HOW does everyone make it look so nice?

[chris31]

how does everyone do it. how does everyone keep there sand so clean. what can i get to keep my sand looking nice and white

 

[MalHavoc]

My sand looked like crap until I wanted to take a picture of my tank. Then I cleaned it with a small piece of rubber hose when I did water changes

An active sand bed will keep itself pretty clean, though. Critters like nassarius snails do a decent job at it.

 

[mwwhite]

Stir it. May not be a good idea to start if the tank's established. Sand accumulates organic matter over time - some break down to nitrogen, some result in Hydrogen Sulfate (or Sulfide - I can't recall, but it smells nasty). The point is not to release it into your tank. At least not more than your biological filtration can handle.

 

[XSiVE]

circulation helps too.. if you have good turnover in your display then there will be less chance that stuff settles to the bottom.

edit: if it gets dissolved, or makes its way into your sump (if you have one) it will most likely end up removed by your skimmer instead of laying on the sand bed.

 

[chris31]

well i have more of a diatom problemin the sad bed and i think i have pritty good flow 4 aqua ball pH's and i have a rio 2500 as my return

 

[MalHavoc]

Diatoms? Are you using tap water or filtered RO/DI water? tap water has silicon in it, which can lead to a diatom bloom.

 

[MarineFishGuy]

Brown Diatoms are typical in a new system. It should pass in a week. Although it may take the cleanup crew a week or two to catch up.
Using Tap water instead of RO/DI water can contribute to the issue due to the silicates.

Add more Clean up crew.
My current crew:
2 sand sifting starfish
12 cerith snails
12 Nasirius snails
10 red legged hermits
3 mexican turbos (they stay on the rock mostly)
2 emerald crabs (mostly on the rock)
1 sally-lightfoot crab (on the rock mostly)
1 cleaner shrimp (stay near the top of the tank)

The snails eat a lot of the debris on the sand bed and the starfish turn over the top inch of sand very efficiently.
As mentioned good flow is important to keep detritus in suspension, but you indicated you had that.

HTH,
Ken

 

[chris31]

ok thanks im gonna pick up a lawnmower bleeny and maybe some more snails im also getting a yellow tang that should help to right

 

[chris31]

oo and as far as the tap water i was using filterd tap water but i ordered a ro/di system from the filter guys so it should be here tomorrow

 

[chris31]

i have a little hair alege a yellow tang i was told will eat this?

 

[Randall_James]

The RO/DI should help and the lawnmower blenny may not be a good idea, how big is your tank? (they are known to starve in many smaller tanks)

 

[chris31]

95g with a 20g sump

 

[Randall_James]

the LMB needs a good supply of hair algae to survive. If you want something to work the sand over, I would opt for something more like a black cucumber myself.

 

[chris31]

well theres hair alege on my sand bed i was buying a yellow tang to take care of the hair i was told that they will eat that

 

[seapug]

I had a constant problem with diatoms on the sand until I got an RO system. Went away within 2 weeks of using the RO for mixing salt and topoffs.

 

[MalHavoc]

I wouldn't rely on a yellow tang to solve your algae problem. Look at improving your cleanup crew and tank filtration first. I had a yellow tang in my 180, and he picked at algae occasionally, but he didn't really make a big dent in it.

 

[steve14]

On the topic of keeping sand clean, when you clean it with a siphon wouldn't the siphon suck up a lot of sand? I know with my FW tank, it will pick up a lot of the smaller rocks.

 

[Tahlequah]

I use a diamond gobie.

 

[ahullsb]

I second the diamond goby. Keeps the sand crystal clean. (Look at the pic above) It's so clean it's overexposed!

 

[Duce]

For a second there I thought I read diatom goby
Goby is a good choice.
You can also try a sea cumber ... but be careful which species you pick as some can release toxin when dead.