What is this on the sand?

[Dan7575]

I have pretty much always had this reddy/brown colour on my sand but lately it has started to get a bit worse, there are also always air pockets in the sand which I can stir out but they eventually come back. Are these things ok or should I be trying to get rid of them? I have a lot of coralline algae in the tank and always assumed it was this.

Ca - 390
Mg - 1300
KH - dkh 7.5
NO3 - 0
NO2 - 0
Amonia- 0.2
PH - 8.2
Po3 - 0.2

 

[StatelineReefer]

I have literally no sense of scale to that picture, are you running a deep sand bed? 4-6"?

 

[jsker]

diatoms How old is your system?

 

[Dom]

I have pretty much always had this reddy/brown colour on my sand but lately it has started to get a bit worse, there are also always air pockets in the sand which I can stir out but they eventually come back. Are these things ok or should I be trying to get rid of them? I have a lot of coralline algae in the tank and always assumed it was this.

Ca - 390
Mg - 1300
KH - dkh 7.5
NO3 - 0
NO2 - 0
Amonia- 0.2
PH - 8.2
Po3 - 0.2

I believe the air pockets are nitrogen. I'm not sure.

Careful stirring the sand. If you do it weekly, that probably won't be an issue. Do it once per month and there may be so many toxins in the sand bed, that when you stir it up, it could create problems.

 

[Dan7575]

I have literally no sense of scale to that picture, are you running a deep sand bed? 4-6"?

No, it is about 1.5 inches

 

[Dan7575]

diatoms How old is your system?

The tank has been going for just over 12 months

 

[Dan7575]

I believe the air pockets are nitrogen. I'm not sure.

Careful stirring the sand. If you do it weekly, that probably won't be an issue. Do it once per month and there may be so many toxins in the sand bed, that when you stir it up, it could create problems.

I don’t stir it out very often at all and only then along the glass line, maybe I should do it before a water change?

 

[jsker]

Your No3's are at zero. I would suggest feeding and your nitrates will come up with the fish eating, creating waist = more nitrates. The suggested nitrates are between a 3 to 5 ppm and phosphates of .02 to .03.

Sometime with LED lighting, having the white too high will also cause diatoms.

 

[Dan7575]

Your No3's are at zero. I would suggest feeding and your nitrates will come up with the fish eating, creating waist = more nitrates. The suggested nitrates are between a 3 to 5 ppm and phosphates of .02 to .03.

Sometime with LED lighting, having the white too high will also cause diatoms.

I only have 2 clownfish at the moment and have been trying not to over feed them so will put more in.

I can’t control my lights, they are the standard ones in the mini reef set from aqua one. Should I have the white lights on for less in the day? Currently on from 3pm to 12pm

 

[jsker]

I only have 2 clownfish at the moment and have been trying not to over feed them so will put more in.

I can’t control my lights, they are the standard ones in the mini reef set from aqua one. Should I have the white lights on for less in the day? Currently on from 3pm to 12pm

I would try cutting back the whites, by two hours for two weeks to see if that helps that works. Diatoms accrue in all over Link here is a little reading and welcome to being a microbiologist/chemist/veterinarian/mad scientists/reefer ;Hilarious ;Hilarious