Whats wrong with sand?

[rach4194]

I just did a water change two days ago, it's all live sand and it stays clear for a day or two then starts to look like this...
thanks!

 

[tizzo]

Diatoms. It's normal. Is your tank fairly new??

 

[rach4194]

No, I have had it up almost two years now. What is that?
One more question I have tiny tiny little white things, (like bugs) moving on the front of the glass? Do you know what these are?

 

[tizzo]

amphipods, copepods...
As far as your substrate, do you use RO water?? If you use tap, you could be feeding the diatoms, that's why I ask.
Bugs like this??

 

[tizzo]

or...

 

[tizzo]

 

[rach4194]

I definitely have the ones in second picture, the one in the first pic, is that magnified? These guys I have are about the size of a grain of sand, they move all over the glass.They look like a tiny white dot. I will try and take a pic. I don't know about the last pic. I do have a bunch of tiny little things swimming around in the rocks, they look like baby fish, about 2 cm. I also looked up this snail looking thing called limpets, I know I have a few of them, they didn't say if they were good or bad. Do you know?

 

[rach4194]

One more thing, I do use RO water only.

 

[effloresce]

eveeyrhting you ahve in your tank as of now, is good
Copepods - little "fish" things in rocks
Amphipods - little grains of rice
both of these creatures play a major role in the filtration of your tank.

 

[bang guy]

Originally posted by Rach4194
One more thing, I do use RO water only.
RO is good but it only removes 70% or so of the Silicate and Phosphate that Diatoms need. You might want to consider addin on a DI to remove these or switch to a Hi-S RO membrane.
It might also be that the RO filter has stopped working. A TDS meter can tell you this.

 

[johnic]

Did you say the Diatom is typical in new systems...because mine is only four months old and I have tons of this also..and I have a RO/DI.
Why is this typical in new systems ?

 

[redxlch]

Crushed coral substrate is excellent for feeding diatoms.

 

[rach4194]

Bang
You may as well have been talking German, it took a while... I think I understood most of what you said except the Hi-S RO membrane?

 

[bang guy]

Originally posted by Johnic
Did you say the Diatom is typical in new systems...because mine is only four months old and I have tons of this also..and I have a RO/DI.
Why is this typical in new systems ?
Dieoff from cycling makes a lot of nutrients available for Diatoms.

 

[rach4194]

Are Diatoms good? Do I want this in my tank?

 

[ryand]

not really i dont know what they do all i know is that you dont want them

 

[tizzo]

Originally posted by Effloresce
Copepods - little "fish" things in rocks

Or those could be mysis shrimp. Lot of people mistake those for baby fish.:notsure: