brown muck on sand

[denny80688]

My tank has been up and running for about 3 months and all has been well. Over the last few weeks I have started building up a layer of brown muck on the bottom of the sand bed... looks like a web almost and kind of slimy. I tried to vaccuum it off the sand but it was no use. I have been doing 15% water changes once a month and use only RODI or Distilled water. (RO unit is in the garage and the freezing weather we are getting in PA has made it impossible to make water the last week or so.)
I feed only every other day, run full lights 8 hours, and have a low bio load:
5 green chromis (1.5" each)
1 perc clown
1 hippo tang (2.5")
and its a 125gal
I need to check my levels this evening but the last time I tested the levels were
amonia 0.0
PH 7.4
Nitrite 0.0
Nitrate 30
temp 81
any thing else I should test for? Or any recommendations?

 

[arkey.d]

It sounds like brown Diatoms, which almost all new SW aquariums go through. They feed off of silicates in the water and they should disipate as the silicates disappear...
I been getting my Distilled water from Walmart or the local grocery store. It's a pain lugging the gallons, but until I get my own RO unit, it comes with the territory.
And yes it's dang cold now!

 

[mjmpinsky]

If you want to speed up the demise of your slime algae, buy a package of ChemiClean from your LFS. It will "cure" the problemm with 1-2 treatments. Cost should be in the $14-15 range.
It is is mostly on your sand, and not on your rocks/coral, try adding a bunch of Nass. Snails - they are great at keeping the substrate clean.

 

[sleeri]

I'm not sure about the Nass. snail solution. I've got around 10 of them in a 55 and they've never helped to significantly reduce algae growing on the sand. They'll stir up the bottom a bit, but they don't consume the algae. They feed on decaying bits of food and other things of that nature, which are food sources for algae. That's their contribution to algae control.

 

[diverandy]

Originally posted by sleeri
I'm not sure about the Nass. snail solution. <snip>
:thinking:
I believe the nassarius snails are carnivores so they will not eat the algae, but they should keep the substrate churned up enough for the other members of your tank crew to keep the algae at bay. I get that brown algae in my nano 24 when the sunlight beams through the small window in my front door into the tank. My turbo snails, mythrax crabs, and my blue-legged hermit crabs love this algae and take care of removing it. My nassarius snails and my coral banded shrimp love the frozen brine shrimp i feed them.
Andy (-:

 

[toddpolish]

could try a fighting conch to help with the sand bed

 

[denny80688]

well its probably time to beef up my cleanup crew. right now I have about 13 hermit crabs and like 5 snails. the hermits keep killing any snails I add and fighting with eachother. the fighting conch is always hiding so its in there but I only see it once ever few weeks... any recommendations on clean up crews to deal witht he diatom?
thanks

 

[arkey.d]

This is mine for my 55gal:
15 Scarlet Hermit Crabs
10 Astrea Snails
15 Cerith Snails
15 Nassarius Snails
10 Margarita Snails
5 Peppermint shrimp
2 Emerald Crabs
1 Cleaner Shrimp
Margarita Snials take care of Brown Diatoms

 

[jasonk]

my scarlet hermits, astrea snails, and fighting conch do a really good job at keeping my sand bed clean of this. i had a really bad outbreak, and it only took 3 or 4 days to be cleaned up by my crew. are your hermits blue legs? cause if they are you may have problems with them attacking snails, and each other.

 

[denny80688]

Strong bad is the man!!
sorry back on topic, no they are red leg but have gotten quite large and angry... they tend to attack eachother and any snails on a regular basis.

 

[jasonk]

i've never had the red legs, but i've heard they do that. the scarlets are a much less agress type of hermit. i love mine, and they do eat alot of algea.
and yes i agree. strong bad rules!:cheer:

 

[denny80688]

perhaps its time to clean house of the red and get some scarlet.. they are much smaller correct? THe ones I have are pretty big, like 1/2 dollar in size or larger