sandbed/algae/nano issues - take your pick.

[christyf5]

So I suck at sandbeds and if nobody can diagnose this one, its coming out. I currently have a 7.5g Nano, one of those Innovative Marine all in one jobs with the LED lighting. Lack of sleep and caffeine make me forget the specifics of the name, I'm surprised I even remembered the brand name. Anyhoo, its been running since about August or so and has been a great little tank until a couple of weeks ago. I did a water change and the tank just hit the crapper. Its a zoa dominant tank with a pink hammer coral (for movement as it was looking a little boring in there) and a green favia which hasn't stopped being happy (tentacles out and lots of growth) since the issues began.

The problem started with some vividly bright green algae covering a portion of the sandbed, I'd say a 2x2" spot about 3 weeks ago. Then came the snot strings on some of the rocks and on the glass. The algae on the glass grows pretty quick and there are some coralline spots developing as well. All the zoas are puckered up tight and the hammer is not happy, it was the last to get really crabby about the situation. Favia is business as usual.

Since the issue I have done 2 water changes, one with new water and one with water from my 180g (done today). As I was doing todays waterchange I noticed that there were some pinky brown (beige? taupe?) sections on the sandbed as well, and they were hard. I'd say about 1/8" thick and crunchy. I ended up stirring up the sandbed some but haven't done any testing on the tank to tell whether the parameters are in check. I use the same bucket of salt on the big tank and do 20% water changes on it. The nano gets 50%+ water changes so bigger issue if there is one.

I use chemi-pure blue all in one filter media and thats all, I've used it since the beginning and I rinse it before it goes in. Temp is fine but like i say, haven't done any testing as the water is new and I test my salt buckets before I start using them and they check out fine.

Not really sure what to do other than haul out the sandbed. I thought I'd get a longer ride off this one before I had to do that. I don't have any luck with sandbeds, they start out nice and usually head south. Never figured out why. There are some brittle stars and a few bristle worms and some little snails that seem to get eaten by the bristle worms but all in all its a fairly happy little ecosystem until now.

Anyway, I'll stop typing and hopefully someone has some ideas.

[rsisvixen]

I would take a stab at the bright green being a form of cynobacteria ( cyno can come in a variety of colours not just red. ) Its not an algae per se but a bacteria that also requires photosynthesis to survive. Usually its a high nutrient indicator, nitrates and phosphates.

The other stuff sounds more like diatoms usually an indicator of high silicates and pretty normal for a tank still cycling.

Most systems take a while to reach equilibrium even if they've cycled.

[christyf5]

Originally Posted by rsisvixen

I would take a stab at the bright green being a form of cynobacteria ( cyno can come in a variety of colours not just red. ) Its not an algae per se but a bacteria that also requires photosynthesis to survive. Usually its a high nutrient indicator, nitrates and phosphates.

The other stuff sounds more like diatoms usually an indicator of high silicates and pretty normal for a tank still cycling.

Most systems take a while to reach equilibrium even if they've cycled.

Thanks, but what about the crusty sandbed bit? thats the part that worries me the most. well that and the loss of all of these zoas with them all being pinchy faced...

[rsisvixen]

Like I said the crusty stuff is probably diatoms but I couldn't say for sure, perhaps some photos?

I would imagine the zoas are closed perhaps from low ammonia or high nitrate/phosphate, have you tested the water?

[GoFish]

I started a 10 gallon all-in-one tank last year sometime, i added about 1/2" of course white sand. Several months later it wasn't so white anymore and if I stirred it up at all out came a cloud of junk (detritus). So out with the sand and went bare bottom, well I forgot to paint the bottom of the tank black so it looked kinda crappy, not long after that I put in 1/2" of black sand, looked great for months but same thing, trapped fish poop and clouded the water if it was stirred up. Several months later I replaced the tank with a duplicate, this time blacked out the bottom using a vinyl decal. Couldn't be happier
I love the look of sand at first but more downsides to it than bare bottom in my experience.. My vote, take it out. At least you won't have anything growing on your sand anymore. Just make sure you have adequate flow to keep the bottom tidy

[christyf5]

Originally Posted by Vancity

I started a 10 gallon all-in-one tank last year sometime, i added about 1/2" of course white sand. Several months later it wasn't so white anymore and if I stirred it up at all out came a cloud of junk (detritus). So out with the sand and went bare bottom, well I forgot to paint the bottom of the tank black so it looked kinda crappy, not long after that I put in 1/2" of black sand, looked great for months but same thing, trapped fish poop and clouded the water if it was stirred up. Several months later I replaced the tank with a duplicate, this time blacked out the bottom using a vinyl decal. Couldn't be happier
I love the look of sand at first but more downsides to it than bare bottom in my experience.. My vote, take it out. At least you won't have anything growing on your sand anymore. Just make sure you have adequate flow to keep the bottom tidy

true. I don't even have any fish in there, just corals and there is buildup on the sand. I guess I'm just not sandbed friendly

[christyf5]

Originally Posted by rsisvixen

Like I said the crusty stuff is probably diatoms but I couldn't say for sure, perhaps some photos?

I would imagine the zoas are closed perhaps from low ammonia or high nitrate/phosphate, have you tested the water?

no I know what diatoms are, this wasn't it. Diatoms come off in a thin film or maybe with a bit of sand attached. This is an entire layer of sand, thick, chunky and has to be physically broken up with, well this was with my plastic tipped siphon. Its almost like I had an alkalinity event or something with the sand being so chunky. Guess its coming out next waterchange...*sigh*

[Portuguesenrg]

Hey I have basically the same set up in my 8 gallon , was having the same issue and so I ant and re read the chemi pure container and the blue version dosnt have anything for phosphate in the media but there chemi pure elite Verizon does so once I went and picked up some phos guard if that's the name problem was solved the greening went down big time and it became control able .

Well that's if you haven't already confirmed that your p04 isn't 0 anyways lol


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[christyf5]

Originally Posted by Portuguesenrg

Hey I have basically the same set up in my 8 gallon , was having the same issue and so I ant and re read the chemi pure container and the blue version dosnt have anything for phosphate in the media but there chemi pure elite Verizon does so once I went and picked up some phos guard if that's the name problem was solved the greening went down big time and it became control able .

Well that's if you haven't already confirmed that your p04 isn't 0 anyways lol


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well who whoulda thunk. sheesh why not put the phosphate reducer in? I never have 0 phosphate anyways but I didn't test for this. Guess I'll try some phosphate reducer first for the heck of it. Serves me right for not testing Thanks for the info!

[rsisvixen]

As long as you have critters to move your sandbed around you shouldn't have issues, burrowing stars,snails etc. I have no issues with my sandbed with all the digging going on.
Like everything in a tank it needs to be maintained either by a crew of critters or by yourself. Nothing in a tank is maintenance free