keep that sand white and bright

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mastershake

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Dec 15, 2004
Messages
173
Location
etown mass
do yall have the same problem as me, where your entire sand bed's surface is covered with any kind of particle that would be in your tank, i have all sorts of brown and black and other chunks of stuff, there is only two pieces of rock, and no fish, yet the tank floor is covered with crud,


anybody have any suggestions on keeping this clean, if i were to siphon the crap off it would just take all that sand outta the tank, which is bad, so any ideas would be appreciated
 
well i did have cyano but im working on controlling that, this stuff is just like particles and stuff likethat that could be removed from mechanical filter easily, but getting to there is the hard part i guess,
 
You could easily vaccuum that stuff up...but I've always been afraid to do too much of that as I'm likely to vaccuum up a lot of critters as well.

It depends what kind of ecosystem you're trying to maintain. Left alone, the sand bed won't stay pristine and clean.
 
When i only had 1 percula and tons of pods my sandbed was clean. Added a few more fish/less pods=dirty sand bed.
 
you could also take a look at your water circulation. If there's not enough circulation it could be whats letting it all settle to the sand bed. Also, if you get a little more LR, it will help disguise the gunk while your critters take care of it. Ultimately, all your snails, worms, pods, etc take care of all of this stuff. If you don't have enough, it could be why you're seeing it build up. I wouldn't suggest vacuming the sandbed, you will end up removing more sand than gunk. Do you have any kind of HOB or sump/fuge on your system?
 
Scott6480-

If it is slime looking and breaks up easily you may have cyano. Also called slime algae. That is a fairly young tank to have a problem with cyano. are you using tap water for the fillup and topoffs? It may be that you are adding phosphates into the tank with your water. You may need to get an ro/di unit or use distilled water as I do. You can rid the tank of it by using chemi-clean but you need to stop the excess nutrients or it will be back. You can also add some PH for water movement to keep it from starting.

of course this is all if it is cyano. do a search on this sight or post a pic for a positive ID. HTH
 
RMPD109 said:
If it is slime looking and breaks up easily you may have cyano. Also called slime algae. That is a fairly young tank to have a problem with cyano. are you using tap water for the fillup and topoffs?


I bought RO.DI water from the LFS and premix saltwater. That is the only water that has been in the tank so far. I will check out picture of the bacteria to make sure its the same thing.
 
Currently i have an amiracle mudd filter, its like a sump and a fuge combined and its growing caluerpa, then i have a seaclone skimmer, and a aquaclear 300 thats running only with Kent marine phosphate sponge in it that i got today,i have two ac 301s that are really close to the bottom of the tank to try and keep stuff from settling, i moved those down today too. It isnt only the cyano that was on the bottom, theres other crap i think might have some from the rocks or soemthing, just like dust and chunks of stuff, and all that stuff just seemed to settle on the sand maybe the extra flow near the bottom will keep it suspended to help the filters get it... well see, its starting to look a lil better though, and hopefully the phosphate sponge will rid the exess phos and help control that cyano,
 
I have the same problems...I am currently working to get rid of it. Chemi-Clean works wonders to help get rid of it. but the cause of it must first be found. check your nitrates. High nitrates help this kinda stuff grow.
 
nitrates too, geez it seems like everything just fuels this crap, chemi clean will help prevent it from coming back supposedly, i dosed twice with it, and i also added the phosphate remover and all the circulation, and the skimmer pretty much in the same week, so hopefully this stuff will go away for a while, and now im gonna have to go get distilled water or something to topoff with.
 
"i have that my tank is about a week old? should I do anything about it?"

It may go away on its own. Reduce feeding. Watch phosphates ..... basically everything everyone else has said.

However, I have had really good results with chemi-clean. If you are like me and do not or cannot afford a do/ri unit , it can give you the upper hand. It is an oxidizer that is added directly to the tank and helps to clean up the cyano. It doesn't seem to harm the critters when you follow the directions. Once I was able to get on top of the problem, it has not returned.

JG
 
your never gonna have bleach white sand... it's gonna have a "natural" look to it.. The only reason beach sand is white is because the lack of life and the sun bleaching it out....

You can get some sort of gobies..
Twin spots (get a pair)
or other sand sifters to clean the sand...
They do a great job of cleaning.
 
Forgive me if this has already been mentioned, but I didnt see it as a skimmed the thread, but one of the best ways to keep your sand clean is to keep it sHifted. (note I did not say sIfted). Conchs and other such sand dwellers will not only clean the sand, but they keep the top layers turned so that the algae does not have time to grow on it. :wink:
 
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