dirty sand bed

[fahad09]

my sand bed is always getting dirty ( it gets this reddish brown color). does this happen to everyone? the stores DT always have nice clean white sand. any reason for why this happens? i keep my lights on for about 8 hours a day. i have 2 powerheads in the tank which is sufficient airflow for my size tank. people have told me that I have to once in awhile stir the sand to keep it from getting that way but in a week or 2 it gets dirty again.

[D_Hood87]

you might try more flow around the bottom...pic's might help ID the red/brown on your sand(it kind of sounds like Cyano)

[kraze3]

try adjusting your flow to aim at the areas that loon dirty. Nassarius snails will also keep your sand bed looking cleaner as they constantly bury thenselves. You could also get a serpent star though i dont likt them much. Sand sifting gobies are another way to keep the sand bed clean. They take big mouthfuls of sand and then expel it thru their gills looking for food.

[fahad09]

about the serpent star....is it only that star that does the job or can i just get any starfish? but thanks. i will find some gobies to buy. :-)

[ihopss]

How long have you had this tank up and runing)) give more description..

[fahad09]

i have had this tank running for about 1 year now but about 5 months ago i changed my bottom substrate from crushed coral to live sand. i had the same problem withe crushed coral. it would always turn dark brown or that reddish brown color. i have around 15 snails and a few hermit crabs in the tank. the snails however only clean the rocks and glass for me.

[fahad09]

how do i post pics on here?? i took the pictures but i don't know how to post pictures.

[kraze3]

you need to upload them to a place like photobucket then embed the link here

[Whys]

Brittle-stars are generally safer than serpent-stars and will perform the same function. I like them because they clean the detritus that naturally forms under the liverock. Not a lot of other things I know of that do this. Tho if you have a DSB, then the accidental collapse of rock-scaping is a potential issue.

[kittyj]

Vacuum your sand when you do a water change

[Whys]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14411697#post14411697 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kittyj
Vacuum your sand when you do a water change
It's an option, but one hopes to not have to, as you will suck away many small and beneficial critters as well. If it is a DSB, then DO NOT vacuum the sand.

[norgemorir]

+1 on the nassarius snails ... they don't do much climbing and stir things up pretty well. Where are your nitrate and phosphate levels?

[CnLHolman01]

you could look into a tiger tail cucumber or a atlantic cucumber as well. They aren't toxic if they die in the tank. Mine does a great job of cleaning the sand.
I don't like sand sifting star(eat benefical baterial) or serpent stars (eat fish sometimes) personally, they are risky at best. Do your homework and double check facts before putting anything in your tank. wetwebmedia is a great place to get info also.
Also, I would not stir my sandbed, I have a shallow in the display and a deep in the refug, you are potentially stirring up pockets of decaying material, ammonia, nitrates etc.
The red/brow on the sand is it slimy in a film on top of the sand? Google some images of cyano algea.

[Johnny C]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14412424#post14412424 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by CnLHolman01
you could look into a tiger tail cucumber or a atlantic cucumber as well.

+1. I have a 1'' sandbed in my 36g tank and was constantly fighting to keep it clean, and vacuuming it can be a pain among other things. I added a 6'' tiger-tail cucumber, and basically it eats the sand dirty and poops it clean. Needless to say my algae encrusted sand is now hyper-white, just like my LFS!

Good Luck! :)

[fahad09]

thanks a lot for the help. i will look into getting a tiger tail cucumber. i will also post up pics of my sandbed as soon as i can.

[saltkreep88]

Also if u have a deep sand bed don't not stir much more than the surface or u might release some toxic bacteria and nitrates.

[fahad09]

the tiger tail cucumbers aren't toxic right?

[fahad09]

http://s686.photobucket.com/albums/vv229/kratos07_2009/?action=view&current=IMG00055-20090215-1230.jpg

http://s686.photobucket.com/albums/vv229/kratos07_2009/?action=view&current=IMG00055-20090215-1230.jpg

sorry it took awhile to get my pictures up. this is how my sand bed looks.

[norgemorir]

Hard to tell for certain, but it does look like cyano to me, at least in places. Do you have anything (soft coral of some sort) on the substrate you can see moving from the current? My guess would be your powerheads are somehow not creating enough water movement down there.

[gerryd]

any tips on getting this power head balance right ,i've a similar probelm and an additional power head just blows the sand around.

[fahad09]

yea same here. if i face the powerhead towards the sand, it just blows around and if i keep it slightly up, the algae starts forming.

[swivel]

following the thread. i have the same problem and i have zoanthids on the sand. i turned off my light for 2 days and the cyano was gone, but once i turn my lights back on they re appear again

[wondermidget]

I have the same problem. I just got a dimond goby and he is doing a good job at keeping the sand mostly clean, but by the time he finishes one end of the tank the other is starting to get dirty again.

[norgemorir]

In my reef tank, I use koralia powerheads which have a wider projection and even facing mid tank, there's good movement on the substrate --not enough to blow sand around, but my shrooms and zoas show signs of current.

In my lager tank with cheaper powerheads, I have them colliding and hitting the front glass which creates some current on the floor w/o kicking up sand.

You shouldn't have to blow it off but cyano does like low current. a bit more current and some more CUC as mentioned above and you should be better off.