sand dilemna....

[jubjub]

ugh lately my sand has been so dirty and brown its really been buggin me.....any tips to help whiten it back up?
as of now its about 1" deep and i think i have about 8-12hermits, 2 emerald crabs (1 in sump)and about 8-12 astrea snails and i think both peppermint shrimp are still alive but im not sure i havent seen them in a while, and 1 zombie snail

considering this is a 75gal tank im not sure if a sandsifting star is a good idea serpents are kinda cool but not sure thats right either... any suggestions would be great!

thanks

 

[BLKTANG]

Mag Float is your friend.

Just clean it up,& do some WC's.

 

[SVTour]

About once every 3-4 weeks, I siphon the top layer of crappy sand, catching it in a filter sock (dumping water right back into the sump). From there, I'll dump the dirty sand in a bucket and clean it up and put it back in...looks good as new.

Then about once a year I'll toss it and replace with a 1/2 bag of fine agronite.

 

[jubjub]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12373955#post12373955 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BLKTANG
Mag Float is your friend.

Just clean it up,& do some WC's.

how can you magfloat the sandbed?
but i do 5gallon water changes once a week i guess i should be doing more?

 

[BLKTANG]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12374101#post12374101 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jubjubrsx
how can you magfloat the sandbed?
but i do 5gallon water changes once a week i guess i should be doing more?

I was just saying,maybe you should start by cleaning the glass.

5g a week is fine,just get in there and stir,or vaccume that top layer,& it will be clean in no time.Do a wc right after you disturb it.

 

[widmer]

Is there any chance you're overfeeding? That's a LOT of nuissance algae...

 

[ManotheSea]

Run some Nitrate and Phosphate removing media for one week. Remove, replace and repeat weekly until the algae is starved out. Make sure your bulbs are not expired. If so get new ones. Add some nassarius snails. About 50-100 since they are small (but very active). They are great sand sifters and they speedily eat up any left over fish food. And, yes, magfloat for your back and front glass. That should help in the short term.

For the long run. Add a remote deep sand bed and a refugium with cheato. Do not run the media filters non-stop. Only run them one week per month after things are looking better. RO/DI?

Serpent stars are always good to have.