Brown Sand! What to do?

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Hey gang lately I can't seem to keep my sand clean at all. It stays brown!

Any ideas?

I don't feed much at all so it's not left over food.

 

[wicked demon]

Increase the flow and reduce the lights, then do a nice W/C. also nassarius and sand sifters of all kinds will help, like a diamond watchman, or a orange spotted jaw.

 

[Fishcrazy06]

Go a three day stint without turning your lights on at all!!! I do this with my tank and since doing this its been awesome for water clarity and sand staying clean. I tend to do this every 3 months!

 

[Troylee]

mb7 will cure that also....i highly recommend that stuff....

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Thanks for the tips so far. Troy what is mb7?

 

[johnanddawn]

remove it

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

remove it

HA! That's like asking God to remove the sand from the ocean!

 

[EliteReefs]

nassarius are a god send IMO. i have al;ways had tons of them. come feeding time the sand will almost look like its boiling as they all come out. the in and out of the sand like that will keep it plenty clean.

 

[EliteReefs]

HA! That's like asking God to remove the sand from the ocean!

did you just compare yourself to god?? hahaha. ok maybe around here. lol

 

[Ian]

mb7=microbacter7, brightwells bacteria supplement...

how's your TDS levels in your RO water?

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

LOL! Of course not Keith!!


Hey Ian my TDS is 0.

Anybody else had experience with the microbacter7?

 

[CoralBandit]

Just add carbon source. It will bolster the bacteria already in your tank no need to add bacteria directly. The tank will balance itself out based on food not numbers

 

[CoralBandit]

speaking on behalf of the bacteria

 

[CoralBandit]

if its diatoms raising pH will help too by dripping kalk but I would reccommend easing the tank into both above situations

 

[FiReBReTHa]

I found this is a common issue caused by red plates on the sand bed, I will help you out and take it off your hands.


Until then, Water change, Run some phosphate remover and do a two day lights out that will cut it down but that doesnt mean it wont come back. Need to figure out whats causing the issue all of a sudden. Take a photo to see if its Dino or Diatoms. Angle down a pump to get a nice current over the sand bed as well.

These are initial things to start to cut down the "density" of it so then you can fight it off easier. I would be curious to investigate more into mb7 but I havent done my full study on it yet.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

I have a constant flow of calcium effluent going in to the tank. Should I also drip the effluent into something to help with less co2 entering the water or am I missing the whole point?

I should also mention that I have been having a major problem with sand hardening!

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

I also do not run carbon at this point.

 

[FiReBReTHa]

EEK, what kind of sand do you have? sand sifters? wheres your alk at?

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

I am using like a fiji pink sand. I do have snails and my alk is around 8.5 at this time but usually higher.

 

[CoralBandit]

Less Co2 = Higher pH so yea if your calcium reactor is making tank to acidic then what will happen is the sand will dissolve to buffer the water. I believe the crunchy sand bed people get is from the sand dissolving and reprecipitatng causing it to cross link and from bubbles forming from bacteria. Kalk is good b/c of Hydroxide groups (OH-) will raise the pH and add calcium. You can run both but I dont have experience with that myself.