Why is my sand still brown?

[TonapahNorth]

3. It's not crystal white but it definitely not brown like before. I'd say I have another week before all of the diatoms are completely removed from my sand bed

Pretty remarkable turn around. Do you feel comfortable saying that it was silicates at this point? it sure appears so to me.

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

Pretty remarkable turn around. Do you feel comfortable saying that it was silicates at this point? it sure appears so to me.

Yes definitely.

 

[AlanM]

I had the same thing in my 3 year old tank. Always zero result on salifert silicate test. Always diatoms on sand bed that got worse as day went on and disappeared overnight mostly. It didn't seem to hurt anything but was a persistent mystery.

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

My AP700 light arrived today. This thing is bad butt.

I'll keep you all posted on the diatoms issue every three days or when something significant happens

 

[leahfiish]

Great thread. I also have an ap700 over my 90g and am having brown sand issues. My tank has been running since September, but I got my light in December and that's when the diatoms started. How much phosguard did you use?

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

Great thread. I also have an ap700 over my 90g and am having brown sand issues. My tank has been running since September, but I got my light in December and that's when the diatoms started. How much phosguard did you use?

A fist full. I gently shake it up every morning and reposition it in front of the power head so a new section is getting a gentle flow.

What kinda schedule are you running for your AP700? How high off the tank?

 

[leahfiish]

A fist full. I gently shake it up every morning and reposition it in front of the power head so a new section is getting a gentle flow.

What kinda schedule are you running for your AP700? How high off the tank?

Light comes on at about 10:45, goes up to 35% and stays there for 5 hours and then ramps down and turns off at 9:45. So a long photo period but not very bright. It's at the highest height possible with the arms, about 20". I just have a few soft corals right now.

 

[Sharvey103]

Check your silicates. I have the Spectrapure RO/DI as well with a silca removal cartidge added. All my parameters are fine except I have a persistant silicate problem at 4 ppm. I have changed the RO out and the cartridges but still have the silcate issues. Trying to determine the source now. The diatoms show up about every 3-4 days and I just clean the gravel and keep going.

 

[Reef addict...]

It appears from the pics that you have a Cyanobacteria infestation. Note that it is a bacteria and not an algae, although it appears to be algae. It can be red or brown.

I would recommend that you use Boyd's Chemiclean red slime and cyano remover. That will clear it up in a few days.

Then I suggest that you use Red Sea NO3PO4-X as an additive, part of your routine, to eliminate phosphates and reduce nitrates. That will provide a big impact to controlling algae blooms.

Best of luck.

I would definitely recommend adding something to help. But chemi clean has mixed results and alot of water changes involved. It would probably work and be fairly harmless since it doesn't look like you have any coral. I had an unbelievable bubble algae/ cyno infestation not that long ago. I tried it all. Peroxide, chemi clean, 0 light for 48 hours. I nearly killed every coral in my tank! The only thing that survived well...You guessed it, Bubble algae! I had almost given up until I decided to try that new "Vibrant" bacteria additive I heard about on this site. I broke the dose down to twice a week and just did normal water changes and within a couple of weeks huge chunks of bubble A. We're breaking off and getting hung up in my power heads.( which became a bit of a nuisance on it's own) but the bubble a. was done! The only down side I would even mention and only Bc I see you have cheato in your refugium. I had alot of cheato also. (Which clearly didn't fight my algae problem very well) and it seriously receded. It didn't die. It just shrunk. So I removed it and added lbs of rock instead. It gave more surface area for the bacteria to grow. My nutrients, Na ,Po have been 0 now. My protien skimmer barley produces anything. I'm actually having problems with my LPS and softies because my nutrients are to low. I have to target feed now. I would definitely give Vibrant a try first. And as always, patients is definitely key in this hobby. Good luck.

 

[mta_morrow]

I have had brow stuff on my sand bed for over a year, which is the age of my tank. goes away at night, comes right back in the morning, gets worse thru the day. I run seachem phosguard, 0 TDS, used vibrant, cut back on lights and on and on and on.

Then, 2 weeks ago I got a used MP10 on a trade. BAM! more flow and no brown stuff on my sand bed for the last 11 days. My sand bed has NEVER look so clean and white.

I now am a believer in the power of FLOW!

 

[schooncw]

I used to be in the industry and amongst other products, I sold SeaChem to aquaria stores. It is quality product and I would be running Purigen in your system. I am not saying remove Phosguard but I do think Purigen would be more effective-assuming you don't have a phosphate problem as well.
http://www.seachem.com/purigen.php

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

I would definitely recommend adding something to help. But chemi clean has mixed results and alot of water changes involved. It would probably work and be fairly harmless since it doesn't look like you have any coral. I had an unbelievable bubble algae/ cyno infestation not that long ago. I tried it all. Peroxide, chemi clean, 0 light for 48 hours. I nearly killed every coral in my tank! The only thing that survived well...You guessed it, Bubble algae! I had almost given up until I decided to try that new "Vibrant" bacteria additive I heard about on this site. I broke the dose down to twice a week and just did normal water changes and within a couple of weeks huge chunks of bubble A. We're breaking off and getting hung up in my power heads.( which became a bit of a nuisance on it's own) but the bubble a. was done! The only down side I would even mention and only Bc I see you have cheato in your refugium. I had alot of cheato also. (Which clearly didn't fight my algae problem very well) and it seriously receded. It didn't die. It just shrunk. So I removed it and added lbs of rock instead. It gave more surface area for the bacteria to grow. My nutrients, Na ,Po have been 0 now. My protien skimmer barley produces anything. I'm actually having problems with my LPS and softies because my nutrients are to low. I have to target feed now. I would definitely give Vibrant a try first. And as always, patients is definitely key in this hobby. Good luck.

Read thread from
Start

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

I used to be in the industry and amongst other products, I sold SeaChem to aquaria stores. It is quality product and I would be running Purigen in your system. I am not saying remove Phosguard but I do think Purigen would be more effective-assuming you don't have a phosphate problem as well.
http://www.seachem.com/purigen.php

Why remove what's working? I'm going to stick with the phosguard for the time being since I'm seeing quick results. If I run into a wall with this issue I research the product and give it some consideration

 

[BillH]

Im going with lack of bio filtration. With more and more people going with minimalistic rock over the past few years ive seen this pop up more and more often. Rare to see a tank thats just loaded with rock or lots of marinepure plates that get diatoms in more than just a few locations. Id almost guarantee ya, if you reload some more rock, or put 2-4 of the large marine pure blocks in, within just a couple of months you will see it stay gone. Granted anytime you make a major change like adding or removing a lot of rock or bio load items you could get the same thing happen again.

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

Im going with lack of bio filtration. With more and more people going with minimalistic rock over the past few years ive seen this pop up more and more often. Rare to see a tank thats just loaded with rock or lots of marinepure plates that get diatoms in more than just a few locations. Id almost guarantee ya, if you reload some more rock, or put 2-4 of the large marine pure blocks in, within just a couple of months you will see it stay gone. Granted anytime you make a major change like adding or removing a lot of rock or bio load items you could get the same thing happen again.

I had this issue with 80lbs of rock in there. It's not bio filtration

 

[MermaidTail]

You've got a great tank! Looking forward to see this progress.

 

[Ranjib]

If phosguard is working, then stick with it. But I would echo other members tips. I had to struggle with diatoms for almost 6 months. For me it biringing down the flow close to sand bed helped (I use mp10). Later I realized it was the forzen food (actually i am guessing) that was introducing silicated. I feed frozen mysis & sprirulina. I used to not strain them, now I have started straining them and the diatom bloom does not happen, even if I dont keep my mp10 close to sand bed.
I too think theres a persistent source of silicate from somewhere. May be food, may be water... one by one test them out. Or else just run phosguard :-0)

 

[schooncw]

....to be clear, I did not say "remove" the Phosguard if you saw that it was working but if in addition to the phosguard, if you added Purigen, I think you would rid yourself of the diatoms completely!

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

If phosguard is working, then stick with it. But I would echo other members tips. I had to struggle with diatoms for almost 6 months. For me it biringing down the flow close to sand bed helped (I use mp10). Later I realized it was the forzen food (actually i am guessing) that was introducing silicated. I feed frozen mysis & sprirulina. I used to not strain them, now I have started straining them and the diatom bloom does not happen, even if I dont keep my mp10 close to sand bed.
I too think theres a persistent source of silicate from somewhere. May be food, may be water... one by one test them out. Or else just run phosguard :-0)

I'll test the food then. Thanks

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

Update:

Sand is almost completely white. Just changed out my Phosguard today