Red/Brown Sand Bed. Help!!!!

asharp13

asharp13

Member
Okay so i have finally gotten rid of my disgusting hair algae problem that completely overran my tank. while this battle was going on i started to develop some brown and red gunk that completely covered my sand bed. it is thick and mossy and when you try to suck it up, whole clumps come up along with some sand. i do weekly water changes(about 20%), use RO water for top offs, and have no idea what to do about this problem. i hate the way my tank looks with this crud always appearing.
Inhabitants:
2 ocelaris
2 damsels
1 mandarin
1 fire shrimp
3 emerald crabs
8-10 hermits
2 turbos
Parameters:(tested mid afternoon after an early morning water change and cleaning)
dKh: 8-9(changed from blue to green/blue after 8 drops and completely green after 9...which one is accurate?)
Ca: 450
pH: 8-8.2
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm
Ammonia: .5ppm
 
chana

chana

Member
How much flow do you have in your tank. Maybe you need some additional powerheads so your water has constant movement
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
Are you sure you have a .5ppm reading on ammonia in an established tank?
How much and how often do you feed? What do you feed?
What is your phosphate reading?
How old are your tests? Have you had them verified at an LFS?
How old are your bulbs? What kind of lighting is it and how long are your lights on?
And also I agree with the question about the flow :D especially flow nrea the bottom of the tank as well as surface aggitation.
 
asharp13

asharp13

Member
Originally Posted by ophiura
http:///forum/post/3152031
Are you sure you have a .5ppm reading on ammonia in an established tank?
How much and how often do you feed? What do you feed?
What is your phosphate reading?
How old are your tests? Have you had them verified at an LFS?
How old are your bulbs? What kind of lighting is it and how long are your lights on?
And also I agree with the question about the flow :D especially flow nrea the bottom of the tank as well as surface aggitation.
flow is 240 from the returns pump and 240 from the koralia nano powerhead. 480 total. do i need more???
not sure about the ammonia reading...will test again tomorrow myself and with LFS. will pick up a phosphate test tom also.
feed twice daily but very minimal amounts...fish are always hungry and no food is uneaten.
PC bulbs are a month old tops and i run acintics from 9-7 and dual daylight from 10-6
 
asharp13

asharp13

Member
is there a way i could icrease flow at the bottom with a little pump. the problem is that most of my low flow corals are down there so i dont want to increase it dramatically
 
asharp13

asharp13

Member
any tips on increasing flow??? i run 240 out of my return pump and 240 out of my koralia nano powerhead. i dont want to add another unit to the DT that is intrusive too the eye. do i just need to increase the flow or do i need to ADD more flow running across the sand bed??? what is an ideal flow rate per gallon?
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
Try moving the powerhead's flow. Maybe it needs to be aimed differently to stir more near the sand bed.
Also, get some Cerith Snails, they will eat the diatoms on your sand.
 
asharp13

asharp13

Member
ok so here is my idea. please let me know your thoughts
so i found a compact pump that is very small and not to intrusive. i can probably fit it in the back compartment. i was thinking of putting this pump either in the tank or the back compartment and plumbing it so that it outputs directly into the bottom left hand side of the tank, towards the front, and back around to the inflo. does this sound like a good fix to my problem? i feel like this is a lot of work (which i dont mind at all), and will be hard to make it look good. can anyone recommend a simpler solution that will be less intrusive looking to my tank? im at a loss and this is all i can come up with.
thx again
here's the pump i was looking at
http://www.***********.com/Eheim_Com...FIPHCP-vi.html
 
krista921

krista921

Member
im gonna tell you what i told some other girl. get conches and maybe a cucumber too. my friend did that and her algea was gone in days
 
asharp13

asharp13

Member
okay i just had a revalation. is there some kind of pump that i could place somwhere outide of my tank and leave dry? my idea is to have this pump suck water out through tube and back in through a tube placed where i want the flow to be. so they make these? can anyone recommend one? i am looking for a really small nano one too if they even exist
thx
 
happyfeet

happyfeet

Member
Get a mag 20 and some 3" PVC piping, should give plenty of flow.
no not really...
I like the Hydor powerheads once you take off the flow cap. It disperses over a large area, and I placed two low in my tank and the sand has plenty of flow over it.
Also get some snails hermits etc.
 
asharp13

asharp13

Member
ok swf i have adjusted my pump heads so that they aim directly at my sand bed. did a water change friday, and syphoned some of the crud out of the bed. it is monday and the brown stuff is back in full force.
WHAT SHOULD I DO IT LOOKS LIKE CRAP?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!????
 
asharp13

asharp13

Member
well now i am at a loss
i have done everything to get rid of this dirty sand be and nothing has worked. i dosed my tank with Kent Marine's ProClear Marine tank calirifier TWICE with subsequent water changes and still this crud keeps comming back. what am i to do i am starting to get beyond frusturated.
what is the casue of this? diatoms? (what are they? where do they come from?) does anyone have a clue as to what i should do?
 
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