Sand bed cleaning

[kjasjg]

summer's here and to avoid the honey-do lists I need to busy myself with my aquarium  !!!

I have had a hair algae problem that is slowly getting better. I have scrubbed the Live Rock which in theory removed much of the phosphates and nitrates/nitrites.

I have switched to RO/DI.

Last thing though is my sand bed - should I clean it or not? I have a 125 Gal long so this is not an easy task and my fear is it will cause some die off etc.

I'm looking for advice on how often if ever do you clean your aragonite sand bed in a mature reef system? (8 years or so)
Thanks
Jer

[robt18]

I wouldn't touch it. You're more likely to have anaerobic bacteria pockets in there than anything else, and by disturbing them all at once you're doing a lot more harm than good. You'd be way better off to run phosban/nitrate remover/bio pellets in a reactor if you want to remove algae growing elements.