Dirty Sand Problem

[Ftfunnative]

Looks like your ammonia is high. Cut back on the food and keep up on your water changes.

I was looking at your pics again, the one pic looks like your have no water in the back compartments??? Do you and are you running your pumps?

Go to reefcleaners.com. Email he owner and send him pics. He will put together a cleaner package to help you with your problem. Still doesn't fix the issue though.

Have tested your phosphate yet?

 

[Kvark27]

The ammonia is all I could tell was high also. I really don't feed much. What water change schedule would you recommend?

Yes there is water flowing in the back and the pumps are running. The picture doesn't look like it though for some reason. Am I suppose to have enough water in there for the whole back to be completely full to the top or just enough so the water falls over the back into the main compartment? That's what I have setup now. Still not sure if I am suppose to add anything to make this filter better. I only have what came with the CF-Quad Nano Kit.

I haven't tested for phosphate. Is that a different test I need to buy from the API I bought yesterday?

Thanks for the help, really want to get this tank healthy so I can add more stuff!

 

[Clownfishlovers]

i would suggess you add more flow. sure that would solve the dirty sand problem

 

[Kvark27]

I have read that online too so I have increased it and moved them to cover more of the tank. If you are familiar with the CF-Quad Nano pumps and wave maker, do you know what setting I should set the flow to?

 

[Crystal A]

I've got a jbj nano same set up as that. First I would suggest getting a power head. I have a hydor koralia 750, it pumps 30-50 gph. This will help circulation, the stock pumps suck.

My filter cage has three chambers, top one is filter floss. The black sponge that came with the tank is crap. Get the white filter floss its a finer mesh that will absorb smaller particles in the water. Second chamber has phos pad, looks just like filter floss but is green and helps absorb phosphate. The last one I have nothing, might add carbon in the future but right now don't need it.

I like to keep my overflows about halfway to 3/4 full other wise the pumps start to spit out bubbles. As far as test kits as a newbies I got API reef test kit. It has all that is needed for a reef system. I know that they arnt the best kits going but for a starter like me seems to work fine.

Question the center chamber were your water flows into have you added any live sand or rock to it? I have bits and pieces of rock and sand in there to act as a mini refugium. Natural filter...

Sorry for such a long reply. Any questions just ask. here is a pic of my tank, I've got lotsa rock as well.

 

[Kvark27]

Wow thanks for all the information. I wrote down what you suggested because I literally have all that came with the tank. I have not added any sand or rock to the back side. Let me know if I should. Do you have links to what kind of filter floss and phos pad you have? Not sure what to even look for at the store.

I have had the same issue of bubbles coming out of the pumps if I turn the flow too high and that's why I usually keep it pretty low. I would love to see a picture of the back of your tank to compare what mine should look like.

Thanks again, just want to get my tank healthy so I can add more things!

 

[Crystal A]

The adaptor that your pumps are plugged into is a wave maker. What is does is turn one pump off and then turn the other one on, and repeat. This creates a wave pattern in the tank. It has nothing to do with making the flow stronger or lighter. A power head will give you the circulation your require.

I can't get a pic of the back right now lights are out and it's hard with a flashlight. Lol I will get one tomorrow and post it for ya. I think in your case it would be best to wait till your tank clears and you parameters test good, then add some existing sand from your bed to the back. Don't introduce new sand it may cause a small cycle to happen. The pieces of rubble I just randomly find around my tank and throw it in the back.

The media is called filter floss, and Phos pad. Ask the LFS guys and they should be able to take you right to it. I will post a pic of what they look like.

Question what livestock do you have? Oh the white one is the filter floss and the green Phos pad.

 

[Kvark27]

Ok I will wait until everything tests normal. How do you make that phos pad and filter floss fit in the middle compartment?

Right now the fish I have are 2 Clowns, a Purple Chromis, and a Neon Dottyback. I have had more over the past year but have lost a few.. (which is why I'm trying to make this tank healthy). All my coral came on the rocks and continued to grow except one grass like coral I put in. I don't know the exact name. Which I recently had a fish die and my CUC was covering him eating him so this may have caused my ammonia spike. But still have had this dirty sand algae for awhile.

 

[Crystal A]

I just cut it to size. I have to use about three squares stacked to fill the first chamber of floss. And I just use one square of the Phos pad in the second. I would also get rid of the white cubes you have in the third chamber. They collect waste and create ditrius traps. Your live rock is your filtration device, natures own!

I do pwc every week, 3gallons at a time, and I do mix my own. When I do them I rinse out my floss in the dirty water. I only rinse it once. I put new floss in every two weeks. If you keep the same floss for too long they become full of ditrius which causes imbalance in the water. The Phos pad I change every two weeks as well.

As far as livestock you are pretty low. That's good. I only feed Probaly every 2nd to 3rd day, and at that not even alot. I find that my clown fish eat all the pods crawling around my tank. If I was gonna add anything at this point I would add 1 turbo snail. They do get pretty big around 2-3 inches around and ya want to make sure that your rock work is stable, they will knock it over. Do you have other kinds of algae aside from the slimy stuff? Sometimes turbos won't touch cyano.

Another piece of equipment I use is the coral life power bar with a timer built into it. This way I don't have to worry about turning my lights off and on. I would suggest a digital one if you can find it the manual dial seems to lose time and I have to adjust everyonce in a while.

hope this helps, I think my thumbs are getting sore.

 

[Kvark27]

Ok I will go get the floss and phos pads tomorrow then and also look at the new pump. I use a digital timer already that's set. So you just throw away the black sponge, the carbon, and white stuff in the compartments that came with the tank and I add floss to the first part, phos pad to the second, and leave the third empty?

You only change out 3 gallons a week? I've been fighting this ammonia by changing about 10 gallons every week or 2.

My algae is mainly the dirty sand and then I have some green hair type algae hanging on the back walls and off the pumps in the corners. Sometimes there is brown algae on the rocks that I can siphon off during a water change but that isn't showing up as bad now.

 

[Crystal A]

I would keep up the ten gallons till your water parameters are good. The reason you have high ammonia is because of the nutrient build up in your media, black sponge and white cubes. Over time it collects and turns into bad bacteria which feeds the algae. Make sure to change the floss regularly and I would even go as far as doing it every week for the first little while till you see a difference in water params. Get a phosphate test kit too. Phosphate is a Hugh food source for algae especially cyano!
A turbo would Probaly be a good choice. I was worried at first cause they might not eat cyano but if you have hair and brown algae it will have something to eat. The cyano should just go away once water gets better. The two downsides to them is they are bulldozers, and they poop! Lol but it should be a low enough bioload to the tank that the good bacteria should handle it.

 

[Kvark27]

Sounds good. I will make a trip to the store tomorrow for sure. Do you buy a ton of the floss and phos pads at once? Or go back each time you replace them?

I have the API test kit but that doesn't cover phosphate. I will look for a test for that tomorrow also. When I go pick up some more water this week I will grab a turbo too.

So just to confirm, I throw away everything that is in my filter when I replace it with the floss and phos pads? Just making sure since I'm new to this!

Thanks again for explaining so much to me!

 

[Crystal A]

Yup get rid of that black crap!!! I'm surprised it Hasent fallen apart. Also the white cubes you don't need them. The carbon I would take out and rinse it. Let it dry and keep it. You may want to add it at a later time. Just to clarify, you need a power head not a pump. Your pumps are fine for getting the water threw the back of you tank, as far as the front and circulation they suck. That's what the power head is for.
I just buy one pad of each at a time unless I can find a really good deal. The Phos pad I haven't had to buy another one yet but the floss you will go through faster so ya might want to get two.
Did you say you have a CUC already?

 

[Kvark27]

Understood. Thanks for clearing that up. My LFS sells CUC for specific tanks they sell and I have already been through two large CUC for the 28g Nano. They help a lot but seem to always eventually die off and I have empty shells laying around that I scoop up because I feel that creates more ammonia. I have a few hermit crabs left in there but not enough to make an impact.

How exactly does the power head work? Just helps the water continue to move but what is it hooked up to?

 

[Crystal A]

From what I hear most places sell CUC that are way to big, over time they starve or kill each other. Especially crabs. The empty shells you can keep in there. Its the carcasses you want to romove if you can find them. If hermits don't have other shells to crawl into when they get bigger they kill each other. That's Probaly why they keep dying off. They are little bastards sometimes!!! The hermits don't eat to much algae they will if hungry and nothing else is there to eat. A turbo should be a good start. Get a small one.
Later once your water params settle a bit go for some nassarius snails that are sand sifters and are some up the neatest things in my tank. Look them up on you tube. They will move you sand around and keep it "fresh". Every once in a while I feed mine a small piece of raw shrimp as they are Carnivors and its cool to watch them pop out of the sand.
The power head will make the water flow around the tank. It keeps particles floating so they can end up in the back in your floss and can be removed. If you look at the pic of my tank you can see we're it is back left side. it has a suction cup that is magnetized and that is how it stays in place. Flow in water is key for corals as that is how most feed from the water that circulates around them. You will have to adjust it so it dosent stir up your sand bed to much. Don't be afraid to get the one I suggested its mid price range and is quiet!! All important in my books.
Man I'm a fish geek! Just realized that.

 

[Kvark27]

Awesome. I have everything written down for my trip to the store tomorrow so I will keep you updated. I just want everything clean and healthy so I can add some new cool things! And it's embarrassing having such dirty sand lol

 

[Crystal A]

Cool I will post a pic of the back tomorrow for ya. Good luck. I will keep following your thread to see how ya make out.

 

[Kvark27]

Sweet thanks. Do you keep the 2 black sponges that are in the smaller side compartments by the return pipes? (I believe that's what that is).

 

[Crystal A]

I don't think my tank came with them. I don't see what purpose they would serve. Most of the mechanical filtration happens at the overflow and into your basket. Oh wait yes it did I think they are for noise to stop the pumps from vibrating. I took them out. More **** collectors!! Lol my pumps vibrate a bit but dosent bother me the metal hailide light is noisier!

 

[Kvark27]

Gotcha. If you could, could you take a picture of what your basket of floss and phos pads look like? So I can see how much you put in there. I would also like to see a picture showing how much water is actually in the back of your tank.

Thank you very much for helping me out.