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I've read a few write-ups about people who have had a tank crash after a few years and call it old tank syndrome. Is it possible to "wear out" the sand and rock to the point where it works against you instead of being a beneficial part of the filtration. If so what is the remedy and how do you know when to step in before it's to late?
Well, at this point in time my 54 has been going for 5 years and seems to be in fine shape. I make it a habit to disturb part of the sandbed each time I do a water change. I have siphoned part of my sand out and added new a couple of times. I can't exactly say how much sand, I just took a plate size section down to the bottom and replaced it. At the same time I added some extra to boost the depth of the sandbed. It's about time to do that again. I have all the same rock I started out with.
My current system is over 7 years old and still 0 nitrates and 0 phosphates and going strong. I have a 5-6" 330lb Southdown Deep Sand Bed and unlike Carmie I never disturb it. If it needs any surface cleaning I vacuum it in very small sections and never more than 1/8 to 1/4" deep so I do not disturb the anoxic and anaerobic zones. Its still as white as the day I added it and the sand bed life is amazing.
My previous system was 13 years old and had fish in it that were there from the beginning when I sold the complete turnkey system to tile my home and build the current system.
I don't believe in old tank syndrome myself, I think its either the result of too little maintenance or messing with it too much and disturbing the beneficail bacterias.
It didnt make much sence to me why people would put so much time,effort and money into a tank if it was inevitably going to crash. So whenever I hear the term "old tank syndrome" I'll take it as most likely human error.