Ways to get my sand looking like new?

[ReefRusty]

So have anyways loved the tank the first day I had sand in there, pristine white sand! what are peoples ways to keep it nice and clean like its straight from the ocean? this is what it looked like on day 4 after setting and tank was up and running. on this I siphon my sand bed every week during a water change and have a handful of Trouchus snails and glass shrimps. any advice would be greatly appreciated, I don't have dinos or anything of that sort but its defiantly not clean like this.

 

[ReefRondo]

Pretty sure WWC syphon their sand in their front display tank every day. I think it is the one with Casper. It’s just down to hard work I’m afraid. No magical cure for it hence me going bare bottom with a white vinyl coating on my new build. (Outside of the glass) Gives the appearance of pristine sand without the hassle and work. Not to everybody’s taste however.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

My clown likes to move a bunch of sand making her little flat spot in the back. My blue spot goby and his next door neighbor (*see won’t pair) both make constantly shifting caves. I also have a couple of nassarius snails and a fighting conch keeping my 3 year old sand pearly white.
I have one spot that needs attention. I put my Mexican turbo directly on top of it and let him work. After he is done I syphon out the last little patch of ugly sand that reappears every 4 weeks or so.

 

[Tcook]

Nassarius snails
Fighting conch

 

[Bouncingsoul39]

run a phosphate/silicate remover such as Rowaphos or Seachem Phosguard in a reactor or similar. Stir the sand once or twice a week. You’re already vacuuming so that’s good.

 

[ReefRusty]

run a phosphate/silicate remover such as Rowaphos or Seachem Phosguard in a reactor or similar. Stir the sand once or twice a week. You’re already vacuuming so that’s good.

have been running Rowaphos which keeps my phosphates in check 0.022-0.040

 

[drmdvl]

My diamond goby does a stellar job at keeping my sand bed pristine! If you dont mind a constant re landscape.

 

[ReefRusty]

My diamond goby does a stellar job at keeping my sand bed pristine! If you dont mind a constant re landscape.

had a Allans sandsifter goby and it drowned. had a large piece of sand suck inside his gob. was weird as havent had any other fish die so putting it down to that. also didnt really notice much difference in my sand when he was around for the 4 weeks.

 

[Bouncingsoul39]

oh i forgot to mention Tiger sand Conchs. I’ve got three in my tank and they are great at eating sand algae, diatoms and stirring the sand up. fun to watch too.

 

[Bushman]

I 2nd the Diamond Goby. Lil dudes just work all day long. Fun to watch as well. Great sand sifters.

 

[Timfish]

All calcium carbonate surfaces in a reef system will get endoliths growing in it which will discolor it. You can gently siphon off just the top layer of sand, soak it in H2O2 for a ffew hours or a day, rinse well in fresh water, let sit for a day or so, preferably in sunlight to get rid of any excess H2O2, then return to your tank.

 

[Gup]

That's the reason I purchased a Diamond Goby. A regular vacuum cleaner

 

[ReefRusty]

That's the reason I purchased a Diamond Goby. A regular vacuum cleaner

Awaiting for fish store to get in a pair for me

 

[Sea escape]

I have a diamond goby, and 8 nassirius snail as well as 4 fighting conch in a Red Sea 525 xl reefer and have very nice white sand bed.

 

[DarkReefer]

Been having a bit of flare up on the sand side of things myself and tank glass getting dirty fast recently. Went and got another 4 trochus so far and that seems to have aleviated the glass in particular a lot. Still gets dirty but because they eat so much of it, it looks okay from a distance. The sand side of things has improved slightly as well but not like when it's freshly vac'd.

My allen's unfortunately doesn't get out to do his job like he used to (was pretty decent in the areas he was cleaning), my tang likes to go for him when he's spotted so the sand sifter keeps pretty low key these days and doesnt venture far from home.

My tang also likes to take a dump in the same spot, my frogspawn seems to love it as its right next to it, but it means I have a pile of poop to clean every week.
Good luck getting it clean!

 

[EliteSocial]

SO bottom line, hard work is what it takes to keep the sand nice and white, right?

 

[ReefRusty]

SO bottom line, hard work is what it takes to keep the sand nice and white, right?

Will have my work cut if for me just purchased a larger tank today.

 

[jmichaelh7]

+2 SANDSIFT GOBY