IS this Live Sand of Algea Sand???

[areijin]

I think ( or better yet hope to god:nervous: ) that is what good live sand looks like. I only see this stuff between the glass and sand. The sand is super fine and a good 5 inches thick. Somebody please give me some good news.

 

[areijin]

Second pic of....

 

[tony detroit]

Well, the bad news is your system has a ton of nutrients that may release at any time. You will continue to have algae and dirty water until you get rid of that sand. The good news is if you have copepod or bristleworm eaters, they will be well fed.

 

[sailfin]

Don't get rid of the sand. Is this a newly set up tank?

 

[areijin]

Newly setup to me. The sand is the same from when I bought it from somebody and it was five years old at that time. Looking at a couple of pictures I had of the old setup I can see the same stuff but in much less of a quantity.

 

[thomas712]

I would have definatly replaced a 5 year old sandbed.

 

[areijin]

I thought a "LIVE" sand bed was best?
Say just read a Thread from Fishman77 and it looks like he is starting to have the same situation.
I guess that I want to know what a live sandbed looks like. I think I saw a Thread months ago were one of the Shank members did a test of substrats to see which became more alive faster. If memory serves me right it looked a lot like this. So how can you tell?

 

[tony detroit]

I don't have the time to type out a 3 page report, so just let me tell you this much from reading and persona experience:
It is in your best interest to suck out that sand bed as you do waterchanges. Do not disturb it, suck it out slowly, month by month.

 

[sailfin]

Not to start a debate, by any means, but please don't just start sucking out the sand. There are no written or proven documentation that a DSB crashes a tank. There are just as many barebottoms that crash as DSB. I just think sucking it out is a bad thing to do. The main reason I asked if the tank was new is because mine looked like that for about the first four months it was up and running. It has since went away not to return and with it went all of my nitrates. I hope this helps a little.

 

[stuckinfla]

I would replace. I had bad experience with my 5yr old sand bed. Its a haven for wastes.

 

[tony detroit]

Sailfin do you have a full tank shot?

 

[sailfin]

Originally posted by tony detroit
Sailfin do you have a full tank shot?
Why do you ask?

 

[tony detroit]

I'd like to see it. You seem to me as if you are promoting deep sand beds. I would like to see close ups of your rockwork, glass, and gravel, etc.
thanks

 

[sailfin]

I am not promoting or discounting anything. I am merely suggesting that he may not want to go through all of that trouble. You are more than welcome to do a search under my username. Most of the threads that I have started contain photos of my tank. I have posted full shots in the aquarium of the month thread as well. Enjoy!!

 

[fishman77]

yes im getting some of that but not on the sandbed.if i look at mostly everyones setup even the nicest and most experienced ones i see what i have.my sand is about 4-5 months old,and is about 1 and a half inch thick

 

[areijin]

So I thought a DSB was better then a shallow one. True or not?
I also heard that this was even more true with finer substrate. True or not?
Note: I noticed that this is ony in the front and HALF way on the sides. In the other half and the back of the tank it is still white. My guess it is from where the LR is. I also don't have anything on the surface.
Could this be only between the glass and the sand but not deeper in the sand?
P.S. I thought I'd add this guy since he's cool but I've never used him before.

 

[tony detroit]

Originally posted by AREIJIN
So I thought a DSB was better then a shallow one. True or not?
True if you like nitrate, phosphate, algae cleaning all the time, dirty tanks, and less than desirable growth conditions. DSB's grow a lot of bristleworms and pods. What people don't realize is that this means they have a dirty tank. Pods and bristleworms are growing because they're feeding off the overabundance of waste in sand bed. Think of it as a septic pool.
Originally posted by AREIJIN
I also heard that this was even more true with finer substrate. True or not?
If you are running a DSB a finer substrate is better. If you try to run too high water flow it goes everywhere(been there, done that)
Originally posted by AREIJIN
Note: I noticed that this is ony in the front and HALF way on the sides. In the other half and the back of the tank it is still white. My guess it is from where the LR is. I also don't have anything on the surface.
It's most likely to do with
1:Motionless
2.Lighting hitting those areas
Originally posted by AREIJIN
Could this be only between the glass and the sand but not deeper in the sand?
The crap is everywhere. Algae grows because it has something to feed off of. See my above post where I recommended you slowly suck out all of your sand. You won't be dissappointed. Post up a full tank shot without cleaning anything.

 

[tony detroit]

Sailfin, Judging by this thread
dated 6 months ago new tank
I am under the impression your tank is 6 months old.
Hardly enough time to experience the deteriating water quality a DSB produces, but give it time, you'll see. Heck, you're just breaking that thing in.

 

[sailfin]

Thanks for your concern Tony, but I have had other tanks as well. More than 6 months old and more like 2 years. I will just overlook your comments and go on my merry way. Like stated before only personal preference determines what type of bottom coverage most people go with since it has not been proven which is better, scientifically. BTW, a growing pod population is not due to a "dirty tank." Can I see a picture of your self proclaimed "clean tank?"

 

[thomas712]

Let us not forget the wise words of St. Broomer5
"Your tank, Your choice"
We all follow different roads, share the experience and keep it civil.