Turning Sand Base

[droth]

I'm having the dreaded red bacteria growing on my sand base for about 6 weeks now. In order to try and eliminate it I've been doing regular 25% water changes every week in my 45 gallon, I purchased an extra power head (now have three) and also purchased and installed a Tunze Skimmer. I'm still sucking as much of this red bacterium as I can when I do my water changes but it is still coming back. All my water parameters read OK (maybe my PH is a little low, 8.0) but no nitrites or ammonia.

My question is this. I've never disturbed or turned my sand base over and I'm wondering if it's OK to turn the sand over in the areas where the pink/red alga grows?

David.

 

[BigAl07]

It depends on how DEEP your sand bed is.

Cyano is VERY efficient and will utilize any of several factors for life. It could be WHAT your feeding or how much your feeding.

1. What's in the tank?
   
2. What do you feed?
   
3. How do you feed it?
   
4. How MUCH do you feed?
   
5. Where is your source water from?

• Manual removal (daily)
• Increased flow to the areas (slow flow allows food to settle out and feed it)
• Evaluate what and how your feeding
• Evaluate bio-load

Cyano doesn't go away quick but when you get it on the run it will go away steadily.

 

[droth]

I have one Spotted Yellow Wrasse, a Coral Shrimp, 2 Turbo Snails, several smaller snails, (1) Bubble coral, (1) Frog spawn, (1) Pink Tipped, (1) Brain coral and some Mushroom corals. I also have about half a dozen small Hermit Crabs

As far as food I feed the fish five or six pellets every second day and I’m using a half of a cube of frozen coral food once a week. I just drop the pellets on the surface and I can see the wrasse eat them right away. The frozen food I defrost in RO water and just dump it in the tank.

My water is and always has been only RO water.

I added a couple pictures.

David.

 

[David Shaw]

I syphon my sand bed weekly as part of my water change. It gets rid of the red sand or any algae on there, and i have never had any issues.

Of course you need to watch the overfeeding/ nutrients etc or it will keep coming back.

 

[droth]

I syphon my sand bed weekly as part of my water change. It gets rid of the red sand or any algae on there, and i have never had any issues.

Of course you need to watch the overfeeding/ nutrients etc or it will keep coming back.

David I have very fine sand on the botom of my tank and it seem every time I suck up the algae I also suck up a bit of sand. Do you have a fine sand bed or is it more course?

 

[David Shaw]

I have a fine-ish sand bed, not the superfine stuff though.

Yes, i loose a little of the sand bed with syphoning but i top it up with new live sand every 3 or 4 months or so. Alternatively, just put back in what you have syphoned out once you empty the water out of the container you have syphoned into.

I much prefer this process than having dirty substrate.

 

[BigAl07]

I think WHAT you're feeding is as important as anything else.

Pellets (and most ALL prepackaged foods) contains a LOT of preservatives and that's ROCKET fuel for algae and especially Cyano bacteria.

Consider re-visiting your food choices.

the only Frozen food I don't rinse and drain is Rods food (ROD'S FOOD -Providing your salt water aquarium with the finest food.)

Anything else gets thawed in RO/DI and this gets strained out and the water is down the drain.

Be careful with ANY coral food. Most coral get the majority of their food from light in addition to left-over food particles in the water column from feeding the fish.

5/6 pellets sounds like a LOT at any given time. You want to feed only what can be completely consumed in a 2 minute period. This doesn't mean to continue feeding for 2 minutes but trial and error to determine how much your fish can clean up in 2 minutes.

You may also work with WHERE and HOW your power-heads are pointing to help rid the tank of slow areas.

 

[droth]

I think WHAT you're feeding is as important as anything else.

Pellets (and most ALL prepackaged foods) contains a LOT of preservatives and that's ROCKET fuel for algae and especially Cyano bacteria.

Consider re-visiting your food choices.

the only Frozen food I don't rinse and drain is Rods food (ROD'S FOOD -Providing your salt water aquarium with the finest food.)

Anything else gets thawed in RO/DI and this gets strained out and the water is down the drain.

Be careful with ANY coral food. Most coral get the majority of their food from light in addition to left-over food particles in the water column from feeding the fish.

5/6 pellets sounds like a LOT at any given time. You want to feed only what can be completely consumed in a 2 minute period. This doesn't mean to continue feeding for 2 minutes but trial and error to determine how much your fish can clean up in 2 minutes.

You may also work with WHERE and HOW your power-heads are pointing to help rid the tank of slow areas.

Thanks BigAl

I haven't been straining my frozen food before putting it into my tank. Can I ask what you feed your fish and where you get it? Do you buy it or make it yourself?