DSB went from white to brown!!!

[aileena]

This is the first time I've used sand instead c.c. and after the first 3 weeks and the cycle I am kinda upset...the sand bed is totally brown and it has detris all over the top...
I am using a penguin w/d to pick up the detris on the bottom, but the brown stuff is ugly....
I have 3 trochus, 3 maroon hermits, and 1 fighting conch...I was hoping that they would clean the bed up a little, but they really haven't...Even my rock looks kinda bad...
what can stir up the bed??? and clean it?

 

[footbag]

It sound like its just a small cycle. If you wait a week or two it may dissapear. You can get a few cleanup critters, if you can't wait, but it will run its course.

 

[birdy]

sounds like diatoms, completely normal and should go away after a short time.

 

[leigh]

Sounds like diatoms--and they will pass with time if you're using RO water. Beefing up your clean up crew will likely be a necessity--I think you just don't have enough to put a dent in the algae! (I've got probably 1-2 dozen different types of snails in my 50 gal reef)...

 

[aileena]

well what should I put in the 60g for a clean up crew???
Like I said now I only have 3 trochus, 3 maroon hermits (like scarlets) and 1 conch...
what else should I add???

 

[leigh]

maybe 5-10 more trochus snails and around 10 turbo snails for starters? I also like sand sifting snails--maybe 5 of them. It all really depends on the type of algae problems you have and it's kinda early to gauge that. Are you using RO water? What are your phosphates like? It really takes a few months for the tank to fully settle down. But for starters then I'd consider adding 5 more trochus, 10 turbo, and 5 sand sifting snails. (oh...and make sure you don't vacuum or try to vacuum your dsb the way you did cc, that'll just slow everything down!)

 

[aileena]

I am using RO water...I don't ever test for phosphates so I do not know what they are...and I kinda stirred up the sand bed myself already with a stick which kicked up all the stuff sitting on the sand...hopefully the w/d will pick this stuff up...
I don't have time to add a clean up crew now...so I will just cut down the time the lights are on...440 watts of vho is a lot to grow algea...