Colored Substrate - picture

[kattsue]

I have this reddish and greenish colors under my substrate. Anyone know whats causing this?

 

[acrodave]

its the light from out side the tank growing the algae.. nutting to worry about

 

[kattsue]

Should I stir the sand around to get it out from underneath.?

 

[Capt_Cully]

If it's a DSB, which it looks like, stirring it up could unleash some nasty nitrogenous wastes....depending on how long system's been running.

 

[acrodave]

it will turn into coralline after time

 

[kattsue]

I guess I'll just leave it. Tanks about 4 1/2 months old. All levels are good. Nitrates stay at about 10 and I just started a phosphate reactor yesterday - .03 today. DSB been in a couple months - changed it to aragonite from CC.

 

[oknamaste]

substrate

substrate

i second the leave it alone for now. you dont want to release the toxins that could be in the sand bed. hopefully the red stuff doesnt turn into red slime algae on the surface. i would suggest if possible to go with a finer substrate in the future

 

[klavestat]

I've had my current DSB for over 2 years and have watched an interesting range of algae come and go (reds, greens, brown, etc). It's typically just a film on the other side of the glass - doesn't extend into the bed. I agree with not stirring the bed. While it probably won't release any significant toxins from the algae, a well established DSB can contain hydrogen sulfide in large pockets and if you get to stirring around that can cause problems. I'd let it be. Good sign your microfauna are doing their job!

 

[kattsue]

Re: substrate

Re: substrate

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12722674#post12722674 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by oknamaste
i second the leave it alone for now. you dont want to release the toxins that could be in the sand bed. hopefully the red stuff doesnt turn into red slime algae on the surface. i would suggest if possible to go with a finer substrate in the future

I changed my DSB to this from CC, thought this was the right size. Finer than this is better. Should I change it again?

 

[Whisperer]

That looks like cyano to me. I haven't seen coralline grow on the substrate (at least not in my experience) much less under it.

 

[kattsue]

Cyano - what do I do?

 

[ReefMasta08]

your fine its all normal growth, once you vac your sand then i would clean it. but remember ammonia pockets in the sand you do too much in a litttle amount of time you can desturb the chemistry and start to kill things. slowly works.

 

[kattsue]

Re: Re: substrate

Re: Re: substrate

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12723503#post12723503 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kattsue
I changed my DSB to this from CC, thought this was the right size. Finer than this is better. Should I change it again?

Is my substrate not fine enough?

 

[Savas]

I changed from crushed coral to sand after 14 months on my last tank. There was so much detrius in the crushed coral I was shocked; the water was black. I believe all that "Junk" is no good for the tank. I would pour some sand on top of the cc to seal it for accumulating detrius.

 

[kattsue]

So what is my DSB now? They bag says medium aragonite. I already changed my CC sandbed. So this is not the right material for DSB?

 

[Whisperer]

Your substrate whether coarse or fine, deep or shallow, is bound to trap detritus. I had a shallow fine sand bed. I couldn't believe the stench of that black waste in my sand bed when I removed it and went BB.

 

[rjsilvers]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12723723#post12723723 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Whisperer
That looks like cyano to me. I haven't seen coralline grow on the substrate (at least not in my experience) much less under it.

My 180g that I broke down for the previous owner had a TON of purple coralline under the sand.. It covered almost the whole bottom panel.

His sand bed was about 4", so not quite a DSB... But it happens for sure.

 

[Nano Chris]

Never even knew that could happen rjsilvers.