What did I do to my tank? I stirred up the sand bed during a deep clean and omg so much detritus.

[EricR]

I mean I really stirred up every inch of the sand with a turkey baster and watched all the stuff come up also I siphoned out my back chambers something I never have done like I did lol.

I'm sure you already know this, but I've "heard" that leaving sand alone for a long time (2 years in your case?) and then deciding to stir all of it at once might not be the best plan.
*I've always just used the sand vacuum as my water change -- I know others prefer to never touch the sand but to each his own

 

[KrisReef]

Oh man do i have a lot of questions now.
Is this kind of filtering something that one should do on a regular basis, so that what happened to Ayden is not happening?
Or should you just never stirr up your sand?
Is this filter the only solution to a cloudy bed? (except for cleaning the sand in the beginning)
Many thanks!
Best
Liftoff

The sandbed as a detritus sink is a well known feature of sandbeds. Lots of sps keepers have noticed that a deep cleaning can result in the clouds noted by Ayden and the settlement of fine dust in the aquarium. The dust is linked with RTN and STN incidents in the days after a deep cleaning but the reason for this is not clear?

The removal of the dust with a diatom filter is a common practice as is basting the rocks to keep the dust away from coral.

Lots of people have removed their sandbeds to prevent the formation of the detritus clouds during cleaning. Again, the problems associated with the dust and anecdotal but something seems to happen fairly often afterwards that most of us don’t want to deal with or fool around with as a matter of good husbandry.

Coral in the tank will often be seen feeding on the clouds but the results are not always good?

 

[SueAubu]

I think it will be fine. Fish seem all good. I did this when I was deep cleaning my tank and doing a water change. The detritus is already settling. Also I siphoned out the back chambers for the very first time and I’ve had the tank for a few years lol and this was after I did a massive water change. I’m more so curious to see if anything bad happens but so far so good lol. I just stirred up my sand bed that’s all I did.

Hahahahaha. I consider that one of the coral feedings for the week!!

 

[exnisstech]

My thoughts on sand, clean it regularly or never. I'm all bare bottom now because I can't keep sand looking clean.

 

[brandon429]

you'd be amazed at the thousands of pages of work on file dealing with that clouding, where it exists marked variability also exists where some tanks are ok with the stir-up, and some tanks are:

Sand Bed

I have a stable, successful (by my standards) tank for many years. I has a dsb which may or may not be relevant to that. Seems like all I read about DSB is anecdotal. So, I will add to it. I had to excavate a small section of my sand bed for a plumbing issue. With in 12 hours, both my tangs...

www.reef2reef.com

Cloudy water, Dead Fish

I Did a water change as well as cleaned the sand. i took the rock out and scrubbed the rock with a toothbrush to get all the hair algae off. Put everything back and did a water change. A few days later water is still cloudy and all fish are dead but one. Had 2 clown fish, 2 blue chromis and a bi...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[brandon429]

every rip clean thread I've ever posted in or defended until I was temporarily banned was exclusively dealing with that clouding in such a manner as to guarantee the tank owner their system would not die. we did attain that in all cases, by removing that cloud or preventing it from ever amassing in a tank. we didn't have a 99% safety rate, we have and ongoing 100% rate.

I predict the clouding is nonlethal in the vast majority of cases. its invasion fuel though, dinos and cyano love that substrate food.

 

[VintageReefer]

You don’t need to clean your sandbed. I have not manually cleaned this in 10 years and look how bright and clean it is, even in back corners / low flow areas

All you need is a good crew

I do not deny that sand beds can become problems if not maintained. But a good cleanup crew will slowly fix the issues for you and prevent future ones. Conches are a great help

These sandbeds can trap and buildup all sorts of nastiness. Stirring / vacuuming releases it in large amounts all at once.

Increase the sand bed cleaning crew and they will slowly work it over inch by inch and it will become clean

 

[Sophie"s mom]

I turkey baste my rocks and the top of my sandbed during each water change. I just lightly blow on the top of the sandbed to send the detritus into the water so I can syphon it out.

I do the exact same! I get everything set up to syphon, then turkey baste everything then start the syphon. It works very well.