can my sand be to big

[jokersplayground]

Ok so when I first setup my tank I wanted bigger sized grains so it does not blow around from the jabeo. For a while I had no algae but slowly my sand has been getting diatoms and a little hair algae. Now the grain size is not like the size of crushed coral but it is also not sugar grain. Can my sand bed be causing my issue?

 

[this is me]

Diatom on the sand does not point to the size of the sand but rather your water.
I've dealt with algae on the sand and I find it best to just wait it out and do nothing if you're fish and corals are okay. You can always cut back on feeding and test for PO4 and NO3. But I've experience cyano even when the PO4 and NO3 were undetectable.
Good flow on the sand is also critical but I don't think that's your issue.

 

[jokersplayground]

Diatom on the sand does not point to the size of the sand but rather your water.
I've dealt with algae on the sand and I find it best to just wait it out and do nothing if you're fish and corals are okay. You can always cut back on feeding and test for PO4 and NO3. But I've experience cyano even when the PO4 and NO3 were undetectable.
Good flow on the sand is also critical but I don't think that's your issue.

My rocks have no algae on them it's just my sand. I was thinking of just taking it out. But then I would have egg crate showing.

 

[this is me]

No algae on rocks but on sand can certainly happen. You have any floor mopping cleaning up crew?

 

[Jim Tansey]

No algae on rocks but on sand can certainly happen. You have any floor mopping cleaning up crew?

What are some of your favorites for the sand bed cleanup (same sand texture as poster).

Jim

 

[this is me]

I like the fighting conch. They're active enough on the sand and don't make a mess like a sand sifter would.

 

[reefstarter]

How old is the tank ? And if I remember right you just got rid of some algae correct ? diatoms are found almost everywhere in the ocean and are natural . most likely you had a small amount of ammonia happen which fed them . removing the sand will not stop it . My advice is to let your tank be , keep up with water changes and regular maintenance and let your tank find its balance without changing things .

 

[mvallee]

I was having similar issues for the first year, did lots of reading on all types of forums that had my head spinning from sand to the types of rocks but something that always struck me was someone having used the wrong kind of eggcrate that was leaching phosphates. I covered the entire bottom of my tank with the stuff too. I do not remember why they came to that conclusion but I made a frag rack out of my left over eggcrate and everytime I put any corals on it, it gets cyano and diatoms bad, when it is just sitting there empty it is fine stays clean and grows coraline.

I do not struggle with Diatoms or cyano in my DT anymore though I still get a green film on my glass that needs to be cleaned every 3 days and my sand is never what I would call pristine but looks pretty darn good so it did all finally straighten itself out enough that I am happy.

Just another thing to think about and give your head an extra spin

 

[jokersplayground]

This is what I did have for clean up crew but I think my crabs killed them all, dwarf cerith (40), Florida ceriths (15), nassaris (10), a sand sifting starfish (very healthy and active), Margarita snails (4). But now I only see 1 Florida cerith, 2 large margaritas, my star, and my 6 crabs. Hmm I may try to take out the egg crate, sometime there will be tons of hair algae growing on the parts that are showing half the tank has either no to little sand on it. Can I cause a problem by disturbing the sand to get the other side out? There is only about 2" of sand on that side.

 

[jokersplayground]

I was also thinking to acid dip my rocks slowly( over time small batches of rock) just to be on the safe side. Do you guys think this would work? Or would I have to do it all at once?

 

[CoralJunkie]

I wouldn't bother with the acid dip just take things slower and keep the water changes going.

 

[jokersplayground]

How can you tell the difference between bryopsis and hair algae? On the egg crate that is showing in my tank has either one of those two but I can't figure out which one. I will post a pick in a few minutes.

 

[dannyp02908]

bryopsis looks like little ferns when you look closely at it. hair algae just looks like hair. Also, I agree with the above post regarding egg crate. I have had the same issue. I no longer use it personally (never used it under sand any how, only for frag racks and skimmer stand). I also agree with others in that your tank is too young to change so much all at once. I have witnessed you tell people to slow down, so you know the answer. Don't rush it and please don't go killing your live rock. It will only serve to have you starting over with the same scenario, same questions and same answers. Here is a link to a picture of bryopsis up close. If you have this, you might as well call bosley right now because you are going to rip your hair out of your head fighting it.

http://images42.fotki.com/v877/photos/2/28482/171438/4bryopsis-vi.jpg

 

[jokersplayground]

the first pic is what I believe is diatoms. the second pic is what I cant tell.

 

[jokersplayground]

bryopsis looks like little ferns when you look closely at it. hair algae just looks like hair. Also, I agree with the above post regarding egg crate. I have had the same issue. I no longer use it personally (never used it under sand any how, only for frag racks and skimmer stand). I also agree with others in that your tank is too young to change so much all at once. I have witnessed you tell people to slow down, so you know the answer. Don't rush it and please don't go killing your live rock. It will only serve to have you starting over with the same scenario, same questions and same answers. Here is a link to a picture of bryopsis up close. If you have this, you might as well call bosley right now because you are going to rip your hair out of your head fighting it.

http://images42.fotki.com/v877/photos/2/28482/171438/4bryopsis-vi.jpg

yea I agree with you about taking it slow. just my wife almost yells at me every day cause of this algae. from her yelling at me gets me trying to solve it lol.

 

[dannyp02908]

second is hard to tell. turn off your pumps and look closely at it. First pic is also hard to tell.

 

[jokersplayground]

the second pic looks like cotton candy. the first pic is not stringy or looking like cyano, but its just like a dusting on the sand

 

[JohnK]

This may have nothing to do with the current algae issue, but you don't want a sand sifting star at all. They rapidly consume all the microfauna that keep the sandbed healthy and is needed to process detritus and other waste that gets into the sand. They effectively turn live sand beds into dead sand beds, and dead sand beds can become nutrient sinks easily.

Also, weren't you struggling with dinos very recently? What happened with that?

 

[jokersplayground]

I couldn't tell if I had dino. It just turned out that I had lots of this brown stuff. I ruled out the dino as this was not stringy and filled with bubbles. Yea I got to try and mix up my sand but I'm gunna get rid of him.

 

[dannyp02908]

if the green algae looks like cotton candy and doesn't have a fern-like structure, I would doubt it is bryopsis. If it is hair algae, usually a tank would be my response, just not in a 40g tank. What you could try is to acclimate a freshwater molly. I think I heard somewhere they eat the algae.