consideration is that you could be sucking up copepods and other tiny critters that are living in the sand that are live fish food.

My clownfish also digs up a "bowl" of sand every night and sleeps there. My scooter dragonet prefers to bury itself under the sand at night.
So between the two of them and the nassarius snails my sand has been relatively clean.

 

[Bifferwine]

I never used to stir my sandbed manually (mine was 1" to 2" deep). I think a better approach is to get a lot of nassarius snails that will do it constantly and gradually rather than you doing it at one time and possibly releasing detritus into the water.

 

[cvcdrk]

I have personally noticed a slight brown film of algae on my sanbed, specifically the areas where the current has moved everything except the largest pieces.

Stirring just the top bit in this area has reduced this and I know that the problem is a slight lack of flow here. I know I need an additional powerhead but want to save up for an MP10 and don't see a point in dropping $40 on a big clunky powerhead when I will be getting that one (hopefully) in around a month.

However, I secodn the nassarius snails. They do a great job burrowing under the sand and they're entirely self-sufficient. I plan to add a bunch more to my tank next week (Wednesday) in addition to another Turbo (making 2) and a few more other random snails.

Snails are awesome!

 

[Nonfamous]

I've got about 20 Nass and they just dig down in the same places all the time. For now I'm leaving it alone. Partly because I'm not there right now! Long weekend away for the family. Doesnt stop me from worrying about it though.