sand bed turning brownish

[gatr_head]

Since upgrading my lighting to 192w PC's, my 46g sand bed is turning brownish in spots. This must be a bad sign but of what? Is it algae growth and how do I get rid of it?
I try to do 5g water changes weekly up to 10 days do I need to do more?

 

[OceanGuy]

I've had that happen a couple of times. I just moved my 50 gallon tank down two floors in the school that I work in over the summer and there was a lot of that brown algae when I put the water back into the tank. The crabs and snails took care of almost all of it in a couple of days.. Water changes will always help. I'm new at this too. Others may post some better advice.

Ocean Guy

 

[gatr_head]

I have noticed that the hermit crabs have been disappearing and I don't see anymore snails on the glass. I suppost it may be time to get a fresh cleaning crew?
Since upgrading the lights, I added a BTA and some small xenia'a so I've been running the lights for about 10hrs a day . If I cut back on the lights will I hurt the BTA or xenia?

 

[Moe_K]

Since upgrading my lighting to 192w PC's, my 46g sand bed is turning brownish in spots. This must be a bad sign but of what? Is it algae growth and how do I get rid of it?
I try to do 5g water changes weekly up to 10 days do I need to do more?

It probably is some kind of algae or cyanobacterial growth.
It may just be a temporary thing.

 

[offshore]

Do you use ro or tap water? If your using tap I would say there is your answer.

 

[JohnK]

Sounds like diatom growth to me.

A change in lighting may cause a bloom, I don't really know, but IME I usually see ditaoms bloom a bit when my RODI cartridges get old. Could that be an alternative explanation?

(If the cartridges are old you can get increased slilcate which feeds the diatoms, if your cartridges are old and allowing this extra silicate and your doing extra water changes the water changes may even fuel the problem)

Not saying this is the cause, just another idea to consider.

jk

 

[gatr_head]

I guess I'll start with changing the rodi cartridges and see what happens.

Thanks.

 

[JohnK]

Don't go by my word as "the" explanation, just a suggestion to think about. How old are your cartridges and do you know much about the quality of your tap water? Sometimes it's just the DI that needs to be reaplaced IF that's the problem. That said, lighting changes often casuse different algae blooms.

good luck

jk