syphon with live sand?
 

I have only done water change since changing my substrate over to live sand last week. I did it by just scooping water out. I have a syphon hose like this http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...1&N=2004&Nty=1 left over from my freshwater setup.

Is it recommended to use this with live sand? I'm concerned that I would suck the good microbacteria out of the sand. Of course I would never use it to fill the tank with tap water.

Sorry if this is a dumb question. Thanks.

I was just about to ask the same thing. When cleaning a reef tank do we move the sand or not? I have a few guys that clean up the sand but is that enough?

I never touch my sand when I do water changes or clean my tank.

are you telling us not to clean the sand??? what about left-over food and feces from the fish? how are those supposed to come out the tank???
I allways siphon the sand. Im not an expert but common sense tells me to get the bad things (feces left-overs) out.

I have 4 starfish and over 1500gals/hr being pumped though the rock work, so what happens is that all the waste is either eatin or gets sucked into the over flow box's and into the sump to be skimmed out. Most reef keepers have a 3" or more sand bed and that is also another way of filtering the water. A deep sand bed breaks down nitrates into a gas form which escapes the sand bed and escapes out the top of the tank. it is not good to desturb a sand bed deep as it will release toxins and make a tank crash. Now if its less then 3"'s then you wont do any harm siphoning out the sand, but I believe you might remove alot of benificial bacteria doing so.

I only have about a 1 inch sand bed and I tend to stir the top of it up a little every few days with my hand. This is mainly because my algae blenny leaves tons of excrement everywhere. Is this a bad practice?

absolutely do not stir live sand in reef. what happens if you do not have a very dense sand bed is you will get nitrate pockets buildups and if you aggitate the sand before the live sand can decompose it on its own it will all release into your system and that will mean the end of the system. Also make sure you have a lb of sand per gal. at least

No its alright to stir up the sand when you only have about 1-3" of sand . This is because the oxygen kills off the bacteria that breaks down the nitrate. Now what you said is true for 3" or more of sand. :D

well i have a six and i know from past experience BAD IDEA.

Yeah Im totally with you on that. It is a bad idea but with only 3" or more as the oxygen cant reach into the sand that deep.