Yep, that's correct, it's not good to vacuum the sand.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



George Patterson wrote on 1/6/2007 12:09 AM:
KurtG wrote:
It's odd. I bought two plastic trash cans of the same size. I mix
salt water in one, and then siphon off water into the second of the
same amount. But, when I refill, I'm always 2-3 gallons short?

Yep, that's odd, but I don't understand why you siphon water into the
other can. I just siphon mine into a drain. To make that easy, I placed
one of those stick-on thermometers on my tank with the bottom of it at
the correct location for the water level when it's 25 gallons low. I
just drain water until the water level is a little below the thermometer
and pump the new stuff in.

I spent some time vacuuming the sand. Man, it's amazing the amount of
crap (literally) that I pulled up. I'm way under my livestock limit,
but there's no lack of detritus.

Yep, there's a lot. I get the impression, though, that it's not a good
idea to vacuum the sand in a reef tank. I might be wrong there.

George Patterson
Forgive your enemies. But always remember who they are.