question about stiring your sand

[Sea Turtle]

I have read recently that you shouldn't stir your sand bed. Is this true and why? I remember that before I started having problems with my zoa's closing up and my sps turning brown and losing their color my sand was majorly stirred. I had added a sand sifting goby to the tank that proceded to stir the entire sand bed, deep down, throwing it everywhere!! Could this have cause some of the problems that I am having now?

 

[Anonymous]

It depends on lots of factors. How deep is the bed? How often was it stirred?

In general, stirring a sandbed is fine if it is done regularly and on small sections. If if the sand bed is deep and has sat undisturbed for a while, you could be asking for problems.
A goby throwing sand everywhere surely could annoy zoa's.

 

[tetra]

if it's deep sand bed, all the craps like sulfur will get released back into the tank.

 

[Sea Turtle]

I would say that my sand bed is about 2 inches deep at the deepest point.