Is It Time To Remove Sand?

[Sylvester]

I’ve been fighting this algae or bacteria issue for almost 8 months. I’m wondering if it’s time to rip sand out.
It started as Blue Green Cyano. I beat it with Chemiclean ( so I thought ) !
After Chemiclean it has returned and so I’m dosing second round of Chemiclean , without luck. It won’t go away after 3 days running. It’s a brown dusting and goes away after lights go off. It comes back everyday though as soon as lights are on.
It’s brown but no air bubbles or strings affiliated with it.

Nitrates -10
Phosphates-0.06
Cal- 450
Alk9
Mag-1450

 

[Dom]

How long are your lights on and at what intensity?

 

[Sylvester]

How long are your lights on and at what intensity?

10 hours and rations G4 running 50% along with a couple reefbrites blue

 

[Dom]

10 hours and rations G4 running 50% along with a couple reefbrites blue

Seems like you have a lot of light. I don't feel 50% is the issue, but 10 hours per day feels like a lot. I would suggest reducing the number of hours down.

 

[Sylvester]

Seems like you have a lot of light. I don't feel 50% is the issue, but 10 hours per day feels like a lot. I would suggest reducing the number of hours down.

As soon as lights come on it starts to come out. I would say within the first hour and the sand is brown

 

[littlebeard]

Looks like dino's to me, although hard to judge without a microscope picture. Also going away at night and coming back during the day is often a tell tale sign. And yes, unfortunately they often come after dealing with cyno.

Do you run UV? That will help.

 

[BriDroid]

I agree with the UV. I had the same kind that would go away into the water column when the light turned off. I just started running a UV when the lights went out. That has almost completely taken care of them.

 

[Sylvester]

Looks like dino's to me, although hard to judge without a microscope picture. Also going away at night and coming back during the day is often a tell tale sign. And yes, unfortunately they often come after dealing with cyno.

Do you run UV? That will help.

Wouldn’t chemiclean wipe it out? It seemed to the first time. Yes I’m running a 25 watt UV

 

[littlebeard]

Wouldn’t chemiclean wipe it out? It seemed to the first time. Yes I’m running a 25 watt UV

Chemiclean has no affect on dino's

 

[littlebeard]

I'm not saying with 100% certainty it is dino's but it does look like what I had. I battled dino's for a long time, did a bunch of different methods that sort of worked, but often caused other issues. I tried the diatom/silica dosing that just caused an even greater issue with sponges. UV slowed their growth a bit but nothing really finished them off. I took the UV off and they came back stronger... eventually I decided that they could have the sand bed.. as long as they stayed off the rocks we had a cease fire.

I forgot about the war and they eventually vanished. I know they're down there just waiting for the day I let my nutrients climb too high....

 

[ieatbugman]

I have my lights on for 14 hours and I don’t have that

 

[ieatbugman]

But to be fair, my tank has been running for 2 1/2 years

 

[Sylvester]

Ya this is going to drive me crazy. I guess it’s part of the reefing. I may just rip the sand out and go bare. I can’t stand looking at this mess lol

I'm not saying with 100% certainty it is dino's but it does look like what I had. I battled dino's for a long time, did a bunch of different methods that sort of worked, but often caused other issues. I tried the diatom/silica dosing that just caused an even greater issue with sponges. UV slowed their growth a bit but nothing really finished them off. I took the UV off and they came back stronger... eventually I decided that they could have the sand bed.. as long as they stayed off the rocks we had a cease fire.

I forgot about the war and they eventually vanished. I know they're down there just waiting for the day I let my nutrients climb too high...

 

[littlebeard]

Ya this is going to drive me crazy. I guess it’s part of the reefing. I may just rip the sand out and go bare. I can’t stand looking at this mess lol

I thought about that too, but I like my wrasses and the natural sand look. Could be cool to do corals on the bottom.

 

[PharmrJohn]

UV. It's your friend.

 

[Sylvester]

UV. It's your friend.

I run it 24/7. I’ll wait it out a month or so and see what happens

 

[PharmrJohn]

It should take care of your Dinos poste haste. Unless you have a few different species in your tank. Do you have a microscope?

 

[Sylvester]

It should take care of your Dinos poste haste. Unless you have a few different species in your tank. Do you have a microscope?

I do have a microscope yes

 

[Moe K]

You have to identify the dinos. If it is not ostreopsis or coolia than a regular UV sterilizer filter is not going to do much. If it is amphidinium dinos they will hide in the sand at night and never go through any uv filter plumbed in.

You do not have to remove your sand if it is indeed amphidinium dinos. I created a solution and plan to make a post about it soon.

 

[PharmrJohn]

You have to identify the dinos. If it is not ostreopsis or coolia than a regular UV sterilizer filter is not going to do much. If it is amphidinium dinos they will hide in the sand at night and never go through any uv filter plumbed in.

You do not have to remove your sand if it is indeed amphidinium dinos. I created a solution and plan to make a post about it soon.

And that pretty much sums it up. There's a 4th but I can't remember it. Get a sample under a microscope, take a fee pics and a 20.second video. They can be ID'd via morphology and movement.