How often do you clean (substrate/water changes, etc..)your tank?

[mistergray]

It’s me again. Between googling and reading comments through multiple forums, there’s a lot of good advice but it varies enough to sometimes become a bit confusing. I’m curious how often everyone cleans their tanks (water replacement, sand/gravel cleaning, etc...). I understand this will differ from person-to-person and can vary based on the setup and size of the tank. Just hoping to get an idea to what is considered normal, if that exists. Lol!

Feel free to share your cleaning process if you vote.

 

[tjcmtnbiker]

WC biweekly, clean sand monthly but I think i'm going to stop that based on what i've read. my sand is starting to remain clean with my current cuc. However, I'm curious to see where this goes.

 

[homer1475]

Weekly 10% WC, with cleaning the sandbed.

 

[mistergray]

WC biweekly, clean sand monthly but I think i'm going to stop that based on what i've read. my sand is starting to remain clean with my current cuc. However, I'm curious to see where this goes.

Thx for sharing! How many gallons is your tank? What members consist of your cuc and how many of each?

 

[tjcmtnbiker]

Thx for sharing! How many gallons is your tank? What members consist of your cuc and how many of each?

40g. CUC is sand sifting star, fighting conch, a few large nassarius snails, around 5-10ea of the following: small nassarius, cerith, astraea, trochus snails and blue legged hermits. I think the snails and star are turning up the sand bed enough now where I believe I'll stop cleaning it. I also have an emerald crab which I thinking of removing if I catch him pulling more polyps off my pipe organ. I also have a lawnmower blenny.

 

[Gtinnel]

I don't know how to answer. I have a AWC that changes out water every day, but I never vacuum my sand bed. So my answer is either daily or never.

 

[mistergray]

I don't know how to answer. I have a AWC that changes out water every day, but I never vacuum my sand bed. So my answer is either daily or never.

All answers matter! Lol! Since I'm new, every perspective counts. My hopes were to get different methods of tank care and hopefully use them to help form a pattern for myself. Maybe one day when I'm more experienced, I might get an AWC.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[mistergray]

40g. CUC is sand sifting star, fighting conch, a few large nassarius snails, around 5-10ea of the following: small nassarius, cerith, astraea, trochus snails and blue legged hermits. I think the snails and star are turning up the sand bed enough now where I believe I'll stop cleaning it. I also have an emerald crab which I thinking of removing if I catch him pulling more polyps off my pipe organ. I also have a lawnmower blenny.

Awesome! I needed this type of info. What type of starfish do you have? I wanted a starfish, but I believe a 32 gallon may be too small.

I currently have 3 hermit crabs and 1 emerald crab. Do you think a blue legged and emerald hermit would get along?

 

[Gtinnel]

All answers matter! Lol! Since I'm new, every perspective counts. My hopes were to get different methods of tank care and hopefully use them to help form a pattern for myself. Maybe one day when I'm more experienced, I might get an AWC.

Thanks for sharing!

With an AWC it's more about having the space to set one up than anything else. I would strongly recommend anyone who has the ability to set one up to do it. It makes maintenance almost non-existant.

 

[CanuckReefer]

More often than weekly in some instances. Stir sandbed once every few weeks, but that's probably overkill with my CUC, the sand is always pretty clean and gets shifted around quite a bit already. My water changes are every 3 days 2-3%. 90 gallon. Scrape the glass every 3 days, clean filters weekly.

 

[mistergray]

More often than weekly in some instances. Stir sandbed once every few weeks, but that's probably overkill with my CUC, the sand is always pretty clean and gets shifted around quite a bit already. My water changes are every 3 days 2-3%. 90 gallon. Scrape the glass every 3 days, clean filters weekly.

Wow, every 3 days on a 90 gallon tank sounds exhausting! What members consist of your cuc and how many of each?

 

[CanuckReefer]

Wow, every 3 days on a 90 gallon tank sounds exhausting! What members consist of your cuc and how many of each?

Actually I find it to be less work than when I was going weekly. Takes me about 20 minutes or so rather than an hour plus weekly.

CUC
1- Sea Cucumber
1-Strawberry Conch
1- Black brittle star
2- Urchin (Pincushion and Short Spine Black)
6 - Trochus snail
6 - Bumblebee Snail
6 - Astrea Snail
1- Sand Sifting Star
1 - Coral Banded Shrimp
About 15 or so both Red and Blue Legged Hermits

No sump, No Refugium, No Canister filter.
HOB Skimmer, LR, polishing powerhead, UV, and a few other powerheads for flow.

 

[tjcmtnbiker]

Awesome! I needed this type of info. What type of starfish do you have? I wanted a starfish, but I believe a 32 gallon may be too small.

I currently have 3 hermit crabs and 1 emerald crab. Do you think a blue legged and emerald hermit would get along?

Sand sifting star. it would be fine in yours. You'll need more hermits.. blue/red legged. They are fine with the emerald crab. They all get along but will go after snails if there isn't enough to eat or needing a larger shell. The emerald i think does more harm than good ime.... hence prob going to remove it shortly and replace with a cleaner shrimp. You can see other threads on that.

 

[Poof No Eyebrows]

Water every week, socks every few days. Don't touch sand really.

 

[mistergray]

Actually I find it to be less work than when I was going weekly. Takes me about 20 minutes or so rather than an hour plus weekly.

CUC
1- Sea Cucumber
1-Strawberry Conch
1- Black brittle star
2- Urchin (Pincushion and Short Spine Black)
6 - Trochus snail
6 - Bumblebee Snail
6 - Astrea Snail
1- Sand Sifting Star
1 - Coral Banded Shrimp
About 15 or so both Red and Blue Legged Hermits

No sump, No Refugium, No Canister filter.
HOB Skimmer, LR, polishing powerhead, UV, and a few other powerheads for flow.

Nice cuc variety! Is there a difference in temperament and productivity between the red and blue legged hermits or are they fairly similar?

 

[mistergray]

Sand sifting star. it would be fine in yours. You'll need more hermits.. blue/red legged. They are fine with the emerald crab. They all get along but will go after snails if there isn't enough to eat or needing a larger shell. The emerald i think does more harm than good ime.... hence prob going to remove it shortly and replace with a cleaner shrimp. You can see other threads on that.

Thanks for the advice! Time for me to do some research on the sand sifting star.

 

[mistergray]

Water every week, socks every few days. Don't touch sand really.

Okay, try not to laugh too hard. What do you mean by socks? I keep seeing this referred to in threads and have no idea what people are talking about.

 

[sp1187]

weekly 25% WC.
never clean the substrate. cuc does that.

 

[Big C]

I use at AWC, continuous using Versa pumps. I've often wondered for those that have sand beds (< 2") if they vacuum them once in awhile. My AWC is about 1.5% daily and have a few dead spots in my tank. For this reason I typically vacuum once every 5 weeks for about a 5-10% water change. My tank is stocked pretty heavy but parameters have stayed pretty stable. Have the typical CUC with brittle stars, cucumbers, conch snails and wrasse who stir up the bed.

 

[Jeff Jarry reef]

About every 2 months cleaning my sand along with water change. And that works great for my acropora dominant tank.