Problem with fine sand...

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

weekf

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Oct 9, 2005
Messages
334
Hi guys I have been fighting with cyano on my sand recently until my LFS told me to increase water flow on my sand. The problem is I have been using very very fine sand just like those you would find on beaches and if I point the flow directly onto the sand they just fly everywhere messing up my rockworks and looks like they are covered with snow.

Any idea how can I solve this problem? Or is it the wrong choice of sand I use and should be using curshed coral of some sort which is much heavier than fine sand? Thanks in advance guys.
 
Link is not what I think you wanted to show but good try anyways..

weekf,

How old is the setup? Are you using aragonite? Silica Sand?

Some sand such as Pool Filter Sand, leach phosphates and cause severe Cyano outbreaks.

After the tank has been setup a while, bacteria along with critters colonize in the sand and help it from not going everywhere..
 
I thought he said that sand was moving all over.. This is a good thing I got it made my sand stay in place.
 
How does a U-tube with directional flow make your sand stay in place?

Sand needs to be coated with bacteria to make it heavy enough to settle quickly after being disturbed. Aiming a ph directly at the sand bed will cause the sand to blow everywhere as weekf has found out.

You want to create more flow at the sand level without pointing directly at the sand bed. Point towards the glass so that the water flows down. Adjust the height and angle so the sand is barely moving. Some will blow around and create some hills and valleys.
 
Low flow areas in the tank will let cyano get a foothold. However it does not cause cyano. Find the source of the cyano/phosphates and it will go away without flow change.
 
Ok Cyano is caused by phosphates in water? or flow? im confused.
 
It's caused by phosphates in the water. Lack of flow allows it to stay there and grow.

I have a powerhead on the right side of my tank near the top. I have it pointing at the front of the tank and just barely, slightly pointing downwards and slightly to the left, (can post a pic if you want to see). Anyway, the flow hits the front of the tank and flows down it, to the sand and towards the left, thereby pushing a mild flow of water from the right side of the tank to the left, across the sand on the bottom. This has helped along with less, much less, feeding and lots of water changes to get nitrates and phosphates down to very low levels. I'm doing much better now with cyano.
 
Gee to be serious I don't even know what sand it is called. It comes in a bag of sealed plastic bag I think is specially for reptile I bought at the local pet shop.
 
Ok so a phosban reactor 150 would help? I think im starting to get this..
 
I've seen recommendations here to use phosban and/or phosban reactor, but really you should find out why you have high phosphates.

For me, I was feeding twice a day, which turned out to be way more than my fish actually needed. Once I went down to once a day, my phosphates and nitrates dropped by half. I tried phosban in my canister filter once before I changed the feeding pattern, but it didn't work for me, the feeding was my problem. I have no experience with the reactor.
 
Back
Top Bottom