Sand sifter or something?

[montero]

My 55 gallon tank is now cycled. I have 6 turbo snails I just put in there on Saturday.
I have a bunch of dark colored stuff all over the top of my sandbed. What should I get that will stir up the sandbed or clean it?

Thanks.

[jvennitti]

montero,

I'm sure you'll get some more experienced people responding, but here's what I remember from my newbie research not too long ago. Without more information, it sounds like diatom algae, which is natural at this time and will eventually go away. I reduced my lighting and vacuumed the sand. The clean up crew should help as well, though you might need some other critters that are more sand oriented to stir it up. I have some turbos, astrea, and nassarius, but some crabs (red-legged I believed are suggested) will work the sand. I didn't have my clean up crew when the sand was covered, but they did a great job on the LR and glass...all gone in several days. BTW, watch turbos tend to tip over and can't right themselves very well.

I have found this forum extremely helpful and friendly. There's a wealth of information here!

Good luck,

Jeff

[montero]

How do I vacuum the sand?

[CBRGuy]

I had the same problem with my tank just last week. I performed frequent water changes and vacuumed up the sand a bit.

You can use a python available at just about every lfs. It uses your sink to create a siphon. It is great to top offs and water changes.

http://www.pythonproducts.com/nospill.htm

[jackdp]

These algae blooms are normal for a newly cycled tank. IMO You should just continue with regular water changes, keep excess nutrients to a minimum(always good practice) by not overfeeding and using RO water if possible. Often after the tank has cycled there are byproducts of the cycle that algaes can use for food. Once these nutrients are used up that particular algae will die off. This can happen with several different algaes and can happen for months after your tank has cycled.