WHAT IS THIS ON THE SANDBED??

[PeterB113]

Is this diatoms?? I did a water change and my sandbed was nice and white and a day later it's brown again. Seems to come and go. Any ideas?

 

[Sharkbait19]

Yep diatoms. If you have any fish or inverts that stir the sandbed it helps to keep them from settling.

 

[PeterB113]

Yep diatoms. If you have any fish or inverts that stir the sandbed it helps to keep them from settling.

Are diatoms a sign of overfeeding? I only have 1 clownfish 1 cleaner shrimp and 3 emerald crabs in this tank. I feed that tank 1/4 of a frozen mysis/brine cube a day.

 

[Sharkbait19]

They will come with nutrient imbalance. Mostly due to silicates I think.
How old is the tank? Early on they come in large blooms.
Try some nassarius snails for the sand and astreas or turbos for the glass. That helps to keep them down.

 

[PeterB113]

They will come with nutrient imbalance. Mostly due to silicates I think.
How old is the tank? Early on they come in large blooms.
Try some nassarius snails for the sand and astreas or turbos for the glass. That helps to keep them down.

Tanks been up a year. I might bring in some Nass snails from my other tank

 

[Sharkbait19]

A year should be enough for the uglies to pass. Probably just easy for them to settle without something stirring the sandbed.

 

[PeterB113]

They will come with nutrient imbalance. Mostly due to silicates I think.
How old is the tank? Early on they come in large blooms.
Try some nassarius snails for the sand and astreas or turbos for the glass. That helps to keep them down.

Do you know of any other ways to get rid of them?? Another Water change?

 

[Sharkbait19]

Try messing up the sand with your hand and then do a water change. It may help to remove some.
Do you have any corals or macro? They will compete with the algae for nutrients, reducing the algae growth.

 

[PeterB113]

Try messing up the sand with your hand and then do a water change. It may help to remove some.
Do you have any corals or macro? They will compete with the algae for nutrients, reducing the algae growth.

I have a few zoa frags some GSP alot of Xenia a Hammer and a BTA

 

[FlowGod]

I'd try to suck them out with water changes. If you started your tank with brand new rock and sand they usually have quite of bit of silicates traveling along with them. I would give it a bit of time and keep up on your husbandry

 

[PeterB113]

I'd try to suck them out with water changes. If you started your tank with brand new rock and sand they usually have quite of bit of silicates traveling along with them. I would give it a bit of time and keep up on your husbandry

I usually do such it out but it also takes alot of sand out of the tank by doing that

 

[FlowGod]

I usually do such it out but it also takes alot of sand out of the tank by doing that

You could pick up a little gravel syphon from amazon and use that

Amazon.com : aquarium syphon

www.amazon.com