Why is my sand still brown?

[USMC 4 LIFE]

I have 6 month old tank that still has a brown sand bed. I stir sections of it and suction/clean it once ever two weeks to keep it from getting too brown.

I have a spectra pure rodi unit that puts out 0 TDS water.
My parameters are in check (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate all at 0 / salinity at 1.025 / calcium 440 / magnesium 1300 / alkalinity 10 / PH 8.2).
Refugium light is ran on opposite schedule of DT.
I feed lite

Thanks in advance for the help

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

 

[brandon429]

Your question is the subject of forty page debate threads I guarantee it

I always start with: if you reached in and grabbed a handful of sand and then dropped it down, would it cloud everywhere or fall like snowglobe flakes/no silting

That SB drop test identifies the feed

Next is shifting down whites in lighting and making it more blue for a few mos... corals don't mind. For your persistent diatoms (imo) I think they can be beaten with a clean sandbed and less white every time.

This invader is directly impacted by uv use. The way to win would be the clean sandbed first, all else after.

 

[brandon429]

Just noticed miracle mud in the sump. We find the display tank sandbeds to associate more with persisting diatom problems I know that bed below might not be for poking/dropping etc. The light shift shows to work well across threads

Your tank is obviously managed well it appears clean as a whistle

 

[brandon429]

I have a sandbed that will pass a drop test, and still get that same growth if I simply turn my kessil closer to 10k. My tank can literally dial that invasion in and out of prominence by turning a knob on a small led light interestingly.

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

Answering :

Picking up the sand does not cloud the DT.
Diatoms come in the morning when only blues are ramping up
Sandbed was thoroughly syphoned yesterday and cleaned. Sandbed was spotless until this morning after the blues were on for two hours.

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

So it's light intensity more so than colors?

 

[tutmatt3]

Really enjoy your aquascape from what I can see. Got a pic of the whole tank?
Wish I could help w/ diatoms! Maybe a CUC can help?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

it may be worth silicate testing. or buying a photo synthetic sponge.

set up looks great BTW.

I forget. Did you start with all dry rock? Looks GREAT compared to other 6mo olds BTW

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

it may be worth silicate testing. or buying a photo synthetic sponge.

set up looks great BTW.

I forget. Did you start with all dry rock? Looks GREAT compared to other 6mo olds BTW

Ok thanks. I'll look into that and will try getting one asap.

Yes I started out with lots of dry pukani. Decided to take half (40lbs) out to allow more swimming room which provided better flow too.

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

Really enjoy your aquascape from what I can see. Got a pic of the whole tank?
Wish I could help w/ diatoms! Maybe a CUC can help?

Thanks. Yeah here's a couple pics.

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

 

[twilliard]

What is surprising to me is that it is the whole tank bottom. Usually this would be seen in spotted areas.
What sand did you use? I think this is pointing to silicates in the substrate.
I would be curious to see what diatom you have growing.

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

What is surprising to me is that it is the whole tank bottom. Usually this would be seen in spotted areas.
What sand did you use? I think this is pointing to silicates in the substrate.
I would be curious to see what diatom you have growing.

I used dry pink Fiji sand.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

What is surprising to me is that it is the whole tank bottom. Usually this would be seen in spotted areas.
What sand did you use? I think this is pointing to silicates in the substrate.
I would be curious to see what diatom you have growing.

Yea, odd.

 

[twilliard]

I would be curious to see what diatom you have growing

I used dry pink Fiji sand.

hm an odd one

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

I'm might buy 2 lbs of pink Fiji from my lfs and put it in a container and in my tank to see if that turns brown as well.

And buy a silicate tester.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I'm might buy 2 lbs of pink Fiji from my lfs and put it in a container and in my tank to see if that turns brown as well.

And buy a silicate tester.

It could just be AN ugly phase unique to the tank. Dry rock starts are weird . Ive used fiji pink as have most folks. I would have though it would have burned through the silicate by now and the source should have been the rock IMO. Ive never heard from MM users the brown sand problem, despite MM rumors its silica sand.

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

Yeah I also thought the ugly phase would have passed.

I'll buy the test kit and see what that tells me.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Yeah I also thought the ugly phase would have passed.

I'll buy the test kit and see what that tells me.

every tank is different. Dry is different too.