sand bed question

[jimbo78]

my sand bed isn't looking so clean right now (algea growing in places) what are my options as far as cleaning goes. right now the tank has about 5 turbos 4 hermit crabs 1 pepperment shrimp 1 emerald crab and a blue damsel. is there something i could add to keep it clean?i also plan on taking the damsel back to the LFS since i think he would attack any fish i would add.

[Carlos]

How old is this tank?

In a 10 gallon tank, your choices are very limited. How often do you do water changes? Do you have a skimmer? It could also be that your tank is rather new and therefore, algae cycles are normal.

Carlos

[Mavrk]

New tanks get algae. If not new, then check your parameters. There are things you can do (and others will jump in here since I wouldn't know what to do with such a small tank). However, you should know the reason and fix it (or wait it out if the tank is new).

Frequent large water changes (50% would not be a problem) and maybe increased flow would be my suggestion by the way.

[jimbo78]

the tank is about 6 months old. no skimmer. 10% a week water change

[kaihonu82]

good luck getting that damsel out...they're tricky

[Mavrk]

what are your levels (especially nitrate)? I think a more aggressive water change would help. After all, it is only 10 gallons, so doing at least 20% each week would be easy. Especially when you think of the fact that it is not 10 gallons of water with displacement from rocks, sediment, etc.