siphoning

[FishDaddy]

Allison,
If you're talking about your 10 gal., you need some more circulation and a skimmer or at least some form of filtration to keep the detritus from accumulating on the sandbed. Since you have no fish in this tank, is this algae? What janitors do you have?
It is usually not a good idea to vacuum a live sand bed as you suck up the good stuff with the bad. There are small skimmers that are driven by air pumps that work on these small tanks. Occasional use of a small power filter can also help but the filter must be cleaned often to avoid nitrate production in the media.
Brooke's homepage has links to some other sites specific to very small tanks that may help: http://people.mn.mediaone.net/bearthman/reef.html
HTH
Dick

[SJLord]

I have to agree with FD on the siphoning the sand, realize that your "live sand" is not just creatures, is bacteria, if you vacuum that up, your basically taking that right out of the water. get some janitors, or better yet, some nas. snails, I love mine, popping up out of the sand and eating things ... pretty cool guys ... haha

Steven

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I heard it was good to do it right the first time, will I ever listen!
http://www.greatbasin.net/~eslord

[tdwyatt]

Hey Allison,

vaccuuming the sand of the live sand tanks or even removing (syphoning) up detritus deprives a number of creatures, especially the benthic populations, of the nutrition that they depend on. The sand beds in smaller tanks operate much the same way the large tanks do, although there may not be as large a population/species variation as in the large tanks (speculation) I don't keep any small tanks (mine are 30 gal and up) but I checked with several people that do and they all reported that the 10 to 20 gal size will stay sparkling clean without any maintenance if the sand bed is mature (contains it's critters like bristle worms and other benthic invertebrates) and there is sufficient nutrition for them to survive. The use of sand sifting creatures (those that would eat your benthic population) should be discouraged, as it would interrupt this housekeeping function. Hope this helps!

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Tom <"{{{{>(
(TDWyatt)
Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something. -Plato

[Allison]

This may be an extremely elementary question but I HAVE to ask it... Is it good or bad to siphon the sand-bed? There is so much crud that piles up in it so I would think so. But then again, if you have live sand with all the critters, won't it disturb them? I've been pondering this question for quite some time. Any opinions on the matter?

[Allison]

Thanks for the replies everyone! Definately helpful. Now I don't have to sit there wondering if I should siphon or not. I know I have "something" in my sand. Maybe I'll go buy some critters this weekend when I get my LR for my 55-gal!!!