Adding live sand over sand bed

[anthonygaliazzo]

I had some small algae problems recently in my sand. I started siphoning my sand bed every week and kept it from blooming up but i know its still there. I heard about deep sand bed and how its usefull to consume uneaten foods. I have a little under 1" of sand so i have thinking on adding more. Could putting brand new sand over my sand bed trap the algae under and cut them from light so it dies? How deep should my sand bed be in a 35 gallon?

 

[herp_mommy]

It's not a problem with the sand, it's a nutrient problem in the water column. If that isn't addressed, the algae will just grow on the new sand.

 

[anthonygaliazzo]

Yeah i know i cut back to 6 hours of light per day, feed every 2-3 days and weekly water change i was just wondering if having a deep sandbed would help

 

[Dav3]

No. Are you running a skimmer? More flow in your tank or rearranging powerheads will help if you have food and other stuff settling on the sand bed. It takes time but sounds like you are on the right path. Cutting back on feeding, more water changes. You'll get those nitrates and phosphates under control eventually.

 

[mr_X]

IMO, if you cover your existing sand bed with new sand (depending on how old it is), you are going to smother to death whatever is living in it and possibly cause a spike. Different creatures live at different depths in the sand bed, and at the lower depths, there is only anaerobic bacteria. it's the only thing that lives in low oxygen zones.
Like the statements above, adding more sand will not consume uneaten foods. If you have uneaten food on the sand bed, you need to increase flow and cut back on feeding.
Nutrients, or lack of, is the key to algae eradication.

 

[anthonygaliazzo]

Aright seems like flow is my problem here.I have a jns vs-1 shark pump skimmer capacity of 90-120 gallon per hour. I only have 1 740 gallon per hour power head at 3/4 of y tank poiting towards the surface to keep my surface moving. I will add an other power head.how strong should it be for a 35 gallon tank?

 

[mr_X]

What is the 740 doing? If it's not bad, maybe another on the opposite side pointing straight across? It doesn't sound like too much to me.

 

[anthonygaliazzo]

Well in think the flow looks good my fish and loving it and my corals too. My reef expert that came to check my parameters the other day told me the my tank looked like having a lot of flow. My filter is a marina s20 which does dona lot of flow but my skimmer does a little more. How much gallon per hour must be moved in a 35 gallon tank?

 

[anthonygaliazzo]

And if ever i wanna add more sand just for a visual purpose, can i add more exemple one 20pound bag and stir my old and new sand to mix the life in it so it doesnt die?