Best ways to oxygenate sand

[preston929]

I had a 55 gallon tank that I upgraded last year to a 75. I have just done my water tests and everything is perfect according to the test. The problem is that my sand has been grazed over with a bubble laden green algae. While doing my water change I noticed my sand beneath the top layer is cold and black in spots.
So my question is what are the best way to fix this?

In the past, I have used a sand sifting star. (which i hear starve to death in the aquarium)

I tried an algae blenny earlier in the week, but he commited suicide i found out when he was lying on the floor the next day after ipicked him up.

I still have a few nassirus snails roaming in the tank and at the moment dont seem to be doing the trick.

So please and thank you for your help

[mystery_reef]

some sort of sifting goby and get some more nassa snails. only prob. w/ the goby is that he might occasionally put some sand on any corals down there.
sand sifting stars are useless imo.
you should try and eliminate the algae prob. completley tho. can you post up your parameters? do you use R/O? did you test phosphates? do you have a skimmer? what is your light cycle? what kind of salt do you use and how often do you do water changes?
lots of possibilities... hth

[mystery_reef]

also how much sand is in the tank? is it a deep sand bed?

[hansnfrans]

Reduce phosphates with GFO and increase flow to reduce hydrogen sulfide accumulation in sandbed.

[ILLiDaN]

+1.

[larder]

Sounds like you have cyanobacteria. It is not technically an algae, so the lawnmower blenny and the snails and hermits will not eat it.

I would also recommend increasing the circulation. It might also be time to siphon the gravel.

[hansnfrans]

if it is cyano,then conchs will supposedly take care of it. However it'd be better to stop the cyano at its source.

[flapjack1439]

I have conchs stirring my bed.

[Pufferpunk]

My black cuke dose a great maid service when it comes to vacuuming the sand. How deep is the sand bed (2nd time asking this here)?

[aiko670]

water changes, cukes, snails, flow and gfo

sand sifting stars and gobies eat all the good stuff out of your sand bed

[GreekSoxFan]

I dont know if this relates to the topic, but....
I'm 3 months into the hobby, and I've upgraded to a 30g cube.
I've worked in a dsb about 3', and part of my sand has turned a dark color
too, almost a dark grey to be exact.
Should I be concerned about this?....
thnx =D

[Ragby]

I've been very pleased with the work of my diamond goby.

[preston929]

i check phosphates and they are at zero. I use r/o with di. I have aqua c remora pro with a mag 7 in the sump. water changes are done once a month, about 15%- 20%. Tests have been perfect for 7 straight months. I have a powerhead blowin just above the sand bed so it does not blow it around.
I would say that the sand bed averages about 4" which is including a layer of crushed shells on the bottom.

[MBasile]

+1 for black cucumber. Also I think worms are the most important, so try to get some live sand from someones fuge or something with lots of worms.

[johnike]

+2 for the black cucumber. That, 1 sand sifting star, 1 conch. All I have in a 6 foot long tank with a deep four inch sand bed, and cleaner than clean. Oh yeah, 2 nassarius snails.

[preston929]

has any one tried these cleaner clams http://www.atlanticseafarms.net/serv...r-Clams/Detail