red slime algae after disturbing sand bed normal?

[pilot108]

I recently disturbed some of my sand bed while moving some rocks around and now I have a red slime algae outbreak just in the area of sand that was stirred up. Is this normal? And should I do anything about it?

Tank is 40 gallon with 10 gallon sump/fuge
0 nitrate
0 phosphate
Tank has been running for 6 months
Any help would be appreciated.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Yea. phosphate and nutrient explosion. How deep is the bed?
People call it a mini cycle, its not a good term. Wrong actually. Its just a bio filter overload. You always have cyano in your tank, you just gave it a lot of food is all.
Slow addition of well rinsed GFO,(a tablespoon this week and the next) and prime never hurts.

 

[pilot108]

Yea. phosphate and nutrient explosion. How deep is the bed?
People call it a mini cycle, its not a good term. Wrong actually. Its just a bio filter overload. You always have cyano in your tank, you just gave it a lot of food is all.
Slow addition of well rinsed GFO,(a tablespoon this week and the next) and prime never hurts.

It's a 2" sand bed. Will it go away on its own or do I have to add the GFO?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

You dont have to do anything my friend.
Light GFO will just pull the favorite cyano food out a little quicker. Kind of back up to Skiming and fuge(chato macros).
What people refer to as a mini cycle ( :mad: pet peeve), is the accidental introduction of excess nutrients in the tank resulting in increased algal and bacterial growth. The filtration systems have been overloaded. Biological (rock sand chato)and mechanical. Gfo is a chemical filter and will help beat back the excess nutrients. Yes depending on your other filters it will go away by it's self. Opinions vary on how bad it is to have a big out break over that amount of time.

Its your business naturally but my opinion.... But from a lot of reading and research + personal exp), 2in is is a very middle ground for a sand bed. it's too deep for shallow and easy cleaning, and that really should be one a month IMO,
and not deep enough to be a DSB. And a dsb takes time to develop. Time and bugs.

Are you going for DSB?

 

[pilot108]

You dont have to do anything my friend.
Light GFO will just pull the favorite cyano food out a little quicker. Kind of back up to Skiming and fuge(chato macros).
What people refer to as a mini cycle ( :mad: pet peeve), is the accidental introduction of excess nutrients in the tank resulting in increased algal and bacterial growth. The filtration systems have been overloaded. Biological (rock sand chato)and mechanical. Gfo is a chemical filter and will help beat back the excess nutrients. Yes depending on your other filters it will go away by it's self. Opinions vary on how bad it is to have a big out break over that amount of time.

Its your business naturally but my opinion.... But from a lot of reading and research + personal exp), 2in is is a very middle ground for a sand bed. it's too deep for shallow and easy cleaning, and that really should be one a month IMO,
and not deep enough to be a DSB. And a dsb takes time to develop. Time and bugs.

Are you going for DSB?

Well now that I'm home from work and looking at my tank it looks more like 1"-1 1/2" deep sand bed. I'm still kinda new to the hobby and learning as I go, is 1" considered a shallow sand bed and should I be cleaning it on a regular basis if so what is the best way to clean it? I know that's a lot of questions at once lol I appreciate any advice you can give me. I'm going to try and upload a pic of it too.

 

[bairdimusprime]

You dont have to do anything my friend.
Light GFO will just pull the favorite cyano food out a little quicker. Kind of back up to Skiming and fuge(chato macros).
What people refer to as a mini cycle ( :mad: pet peeve), is the accidental introduction of excess nutrients in the tank resulting in increased algal and bacterial growth. The filtration systems have been overloaded. Biological (rock sand chato)and mechanical. Gfo is a chemical filter and will help beat back the excess nutrients. Yes depending on your other filters it will go away by it's self. Opinions vary on how bad it is to have a big out break over that amount of time.

Its your business naturally but my opinion.... But from a lot of reading and research + personal exp), 2in is is a very middle ground for a sand bed. it's too deep for shallow and easy cleaning, and that really should be one a month IMO,
and not deep enough to be a DSB. And a dsb takes time to develop. Time and bugs.

Are you going for DSB?

I dont think it could have been explained any better, best of luck

 

[pilot108]

Not a great pic took it with my phone

 

[bairdimusprime]

if you have a siphon i would suck it out, there seems to be some on the back maxijet as well. try to remove as much as possible and let the water changes handle the excess nutrients that were stirred up

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

no problem. Its break for me doing the dishes.
1-1.5 is a shallow bed. Pretty normal for tank. As Ive been trolling the boards for my own info, I come across post after post about people with high nutrients, mini Cycles :mad: peeve, and more.
They dont clean the sand at all. afraid of touching it. It collects poop and food and theres no place for it to go. You may have read the term nitrate factory. I dont think theres enough room for worms and bugs to clean that up.
But if you clean it once a month or more at water change time. It wont be as dirty next time you clean it. Right?

Here's a post I did from earlier.
Here's a thought.
Attach the rock to the glass like a barebottom. Than add the sand.
Buy a gravel vac first (many different sizes available) and scape the rock so you can actually use it in every part of the tank.
Choose a larger grained sand to avoid clouding when cleaning once a month.
Even crushed coral is a fine choice at that point as it wont collect cr@p cuz its so easy to vaccume. (Once a month)

Im a DSB guy. BTW. Cleans itself if you know how. But ya gotta like bugs.
IMO shallow sand beds are gross because folks dont clean them enough.

Edit. I should say I know this because I made that mistake. Its common and most everyone everywhere say you put the sand in first. In hind sight really bad Idea.

Heres a GREAT article by a guy who spent his life studying it.
http://www.ronshimek.com/deep_sand_beds.html

Its all about learning. I am too.

 

[pilot108]

OK thanks I will do that. Other then the red slime should I be cleaning my sand bed on a regular basis with a siphon or am I better off just leaving it alone?

 

[bairdimusprime]

OK thanks I will do that. Other then the red slime should I be cleaning my sand bed on a regular basis with a siphon or am I better off just leaving it alone?

I leave my sand bed alone, havent touched it in three years. i let my cleanup crew handle it. i've got hermit crabs that sift and eat the detritus materials in the sand, as well as a pistolshrimp/diamond goby pair that are constantly moving the sand bed around. a good cleanup crew goes a long way

 

[pilot108]

no problem. Its break for me doing the dishes.
1-1.5 is a shallow bed. Pretty normal for tank. As Ive been trolling the boards for my own info, I come across post after post about people with high nutrients, mini Cycles :mad: peeve, and more.
They dont clean the sand at all. afraid of touching it. It collects poop and food and theres no place for it to go. You may have read the term nitrate factory. I dont think theres enough room for worms and bugs to clean that up.
But if you clean it once a month or more at water change time. It wont be as dirty next time you clean it. Right?

Here's a post I did from earlier.
Here's a thought.
Attach the rock to the glass like a barebottom. Than add the sand.
Buy a gravel vac first (many different sizes available) and scape the rock so you can actually use it in every part of the tank.
Choose a larger grained sand to avoid clouding when cleaning once a month.
Even crushed coral is a fine choice at that point as it wont collect cr@p cuz its so easy to vaccume. (Once a month)

Im a DSB guy. BTW. Cleans itself if you know how. But ya gotta like bugs.
IMO shallow sand beds are gross because folks dont clean them enough.

Edit. I should say I know this because I made that mistake. Its common and most everyone everywhere say you put the sand in first. In hind sight really bad Idea.

Heres a GREAT article by a guy who spent his life studying it.
http://www.ronshimek.com/deep_sand_beds.html

Its all about learning. I am too.

OK saw this after my last post. Thanks for all your help.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Be cool. Cyano happens.