Do you clean the substrate in saltwater tanks?

Question

During a water change do you drain the stuff out of the substrate or do you leave it to keep the biological stuff going?

My substrate is crushed coral

Answer 1

You can stir it up a little, but it is easier to just use a gravel washer and remover about ten percent of the water while cleaning the gravel. To remove much more water would cause problems with the biological cycle of the tank. Glass scraper blades do a great job of cleaning the glass without scratching it. They are sold in paint departments for very little money. Turkey basters simulate an ocean storm and are very good for cleaning the live rock.

Answer 2

you're the perfect purifier on your tank. distinctive freshen up crew kind of animals are risky. IE distinctive human beings propose hermit crabs. Hermits are OMNIVORES and could devour any ingredient basic. also they're popular for killing snails for his or her shells. maximum snails are reef secure, yet they could also quite clog a clear out a or plumbing, speedy snails are favourite for knocking corals over. Brittle favourite individual fish can and could devour slower smaller fish. My suggestion is to get some snails, nassarius and cerith. a purifier shrimp and in case you want a fashionable individual fish inspect a serpent favourite individual instead of a brittle favourite individual. Snails in most circumstances are the perfect at eating algae and protecting the substrate sparkling with the bottom threat.

Answer 3

Any substrate that is beneficial will have already dissolved into the water. The substrate you see is the excess. Drain this.

Answer 4

use a finer substrate and you can use fish and snails to keep the bottom clean

Answer 5

Clean your cc. Unless you are running a plenum then it helps to do as good of a cleaining as you can.