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Coral Vue Hydros

sand vaccum?


OneOfDaZZZ

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when ever I move my LR around I get a lot of "dust" in my water. Should I perform a good sand cleaning?

 

I do, do target cleanings with an airtube during my weekly WC, but I don't know if I should take it to the next level or not....

 

Suggestions?

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Yes with an if...

 

No with a but...

 

The problem is, as your tank matures, your sand will go from dead aragonitic sand to "live" sand, full of copepods, amphipods, worms, even starfish like brittlestars. They come right out of your LR and will seed your sand, and they depend on that "dust" for their survival.

 

Sand is also of such a small particle size, that with the standard gravel vac, you're going to suck out a heck of a lot of sand right along with the water.

 

If it were me, and the tank was really mulmy, i'd try using airline tubing to vaccume up patches of crud from the LR. You can also briefly install some mechanical filter (like a cannister or hang on filter of some sort) and stir up the crud a few times with an algae scraper or stick and the filter should strain it out, then remove the filter.

 

Or...

 

You can add some more cleaning animals to the tank, such as white brittlestars, horseshoe crabs or digging snails to go after it.

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