What is wrong with my sandbed?

saltyfilmfolks · Oct 31, 2016

Patty's tank said:
I've got two hydor 1500gph but only run one at a time, alternating each hour! Is that enough flow?

probably, its hard to see flow or just rely on the numbers. Got an full tank shot? And whats your return.
Ittl help but not cure btw

Patty's tank · Oct 31, 2016

saltyfilmfolks said:
probably, its hard to see flow or just rely on the numbers. Got an full tank shot? And whats your return.
Ittl help but not cure btw

Don't know about the return, but I have it split in two, like a Y

saltyfilmfolks · Oct 31, 2016

Patty's tank said:
Don't know about the return, but I have it split in two, like a Y

yea thats probably fine.
Nice tank btw. (ok I really just wanted to see it

)

The trick with flow is to keep it kina stirred an "turbulant" so less falls down and more goes to the skimmer. (your going to play with that till the end of time).

But it just looks like a new tank to me. Once the corraline gets established and the bio filter too itll steal food right outta the cyanos mouth so to speak. it takes a bit longer with dry rock is seems.

Hang in there.!

CynicusReef · Oct 31, 2016

Get a signal goby. Best sand sniffer ever. But it is a pain to train him to take frozen or pellets but if you manage to do that it will keep your sand bed crystal clear.

TheEngineer · Oct 31, 2016

Flow is important to keep nutrients from settling, like @saltyfilmfolks said. However, flow is not a treatment for cyano. It's a new tank, it will subside on its own without intervention.

Albz · Oct 31, 2016

i had this just last week, its all gone now! get some astrea snails if your tank is done cycling btw! they help with that! mine ate it all lol

TylerS · Oct 31, 2016

Since it's a new tank you might have luck with one of the bacterial additive products. One option is Dr. Tim's waste away, there are others. I believe I saw a recent sponsor thread that might work also, vibrant liquid aquarium cleaner.

Phil Cusimano · Nov 1, 2016

IMHO from the close-up photos the culprit is most certainly cyanobacteria ... I would suggest shorting the alternating time on the hydor. You could add a small bio pellet and phosphate reactor the will reduce nitrite and phosphate levels. Test for those before, it also appears you're experiencing new tank syndrome.

aythatguy26 · Nov 1, 2016

@saltyfilmfolks what powerheads are 2 for $16? I need some extra flow.

saltyfilmfolks · Nov 1, 2016

Youll wind up hating these, but they're good in a pinch. I keep them for the dips and emergencys
https://www.amazon.com/SunSun-JVP-1...TF8&qid=1478016959&sr=8-3&keywords=wavemakers
https://www.amazon.com/SunSun-JVP-1...TF8&qid=1478016959&sr=8-2&keywords=wavemakers

aythatguy26 · Nov 1, 2016

What makes you end up hating them? Would they run fine in my cube?

saltyfilmfolks · Nov 1, 2016

aythatguy26 said:
What makes you end up hating them? Would they run fine in my cube?

sometimes they get loud< so I spit in the rubber bushings esp when new. On start up some times they stick and dont go in so you have to poke the impeller. Theyre supposed to be rated a 500 gph but man a couplue nearly blew the water out of the tank, the others not. So its a fine stop gap and you may have better luck, but its the get waht you pay for factor. On the low end price range Id stayed w koralia and Jebao. both in the $40 rage. the hydor runs forever pretty much. My oldest is like 6 years old, def slowed down. The jebao Ive only had for a year. been fine so far.

the jebao hilariously enough on ebay are $40 or so for a wp10 i have in my 30 cube and like $ 45 for the wp25 I have in the 55 standard(bit too much actually) and the prices seem to change constantly.
this is the seller I buy from. Also sells just the power supply or just the head too. prompt emails fast shipping etc etc.

http://stores.ebay.com/supermart168/

Patty's tank · Dec 1, 2016

saltyfilmfolks said:
yea thats probably fine.
Nice tank btw. (ok I really just wanted to see it)

The trick with flow is to keep it kina stirred an "turbulant" so less falls down and more goes to the skimmer. (your going to play with that till the end of time).

But it just looks like a new tank to me. Once the corraline gets established and the bio filter too itll steal food right outta the cyanos mouth so to speak. it takes a bit longer with dry rock is seems.

Hang in there.!

OK so it's been more than 2 months since I've been dealing with this problem. I have played around with the powerheads and flow in the tank but nothing seems to help. Nothing in the tank will eat it and its now all over my live rock. All water parameters are still perfect and phosphate is around 0.02. I don't know what else to do, is this still part of the "new tank syndrome"? or can you give me any ideas to fix this problem? Thanks again