Today i'll talk about sand, and the ever controversial cleaning vs leaving it alone.
During my system operation i've observed 2 phenomenon. First the biodiversity of an undisturbed stable sand the effects of its biodegradable powers.
Among's the bacteria who are visible by the different shades of color and its distribution pattern; lives an acute population of pods, worms(not bristle worms), emerging snails(hundreds of babies) who are ready to devour any morsel left behind. In fact my sand was so alive it damaged a gorgonian i had, who had fell on its side touching the sand. The little critter ate its tender flesh so fast that it was denude right to the stems in a matter of minutes.
http://www.aquaticlog.com/showcase/image.jpeg?imageId=113573
You can see on these image the Cirratulid worm a super detritus eater. many of the pockets of gases including oxygen produced by the bacterial activity. Within these small pockets also live pods, and othe critter that have yet to identify really. You can check my microscope video of my sand if you like.
So why not vacuum ever so often. First i didn't want to loose the gas pockets full of micro-organism helping in the clean up and denitrification of the sand and water. And why loose all the micro-organism population and flush it down the drain, when they're doing their stuff.
Once i disturbed a corner of my tank and look at how long it would take to rebuild the same structures as before. It took 3 weeks for the gas pockets to return, not as big mind you but to start being noticeable. As for the rest of the worm 2 months to repopulate their dwelings. And how many coutless snail did i loose who knows. One corner didn't make an impact on my system but i can imagine that the whole sand bed at once could send my chemistry into a spike in gases, and nutrients all over.
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So a weekly or monthly vacuuming destroy an important part of the filtration and ecosystem of a tank. Can it be done once a year and by stages and on different areas of the tank once a year; i suppose so in fact it may be a solution to other problems. I don't know which one yet.