lotapets
New Member
Hi, I'm new to the forum but have had a SW tank for about 7 years now. I admit I've made my share of mistakes through the years and learned a lot! I've run into a problem here the last several months and was hoping to get some advice.
Lately I seem to be getting a lot of what looks like dust/sand residue all over the sides of my tank. I thought it was the fish stirring up the sand and the loose sand settleing on the sides of the tank but I really don't see the fish messing with the sand at all. It's also all over the live rock. I also have some red algae (what looks like coraline algae) growing in spots on the sides of the tank ... buggers to clean off to see through!
I am contemplating a revamp of my tank and could also use some info on the best way to go about that as well. I was just planning to take the rock and inhabitants from the tank and put them into a large storage container with the filter and heater running while I made whatever revamping changes. The sand bed is about 1-2 inches and I was thinking of adding some more sand, maybe another inch or so. I also was thinking about removing some of the rock (the samller pieces) as it seems to be more "in the way" of the fish and inverts then anything.
My main concern however is the messy residue. When I clean the glass the residue just seems to hang in the water and eventually redeposit on the sides. I like the sand and definitely don't want coral in there ... but I was also thinking about a bare bottom, but then my problem is "what to do about the rock?" It obviously would move around much easier without a bottom.
Any advice?
Oh, I guess I should tell you a little about the tank ...
It's a 40g tank, has about 35-40 lbs of live rock in it, 2 black & white stiped damsels, a maroon clownfish, some kind of wrasse (about 4 inches in length with a blue head), and a squirrlefish. I also have 3 emerald crabs in there, 1 lg hermit crab, and several turbo snals. There use to be some mushrooms and soft coral polyps on the live rock but they seem to have died off, maybe from the residue but I'm not sure. I have a powerhead on one side of the tank and a double biowheel filter on the other. (I know, not the best filtration but it actually seems to make the water clearer then the other filtrating I had on there years ago ... can't remember what it was called at the moment ... uses tiny bubbles pushed up an column to take debris out of the water into a collection chamber). Like I said before, I've never had a problem until recently.
Lately I seem to be getting a lot of what looks like dust/sand residue all over the sides of my tank. I thought it was the fish stirring up the sand and the loose sand settleing on the sides of the tank but I really don't see the fish messing with the sand at all. It's also all over the live rock. I also have some red algae (what looks like coraline algae) growing in spots on the sides of the tank ... buggers to clean off to see through!
I am contemplating a revamp of my tank and could also use some info on the best way to go about that as well. I was just planning to take the rock and inhabitants from the tank and put them into a large storage container with the filter and heater running while I made whatever revamping changes. The sand bed is about 1-2 inches and I was thinking of adding some more sand, maybe another inch or so. I also was thinking about removing some of the rock (the samller pieces) as it seems to be more "in the way" of the fish and inverts then anything.
My main concern however is the messy residue. When I clean the glass the residue just seems to hang in the water and eventually redeposit on the sides. I like the sand and definitely don't want coral in there ... but I was also thinking about a bare bottom, but then my problem is "what to do about the rock?" It obviously would move around much easier without a bottom.
Any advice?
Oh, I guess I should tell you a little about the tank ...
It's a 40g tank, has about 35-40 lbs of live rock in it, 2 black & white stiped damsels, a maroon clownfish, some kind of wrasse (about 4 inches in length with a blue head), and a squirrlefish. I also have 3 emerald crabs in there, 1 lg hermit crab, and several turbo snals. There use to be some mushrooms and soft coral polyps on the live rock but they seem to have died off, maybe from the residue but I'm not sure. I have a powerhead on one side of the tank and a double biowheel filter on the other. (I know, not the best filtration but it actually seems to make the water clearer then the other filtrating I had on there years ago ... can't remember what it was called at the moment ... uses tiny bubbles pushed up an column to take debris out of the water into a collection chamber). Like I said before, I've never had a problem until recently.
