I like a sand bed and don't generally have a problem with them either....
I have a belief system though....
A sand bed is it's own ecosystem within the equarium. As such it needs it's own attention. I keep a sand star sand sifting goby and both Astra and nassarius snails plentiful if my system to turn the sand.... The key is turning the sand... And that combo does it... I don't aim power heads at it or anything....
I am currently running biopellets and Rowa so my nutrients are low... Which helps with keeping algae at bay, but before the biopellets with just Rowa I would from time to time get some algae that would start on the sand and with a water change I would just vacume it all up and out.... Wash the sand a dump it back in....
If you have a system with excess nutrients they will go somewhere..... Hopefully it's out with a water change.... Or they will find their own way to be 'productive' as in algae.
With all my tanks in the beginning with the blooms I run a few scoops of red slime remover with the skimmer off for a few days then skim it out... I find it really helps in the beginning.
It comes down to TWO things:
1- EXCESS nutrients - run a PO4 remover and biopellets.... Or more water changes
2- livestock NOT turning over your sand - go BUY the items I listed above.
Pick which your failing at and fix it....
I would wonder how much macros help.... I run a few types and chaeto is the best grower by far and home to some life. Maybe the macros just take the easy nutrients on the first pass and the leftovers get used by the pellets and Rowa.
I tried the 'no name' high capacity gfo and it did nothing!!! I measured the PO4 in the tank and the output from the reactor an hour later and it was the same - I now only use ROWA cause it works for me and I can measure the difference...
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