Not sure about your first question, it sounds like you removed your sand bed? The algae is there because of excess nutrients in the water. Get rid of the nutrients and the algae will go away.
It's not bold because you have already viewed it.
And nobody had posted yet.
I would get new sand if you took it out, but that's just meI feel it's probably nutrient laden.
Sorry I put my hand in the tank and pulled out the clump of algae on the sand bed. Like to know if anyone ever cleaned dirty sand to reuse it.
You can definitely reuse sand. I strongly recommend you thoroughly rinse it, preferably in SW.
Are you running a gfo reactor? Would really help pull out extra nutrients. Your rocks can suck up, hold and leach nutrients as well. I won't set up my next tank w/out a dual reactor from Bulk Reef Supply.
i would suggest adding a clean up crew and let them do the work for you .
not to be a smart (&^ but you should look into a better source for your CUC . i have wrasses that prey on my CUC and am constantly purchasing a few here and there and i always have a bunch in my tank ,they really do work well .
nassarius snails and some turbo snails and maybe a fighting conk in each tank
my lfs gets in hundreds wekly and when i purchase some they last for a long time 95% of the time . i have only had problems with inverts when they came in very cold water . they got stuck in philly for a day in the winter .