12 Gallon marine newbie advice

[Jonny3009]

Hey guys new here just after a bit of advice from the experts.

Had my tank running for around 8months now with no problems. Recently I've been getting purple/green colouring on the front glass below in the sand.

2 clowns
2 chromis
1 cleaner shrimp
3 blue crab
2 red crab
4 nas snails

Keeping it as this as everything seems well balanced as I'm having no problems just im not sure what the purple/green colouring is.

Any advice would be much appreciated. Even if you guys spot something not to do with the colouring!

Thanks.

 

[Tisbe]

Looks like cyno to me. It means nutrients are building up in the sand. It looks like you have about 2 inches of sand... It is usually recommended to have 1 inch or less, or a DSB of 6 inches or more.

Do you siphon the sand? How often?

 

[Bugboy2020]

Have you noticed this coloring before? If not, then it is just a part of the natural cycle and it will pass away on its own in a month or two(It may look really ulgy at some point)

 

[OldReefGuy]

agree with Tisbe...
I woukd start siphoning the sand, do a 1/4 of the tank every week....would not do all at once

 

[SFish]

Looks like cyno to me as well I also see green algae. I would not wait I would try to get it under control before it gets worse. As stated clean 1/4 of the sand.

 

[Crusinjimbo]

Cyano!! Monitor your PO4 levels accurately (consider Hanna URL tester) and maintain below 3ppm by managing nutrient input and export. Algae scrubbers are a cheap and effective DIY project that are very effective nutrient export systems that have little or no recurring costs, ala GFO. My 10 gallon runs on a DIY ATS and a small circulation pump, no skimmer or other filtration.

 

[Snorkel79]

The first pic almost looked like coralline but the second pic where it's developed looks like cyano.

Vacumming your sandbed during water changes is important. It reduces detritus and nutrient issues. getting some nassarius can also aid in keeping the sand clean but they need help from us as well with vacuuming.

If you haven't been vacuuming your sand weekly, only do a small amount each week as suggested until it becomes a regular routine.

I would test your phos and nitrates as well

Do you run a sump or a filter? How often is media changed? how often do you clean the filter.

If using filter floss, it should be changed 1-2 times a week, basically when it goes brown.
if you use a media bag with carbon, I always rinse it weekly and change out carbon monthly. Alot of stuff builds on those bags.

Filters should be cleaned monthly

If you have a P04 issues, using phosguard, phosban will help but the levels need to be monitored.

 

[Jonny3009]

Thanks guys appreciate all the replies.

I do check my parimeters weekly nitrates etc and they are always good. I have media bags with phosguard and puregen in to help keep phosphate levels and nitrate levels down.

As for siphoning the sand I must admit I'm not really good at this/worried I'll suck up a nas snail :uhoh3: maybe I need a better siphon than the one I use to do water changes to do this better.

Only running it with a filter which generally gets cleaned whenever I do a water change.

Most replies seem to go with siphoning as the main point so I'll have a better go of that rather than ignoring it and hope my nassarius snails do the job for me!

Thanks again :thumbsup:

 

[JC Slater]

Hey once you get it under control, I got a sand sifting starfish and a fighting conch, those alone by with my pistol shrimp and yellow goby and about 8 nass snails keeps the sand in my 29 gal biocube nice and white. I have a valentini puffer who eats small snails so hot the conch and starfish and couldn't be more happy. Hope that helps!

 

[Tisbe]

It sounds like you have a pretty good maintenance routine for water quality. Siphoning will help keep your sand stay nice and clean. The way to think of it is, you are the best part of your clean up crew because you are the only one that can actually remove nutrient from your tank. Don't hesitate to post/ask questions before things get out of control. :beer:

 

[Jonny3009]

Cheers JC and tisbe, i have been looking at getting a star fish just was not sure my tank was too small!

Tisbe ill certainly keep asking! haha. Hopefully the siphoning works