Dirty Sand Bed

vinopa30

vinopa30

Member
I've had my tank up for a little over a year now, with the current lighting for about 6mos. Im running 135watt vho. I would really like to find a way to keep my sand bed clean, current cleaners/algae eaters:
Lawnmower Blenny
8-10 blue legged hermits
2 emerald crabs
Coral beauty
8 Nassarius Snails
I still get a good bit of algae on my floor. I'm running live sand (sugar sized particles).
I use RO/DI water, the algae is brown and redish.
What can I do to keep it from happening??
 
granny

granny

Member
It Is A Problem With A Sand Bed Because Its Hard To Siphon. When I Do My Water Changes, I Stir The Sand Surface Up A Little And Siphone It Off. Most Of The Sand Comes Back Down, A Little Gets Into The Buckets.
You Could Add A Sand Sifting Star And One Of The Sleeper Gobies Which Also Sift Sand. I See Puffs Here And There And Know My Gobie Is Diggin Another Hole Somewhere. You Could Also Use More Nassarius Snails Or The Little Bumble Bee Snails Also Burrow In The Sand And Eat Detritus-but They Are More Costly Than The Nassarius.
Anyhow, If None Of This Works, Then You Can Just Run Your Fingers Across The Top And Bury The Brown Stuff Under Some Nice White Stuff!!
 
1journeyman

1journeyman

Active Member
Don't use sand "sifting" creatures for a sand bed. They eat the beneficial creatures out of your sand bed and then often starve.
Sand "shifting" creatures such as Nass. snails are great. You also might need more water flow throughout your tank.
My deep sand bed looked "dirty" for about 6 months until the cucumber, crabs, snails, etc. reached a point of equilibrium with the algae. Now things look great. Sand beds can be kept "clean" looking.
How are your water parameters? Lighting?
 
vinopa30

vinopa30

Member
Water is:
ph 8.3
amm: 0ppm
Nitrites: 0ppm
Nitrates: 10ppm
Im running antic and 10k at 65w each at 10hrs a day.
Are there any snails that actually eat the algae?
Should i stop cleaning it and let the carpet grow until something stops it?
How much would some macro algae in my sump help?
Thanks!
 
E

essop3

Guest
Macro algae would help. Increasing flow, decrease feedings. If your tank is big enough think about a conch. I was getting a similar algae and used a product call Chemi-Clean. While it won't cure the problem it will make it go away so you can correct the problem a little easier. I was over feeding.
How deep is your sand? Did you seed it with quality sand from an established sand bed? These probably aren't the problem but may become problems a little later.
 
vinopa30

vinopa30

Member
I'm only feeding about 1-2 times daily, the sand is 3", 50lbs sand and 20lbs live sand.
The tank is a 46bf. I have tried putting a powerhead on the sand right to the point where it is almost moving the sand but that only helped for a little while.
Thanks!
 
kimgpk

kimgpk

Member
I also have the same problem. It is not gone yet though I do have a cleaner crew and I cut down the light by 1 hour a day and feeding everyother day. So even though the problem is not gone yet, it is getting a whole lot better.
 
E

essop3

Guest
I'm guessing the 20# of live sand was from a bag. If so get a few cups of sand from an established tank or a wild collected source. That will help the long term health of your sand.
 
vinopa30

vinopa30

Member
I'll try to reduce my feeding. How much should I be feeding?
I have:
2 clowns (2")
1 damsel
1 coral beauty (3")
1 lawnmower blenny
8 or so blue legged hermits
1 banded shrimp
The tank is a 46bf.
The 20LB was from an established tank the rest was dry.
Thanks!
 
oozy

oozy

Member
hi,
i have had the same problem in the past, here are a few good ways to stop the algae.
1 get a cuke
2 lighten your feeding
3 shorten your lighting times to 6 hours full intensity.
presto! in a couple of weeks youll wonder where that ugly stuff went.
goodluck!
-oozy-
 
adamc1303

adamc1303

Active Member
If you use an overflow box then you can fan the sand with your hand or with a mag float to get it stired up. Do it for a full day every half hour to an hour or when ever it settles. The debris go into the overflow and the sand comes down, that's what I do.
 
alyssia

alyssia

Active Member
Originally Posted by Oozy
cuke = sea cucumber
I have a tiger tail, it keeps the sand very clean.
Make sure you get a sand sifting one and not a filter feeder.
 
alyssia

alyssia

Active Member
Originally Posted by Adamc1303
If you use an overflow box then you can fan the sand with your hand or with a mag float to get it stired up. Do it for a full day every half hour to an hour or when ever it settles. The debris go into the overflow and the sand comes down, that's what I do.

I thought you aren't supposed to stir up your sand bed.
 
vinopa30

vinopa30

Member
I'll reduce the lighting by an hour or two. I fear about getting something that feeds on the algae cause I've read they usually eat the initial amount then starve. How much food do I know is right for my tank? I don't want to underfeed and starve my fish/hermits!
 
oozy

oozy

Member
hi again,
I personaly never manualy "stir up" my sand bed...ever
I try to use as much natural "ecosystem" as possible
if you would have even a 4" DSB and have a "cuke" "sand sifting cucumber" they will only skim off the surface. Even if they dig deeper they do this slowly enough for your DSB or regular 2" sand bed to recover.
the only manual movement of the sand I do is to push a pile of sand into a hole in the sand to keep things even.
this should be a general guideline if your looking to have a cuke.
Its good to know your own tank, if you dont have alot of excess algae dont overload your "cleanup crew"
to me it just sounds like you need to tweak what you already have.
also I belive adamc1303 was refering to doing manual stiring of the surface layers of the sand, which is another option, just dont get carried away. I perfer to employ a cucumber to do my work for me.

-oozy-
 
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