Sand Help! Keeping my sand white!

[Gareth elliott]

I agree that you could do that and would work to clean it. But....
Thats a lot of sand! I mean the sand alone in that tank must weight ~200lbs. The sheer amount of work and the amount of time it would take. Not to mention how much it would cost in salt water?

I am sticking with boosting up the circulation pumps to the recommended flow.

And w@tchm@an i still believe diatoms. .

 

[Nik Mason]

Hey guys..

Looking for some guidance please...
I’m extremely envious of everyone and their nice clean sandbed!

My tank has been up and running for a year and half more or less (maybe a touch longer) and I seem to have been having this issue from the get go.
My sand bed gets brown very quickly, not a thick brown slime... just brown, almost like a heavy dusting.. but pretty rapidly.

I siphon regularly, stays clean for about a day. After 2 days or so its brown and ugly.
I don’t have much algae forming on the glass... glass starts to develop some algae and needs cleaning after about 3-4 days ish, which is normal, right?

There is no direct sunlight in the room, so blackout hours are totally black!
I am away at work during the day so my lighting cycle is from 3PM to 9PM... 6 hours total.
I have an ATI Sunpower 6x80 bulb fixture running:
3x Euroquatics blue pop and 1 ATI Blue plus on channel 1 (running for all 6 hrs between 3-9PM).
1x ATI Coral Plus and 1x ATI Purple Plus on channel 2 (running for 2 hrs, between 4-6PM).

I run GFO and have tested the following params using Salifert kits:
Nitrate: between 5 to 10ppm
Nitrite: 0
Phosphate: 0, Undetectable at reactor outlet as well as display.
PH: 7.7 tested at about 8PM.
Alk: 10.7dKH (Hanna)
Calcium: 575ppm (a bit high) (Hanna)
Mag: 1500ppm

Apart from Calcium being abit hight, all params look to be OK, right?

Could any of the above be causing this issue? I don’t believe my lighting or schedule could be causing this. The ATI bulbs have been changed recently, about 2-3 months old now... and I have been having this issue for a long time.

Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated!

Hi W@tchm@n,
I fixed this over night and my sand has been clean and white ever since,
I bought two sand sifting orange spot gobies and two arrow sand sifting gobies,
they turn the sand over so much I have a new sea scape every day and its so clean,
good luck
Nik

 

[W@tchm@n]

Thanks all for the replie3
@Gareth elliot... If i were to boost the circulation..
How long do u think it would take for me to start seeing a difference?

Seemd to be the easiest way to start...
Sand cleaning is going to be a Misson to get out and back in again..

 

[Gareth elliott]

That will be a hard number to quantify. Variables include type of filtration, percentage of hydrophobic/hydrophilic organics now suspended longer and others.
I honestly couldn’t give you a correct answer.

Possibly sped up by adding more sand cleaning inhabitants, conchs, gobys, other snails types.

 

[W@tchm@n]

Thanks..
Just added that new RW20. Its a monster...
Can u have too much flow??

 

[Gareth elliott]

Watch the sand make sure its not surfing around. And peek at the low flow corals make sure they are still happy.

 

[W@tchm@n]

Sands moving a little...
My toadsstool has closed.. Will try to adjust

 

[W@tchm@n]

So the wavemaker I've added is a beast...
I've tried reposition many times over the weekend but it still seems to be moving my sand into certain places...

So my question is..
Is it possible to add more sand... Heavier/courser in this spots without causing a mini cycle!?

Any advise on type, assuming this is possible.

 

[Dan I]

As everyone has said you can monitor your flow and adjust. In addition, manage your nutrients to see if that is the problem. I would recommend a diamond goby, they are amazing at sifting sand. When I had my goby, he kept it super nice and clean to which I never had an issue with algae on the sandbed.

 

[W@tchm@n]

Thanks... I've got the new wavemaker on the lowest setting.. Also tried adjusting in different positions in the tank...

 

[CDavmd]

I hate to say this but this sounds like Dino’s, the Amphidinium species. Your phosphate at 0 is a red flag.

I would look at it under a microscope to confirm.

You might want to search for the thread “ Dino’s are you tired...” lots is good info there.

 

[Ariton]

I think with your tank size plus wave makers on max you are looking at 13x volume/movement. For a reef i would look closer to 20-40x.[/QUOTE]

But how the sand won’t move that much around ?
I have 7 x 2 x 18 i want to make shallow reef with two little islands and white fine sand bad.
It’s around 130 gal, if i put a pump of around 3000gph the sand bad will be all over :/

 

[Som1else]

Aside from trying to fix a nutrient issue you could pick up a sand sifting goby and your sand will be white forever. Back when I had a sandbed one of these guys was able to clean my entire 180 perfectly.

 

[Ibrahim mustafa]

1 Nassaurus snail per 10 liters of water
Keep the bed nice and turned over

 

[Ibrahim mustafa]

1 nassarus snail per 10 liters and some conch will do the job.

 

[NanaReefer]

What foods are you feeding?

 

[NanaReefer]

oops double post.

 

[W@tchm@n]

1 nassarus snail per 10 liters and some conch will do the job.

That's like 60 snails more or less??
And won't they end up breeding and over running the place... Down pipework and stuff?

 

[NanaReefer]

That's like 60 snails more or less??
And won't they end up breeding and over running the place... Down pipework and stuff?

No they won’t. Nass snails are not known for breeding in the home aquarium. Also stay mainly within the sand bed.

 

[W@tchm@n]

oops double post.

Gamma blister
Mysis
Brine shrimp
Rottifers
And no risk for the herbies.
Not all at the same time of course..


Gamma blister
Mysis
Brine shrimp
Rottifers
And no risk for the herbies.
Not all at the same time of course..

[emoji23]