Help with my sandbed

[nate1633]

I have recently started up a 55 gallon and at the point where I have a few fish and a very small cuc. My sand bed is very over grown with stuff and I was wondering what is a good reef safe sand shifter ( I have no predator fish ). I have done a water change and my nitrites are very low. I feed twice daily and have very little excess food. Please help me find a good animal for my sand bed.



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[Mattyfelts]

I have recently started up a 55 gallon and at the point where I have a few fish and a very small cuc. My sand bed is very over grown with stuff and I was wondering what is a good reef safe sand shifter ( I have no predator fish ). I have done a water change and my nitrites are very low. I feed twice daily and have very little excess food. Please help me find a good animal for my sand bed.



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You need to be checking nitrates not trites. One of the worst options is to add another animal to your tank and increase the bioload. More waterchanges using distilled or RODI and decreased lighting should help most algae problems.

 

[nate1633]

Ok thanks I have also checked nitrates and those are very low too
So what is a good sand shifter


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[Sniperhank]

How about you take a picture of what you are describing? What it sounds like is cyanobacteria. Cyano is a sign of poor water quality and if in large enough amounts will lower the nitrate levels, providing a false reading.
Battling cyano is easy.
Use ro/di water in water changes and top offs to prevent nitrates/phosphates from entering this way.
Lower the amount of food you are feeding, most fish do not need to eat everyday to the point where I only feed my reef tank every 3 days.
Increase flow, as cyano thrives in low flow areas. But keep in mind, increasing flow will only mask the problem if the nitrate/phosphate levels are not addressed it will show back up as nuisance algae which is even more difficult to battle.

 

[Mattyfelts]

adding a fish wont help anything, increase flow, reduce feeding, increase water changes. how much do you change and how often. Using tap or RODI?

 

[nate1633]

I do water changes about 1 every other week and I use RODI water I brought water on to my lfs and they said it was great so I think my flow might be the problem


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[Sniperhank]

As stated:

Increase flow, as cyano thrives in low flow areas. But keep in mind, increasing flow will only mask the problem if the nitrate/phosphate levels are not addressed it will show back up as nuisance algae which is even more difficult to battle.

 

[nate1633]

I also will try to cut back on feeding


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[nate1633]

Ok thanks all for your feed back


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[Mattyfelts]

might also help if you get your own test kits and not only test your water, but the rodi your buying

 

[nate1633]

Ok and I have do have my own test kits and I buy the RODI water from my lfs


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