the sand in my saltwater tank keeps turning brown I have a 39 gallon tank with a accela power headthat runs into a protien skimmer its out put is 266gph when the light comes on in the morning its light but after the lights on for a while it turns brownish orange ive lost all my fish except the sand sifter and all my nitrites, nitrates ,ph ammonia are all in the right peramiters any ideas and also its starting to get algea hair
substrate problems
- Thread starter tracyrez
- Start date
lmforbis
Well-Known Member
How long has your tank been set up?
I am dealing with a similar problem. The reddish brown algae begins to show itself as soon as there is light. Mine is Cyano bacteria. It started about a month after I set up this tank. I had transferred everything over from a smaller tank and added more sand. I assumed since my old tank had no issues with Cyano the new one wouldn't either. The tank has been up and running for 4 months and it is slowly getting better. The things I did to fight this were
Increased flow hugely with 2 800 gph power heads and 2 adjustable power heads that go up to 3400 gph that I have set at 50% max but the flow varies between 10% and 50% to give a patter closer to crashing surf against the reef.. My tank is bigger 6 feet long but the high flow has helped a lot. I also bought a better protein skimmer I reduced the time my lights are on and I added a dual GFO and carbon reactor.
Some of it is just the stages a tank goes through as it stabilizes. I've heard it called the uglies.
I am dealing with a similar problem. The reddish brown algae begins to show itself as soon as there is light. Mine is Cyano bacteria. It started about a month after I set up this tank. I had transferred everything over from a smaller tank and added more sand. I assumed since my old tank had no issues with Cyano the new one wouldn't either. The tank has been up and running for 4 months and it is slowly getting better. The things I did to fight this were
Increased flow hugely with 2 800 gph power heads and 2 adjustable power heads that go up to 3400 gph that I have set at 50% max but the flow varies between 10% and 50% to give a patter closer to crashing surf against the reef.. My tank is bigger 6 feet long but the high flow has helped a lot. I also bought a better protein skimmer I reduced the time my lights are on and I added a dual GFO and carbon reactor.
Some of it is just the stages a tank goes through as it stabilizes. I've heard it called the uglies.
jorge garrido
Member
I heard it was bad having a sand shifter in a sand bed it will release pockets of gasses from the sand and pollute your tank .. I personally go bare bottom in main tank and have a deep sand bed in my 30 gal refuge with no shifters. my tank is doing great .
bang guy
Moderator
He mentioned sand shifters, not sand sifters. Sand shifters like Bristle Worms, Cerith Snails, pods, etc, do not eat sand bed infauna.
I agree with you that the shifters help prevent pockets of dead areas in the sand bed. Sand sifters, on the other hand, are the major cause of dead areas.
jorge garrido
Member
lets say you already have an establish tank with sand bed that was never shifted for over 2 years, then you recently bought a sand shifting goby and star fish and start shifting your sand bed will this be bad or good ?
bang guy
Moderator
I'll guess you mean a Sand Sifting Goby like a Diamond - If it is a healthy established bed then the Goby would begin to eat all of the animals that made the sand bed healthy and it would end up with a pretty surface but nothing good below about 1/2".
If it was an unhealthy bed then there wouldn't be any food for the Goby.
they are in rnge
tyvm i will try this