Keeping sand cleaner!

[mallyk]

The sand in my 75g reef is really starting to get dirty. There are several sand snails but they don't seem to do a very good job.

I've tried vaccuming the sand a couple of times, but everytime I do, it ends up sucking up a lot of the sand bed, and the critters that live in it.

For now, I use my fingers to stir it up a little, but then the tank is cloudy for hours.

Is there a better way to keep it clean??

[UrbanSage]

How deep is the sand bed? What kind of sand?

[socalreefer73]

What do you mean by dirty? Detritus or is it some kind of living mat (diatoms/red slime algae)? Does it disappear a few hours after the lights go out?

A lot of things can help...
more flow
more skimming
more janitors...

what does your janitorial crew consist of?

I have patches in my tank in the sand that develops some sort of funk, but it's photosynthetic -- it diminishes nearly completely at night. And it's only where the light reaches the sandbed. I have about 1-2" of fine grain sand in my 20g. -- usually a sign of too high of a nutrient load in the tank as I understand it.

My crew consists of:
a peppermint shrimp
2 nassirius snails
2 cerith snails
2 astrea snails
2 other snails
3 hermit crabs (2 blue legged, 1 red legged)

hth
-M

[Nabob89]

I'm not sure exactly what kind stuff you have on your sandbed, but I had a brown "dust" looking layer of stuff on mine. I bought a Dragon Goby and he had it white in less than 2 days.

[SFMMcoasters]

Sorry to Thread-jack here. But mine is a thick layer of red slime algae. I've got probably 20 assorted snails, some the size of golf balls, and 10 hermits, and a sea hare. For a 90 gallon tank.

I'm looking forward to what people have to say.

[socalreefer73]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10211473#post10211473 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SFMMcoasters
Sorry to Thread-jack here. But mine is a thick layer of red slime algae. I've got probably 20 assorted snails, some the size of golf balls, and 10 hermits, and a sea hare. For a 90 gallon tank.

I'm looking forward to what people have to say.

How long have you had the tank up? It's normal in the tank maturing process, unless you are grossly overfeeding...

-M

[mallyk]

The tank has been up for probably a year now.

And it isn't really algae, its like brown dust.

I thought about buying a diamond sleeper goby but they seem like they do a great job cleaning the sand but make a mess in the process?

There is roughly 60 lbs of fiji live sand, probably an inch and a half deep sand bed.

I feed frozen foods three times a week, but it never seems like it goes to waste.

There are tons of hermits and sand snails...

[Peter Eichler]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10211644#post10211644 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by socalreefer73
How long have you had the tank up? It's normal in the tank maturing process, unless you are grossly overfeeding...

-M

Algae cycles are normal, a thick layer of cyanobacteria is not.

Increasing flow and better nutrient export (skimmer/chaeto/chemical filtration) are usually the best way to take care of it.

[socalreefer73]

Is it there in the morning before your lights come on in the same density?

If so, then the next question would be how much flow do you have in the tank. powerheads, sump returns, etc.. gallons/hour...

-M

[pony_killer]

why don't you just vaccum it off the next time you do a water change? that or +1 on a dragon goby. mine cleaned my brown sand bed in one day and made it white again.

[UrbanSage]

How much flow do you have? and what is your means of filtration?

[MTB]

My diamond goby takes care of mine. But i would look at flow as well. I just got the goby so I don't have to worry about it. I had so much flow it pushed all the sand in the corners of the tank.

[mallyk]

My filtration is a 18g sump/refugium. The refugium is full of calupra algea. I also have a UV sterilizer, phosban reactor, and skimmer. A mag 5 pump for return. Three maxi jet powerheads for circulation.

[socalreefer73]

what sized maxi-jets? 600? 900? 1200?

[UrbanSage]

You may have about 15X turnover at best.
If you have the money to spend I would suggest you replace your MJ's with two SEIO 620's
The flow is much better.

[mallyk]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10218113#post10218113 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by UrbanSage
You may have about 15X turnover at best.
If you have the money to spend I would suggest you replace your MJ's with two SEIO 620's
The flow is much better.


I would love to, trust me! :D

it's on my list, but I just bought a new home and have a baby on the way in Sept. so, we are trying to cut back on costs., and I need to upgrade my skimmer badly before I buy new powerheads.

[UrbanSage]

How about a maxijet mod?

[davidryder]

A very similar thread going on:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1150345

[Peter Eichler]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10218436#post10218436 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mallyk
I would love to, trust me! :D

it's on my list, but I just bought a new home and have a baby on the way in Sept. so, we are trying to cut back on costs., and I need to upgrade my skimmer badly before I buy new powerheads.

Except skip the Seio part and get Koralias instead, Seios are garbage

[UrbanSage]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10222972#post10222972 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Peter Eichler
Except skip the Seio part and get Koralias instead, Seios are garbage

What a truly helpful comment. :blown:

[Peter Eichler]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10223396#post10223396 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by UrbanSage
What a truly helpful comment. :blown:

Considering I've had them seize up numerous times (as have others), they rarely restart on their own, and I just recently had one of the ceramic shafts snap (as have others) which could have been disasterous had I not check the tank that night, it's quite helpful.

[HippieSmell]

Flow, flow, flow, and an adequate skimmer or a regularly cleaned filter sock. Did I mention flow?

[kwaters]

Mallyk, I know how you feel...I went through this post about a month ago. I have an overrated skimmer for my tank, and lately I switch my Hydor's direction daily. The junk gets sent up, and the skimmer does it's job.

I myself have:

5 nassarius snails
3 hermits
2 Zebra Turbos
6 Margarite Snails

I will just continue on my current path until "This sand is clean"