How clean is your sand substrate?

ohiorn67

ohiorn67

Member
my sand started so nice and white. Tank is 3 months old....do have some brown sand on top I am told that it is old diatom. I can deal with this, but does not seem to be going away, one thing I have noticed is that I have some "stuff" ..little pieces of debri and such laying on the substrate now more behind the rocks and back sides. Just looks like little pieces of tiny rocks,, debri....is this ok? should my filter and all be picking this up...or should my sand be clean and white with no debri on it....
 
sato

sato

Member
Most of the smaller parts in my tank are nice and white but the larger open areas tend to get a little more diatom buildup in my tank. However I need more flow because all im working iwth is 2 Emporer 280's and a Maxi-jet 1200 that is attatched to my Remora.
 
ohiorn67

ohiorn67

Member
Hello, I have 3 1200 maxijets..one is revolving, the skimmer and my filter, I think it is about 1500 gph or so. plenty! not sure what to do...
 
bigarn

bigarn

Active Member
As long as you're useing RO water the diatoms will pass. Don't overfeed, and perhaps cut back on lighting time. IMO some rock debris makes the reef look more natural than a milky white sandbed ... it won't hurt anything. :D
 
ohiorn67

ohiorn67

Member
I don't mind the rock debris, some of it looks kind of like fish excretment and that worries me....my filter seems fine and working well...and I think I am going to try to get the flow positioned better tomorrow on my next water change. My lfs cracks me up, says I should wait and do changes every 2 weeks instead of every week...I do a 10% every week....I think alot of people do and it is better...sometimes they are not so bright with responses....
 
gfk

gfk

Member
i have 2 powerheads, a hob filter, and a bakpak2 skimmer (only been on 3 days) but my sand is never white either. i need to adjust my powerheads to aim at the sand more i bleive
 
vlondi

vlondi

Member
You can get some animals to help alleviate debris and excrements on your sand. Queen conchs usually do a pretty good job cleaning up the sand. I believe bristle worms also do their part to stir and clean sand, as well as being a food source for some tank inhabitants. Sand-sifting fish (many gobis, wrasses in a way) can help as well.
 
mudplayerx

mudplayerx

Active Member
Get a nice detrivore sea cucumber. It will clean it up very nice. Don't get a filter feeding cucumber though.
 
mlwoods007

mlwoods007

Member
get a diamond-back goby. i have one and he's the ----. he's white with orange pokadots and goes all around the tank sifting the sand through his gills (really neat to watch). my sand was discolored and within one day he had the entire sand bed white again.
 
mlwoods007

mlwoods007

Member
no, not even close yet. once he makes a home (mine dug a hole under a corner of my LR), he does do an excellent job of filtering the sand. doesn't carry it around, just takes a mouthful and sifts it right back almost into its original place.
 
crzyfshygy

crzyfshygy

Member
mine is awesome...but he takes the sand into his mouth and carries it all over the place...only problem is he gets in my corals sometimes. He's great though..I think i can deal with it, I just wanted to get a clam and put it on the sand bed and I think he crushed that idea!
 
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