Pull sand bed??

[t-byrd]

Lately my tank has become so overgrown with hair and slime algae
I don't know what else to do. I have tried 30g water changes weekly (55g tank) and it comes right back a couple days later. Water tests ok, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate, and 0 phosphates, double checked by LFS because I couldn't believe it. I would guess all the nutrients are being taken in by all the algae. My sand bed is filthy. If I disturb it, dark clouds of gunk come out of it. This tank has been set up for about 3 years, and never had any real problems untill recently. I have tried loading up a canister with chemical media, running a remora and and cpr at the same time, nothing seems to work. Sound like a good idea? Also, if I rinse it really well over the course of a couple weeks, could I add some back in? I don't like the look of a bare bottom tank, and want to add enough to cover the glass.

 

[Fastmarc]

How deep is your sand bed and do you have a lot of critters in it?

 

[t-byrd]

It's about 3 inches deep, and lots of critters, tracks all over it. When I first set the tank up, I'm sure I overfed quite a bit.

 

[SnowManSnow]

There is a trane of thought that says a sand bed can become "worn out" over time, but I don't think you should have this problem after only 3 years. You say "dark clouds" of stuff come off when you stir the bed. I assume that when you do the water changes you have syphoned this tuff off with a gravel vaccume? You are probably right in that your levels are all right because the algeal overgrowth keeps it consumed. I would try a few things,

1. Vaccume the gravel 1x / week with water changes if you don't already to get the extra "gunk" out. You may even run a cannister filter while you vaccume to help with the stuff floating away. I'd advice agaist using carbon for extended periods of time in a reef system though.

2. Make sure you only use RO water, not tap or well water that has not been pushed through an RO filter.

3. Consider setting up a fuge, if you don't already have one. I'm sure bob will chime in later with the specifics on the importance of plant life

I'm sure others will have advice for you too

good luck with it all! you can do it!

B.

 

[SnowManSnow]

OH, and it probably wont hurt to lighten your photoperiod and feeding for a month or so while things get adjusted According to what all you have in there.

 

[t-byrd]

I do vacuum out the sand bed when I do water changes, and have pulled out some of the sand this way. Always use RO water since the tank was set up. While vacuuming the sand, the water smells horrible going into the bucket. I do not have a fuge, but I do have a decent amount of caulerpa growing in the tank. The slime algae, both red and green, just covers it right up. About 75 lbs of live rock. As far as the live stock, just polyps, mushrooms, and a couple easy hard corals. One dogface puffer, and a niger trigger (both will be going in my 150 predator tank when they get big enough to not become prey for my lion). They are messy eaters, but I feed almost exlusively live shrimp to keep the waste down.

 

[Anonymous]

I agree that it sounds like old tank. And that your nutrients are all 0.0 because the plant life and cyano is consuming what the sand bed is not.


Have you tried a refugium with lotsa plant life like macros? That way the nutrients will be consumed regardless of the condition of the sand bed, or water changes or whatever. And the plant life will seperated from your display area.

edit: woops they beat me to it. Expanding the macros (caulerpa) in a refugium will greatly help.

 

[Anonymous]

t-byrd - I had been battling the dreaded hair algae for over a year. I finally got it beat (I Think).

You DONT need a fuge. IMHO it is a way to mask a bigger problem. Yes they are good for nutreint export but a skimmer should do the same if tuned right plus water chanegs.

This is what I did, I don't know what exactly did it but the combination worked.

I removed my DSB - I don't think it was that but who knows.

I scrubbed the LR in a tub.

Did weekly 15 gallon water changes. Twice a week I took a power head to the LR adn blasted all the detritus off. Since the tank was barebottom it was easy to siphon all the detritus out.

I increased flow in the tank.

Ran my Euroreef skimmer wet.

Stopped adding any additives to the tank.

After 3 months i noticed my Alk was low. I strated adding reef builder and got the Alk to 10 DKH.

A few weeks later the alsge started disappearing.

Some questions to think about:
When was the last time you changed your bulbs?
When was the las ttime you changed your RO membrane? TDS increasing?
Increasing flow?
_________________
Georgian Forum

 

[Anonymous]

I agree with Rob_Reef_Keeper. You do not need a fuge.

So it's your choice. Do all the things he says or simple expand your plant life in a fuge until the hair/cyano clears up. Both will work so the choice is yours.

 

[danmhippo]

Let's use this algae ridden tank to its advantage. How likely is for you to setup up a bigger tank, and use this old tank, nothing changed, as the refugium?

 

[Anonymous]

Just out of curiosity, what type of test kits are you using?

 

[t-byrd]

SeaChem test kit.

Dan, it's the plan but its not going to happen till 3-4 months from now. I have a 90g all glass mega flow that I bought a couple weeks ago, but I still need to build the stand for and wire the storage room below the living room for the pumps and lights, and I'd rather not loose the corals that I have in there due to the cyano smothering everything. Id like to solve the problem at it's source, and I think it's the **** trapped in the sand.

 

[hillbilly]

Some reefkeepers will want to fight someone who says this, but I think a DSB was the worst idea for a reef tank since someome said "hey, let's put a undergravel filter in there". Hey, I fell for it too. Since I removed the bloody things, my tanks have never looked better. My 2 cents.

 

[HClH2OFish]

IMHO 3" doesn't qualify as a DSB...just a SB. I've seen some tanks with lik 6-8" of sand. However, I do agree it's something in your sand. Those fish are really messy eaters and unless you've a really good clean up crew, skimmer, etc. the detritus has likely been building up to the level it's at.

Since you're going to be changing tanks soon, I'd bite the bullet and just suck all the sand out.
Sure it;s a pain, but you won't have to worry about losing your corals to the cyano.
Plus, why mess with trying all these diff. changes when it's only a short time frame?

Just my .02...your mileage may vary..