Am I doing anything wrong?

[Steven27]

29 gallon tank stocking list is 2 clownfish, around 7 hermit crabs, and 3 turbo snails. The tank is roughly 7 months old and coralline algae is starting to appear which is a positive sign. Is the sand bed due to the ugly stage? Is there anything that can be done to fix it? I have been conducting water changes every week for the last 2 weeks. I siphoned the sand bed today to see if that makes any difference.

 

[SilvermistInc]

Looks fine to me

 

[Steven27]

Looks fine to me

I compare it to other tanks that have clean sand beds and then look at my tank. I keep wondering if something off due to the sand bed and tank glass.

 

[Lavey29]

What are your tank parameters, lighting and flow?

 

[Steven27]

What are your tank parameters, lighting and flow?

I haven’t check nitrates, nitrites or ammonia in a while. The salinity stays around 1.024 and the light is on for roughly 10-12 hours which may be the big issue.

 

[Steven27]

What are your tank parameters, lighting and flow?

I have two pumps one on each end of the tank for flow.

 

[Rtaylor]

A sand sifting fish and/or conch snails, Nassarius snails, and other cuc will help keep the sandbed clean. Siphoning during water changes is also a good idea. I wouldn’t be surprised if your nutrients are on the high side as well.

 

[Lavey29]

I haven’t check nitrates, nitrites or ammonia in a while. The salinity stays around 1.024 and the light is on for roughly 10-12 hours which may be the big issue.

Well lighting plays a role but with out complete parameters it's hard to identify a source of the algae. Can you get more clear pics of it also. Does it go away overnight? Does it blow off easily?

 

[Steven27]

A sand sifting fish and/or conch snails, Nassarius snails, and other cuc will help keep the sandbed clean. Siphoning during water changes is also a good idea. I wouldn’t be surprised if your nutrients are on the high side as well.

Yes I thought maybe a diamond goby not sure if the sand bed is deep enough? Yea I’ll look into some more clean up crew members.

 

[Steven27]

Well lighting plays a role but with out complete parameters it's hard to identify a source of the algae. Can you get more clear pics of it also. Does it go away overnight? Does it blow off easily?

No doesn’t go away over night and does blow off the sand bed really easily. I actually turned the lights off.

 

[Lavey29]

No doesn’t go away over night and does blow off the sand bed really easily. I actually turned the lights off.

Good because you don't need any light with no coral but you need to get current parameters.

 

[gibec]

my tank is about 5 months old and my green corraline is turning purple. Luckily I didnt have any hair algae or red cyano outbreak.. But I did at one time have a lot of brown diatoms..
Diamond goby is highly recommended in making your sandbeds pristine pretty darn quick. I dont know if they sift through red cyano to be honest, but other algae and diatoms it did wonders.
downside is that it sifts all day and dig around here and there so you might not like it that it bothers corals in the sandbed or change the aquascape of the sandbed.
I say try it and if you dont like it just trade it in for something else.

 

[SilvermistInc]

Just get a conch and a bunch of Nass snails to stir the sand. Your sand bed isn't nearly deep enough for a diamond goby.

 

[gibec]

Just get a conch and a bunch of Nass snails to stir the sand. Your sand bed isn't nearly deep enough for a diamond goby.

Yep just noticed.. ur sand bed is a super thin layer. Needs to be thicker for diamond goby. Mb op