Sand issues

[mantenak]

I have had my fish tank running for 7 years now. It's a 280 gallon reef tank. This past summer I added additional live and non live sand. Ever since then, I had issue with the sand bed. All my water parameters are within acceptable ranges. I have led lights that I put in 1.5 years ago. I have a sump that has macro algae with live rock and miracle mud.

I have attached a few pics of the tank and the sand problem, if anyone has experience with identifying this bad bacteria and how to resolve the issue I would greatly appreciate it. I have made multiple water changes in the past few weeks, and still no impact.

 

[livingcorals]

Looks like cyanobacteria

 

[puffer_fish]

honestly when I had that the only thing that worked was to physically remove it (suck it out during a water change or something)... I think maybe there might be a fish/snail that might eat it also? but you have to try to remove every bit of it first

 

[Votts]

there has to be a root of the problem.. when was the last time you changed your rodi filters? is your tds 0? It's possible that when you added the new sand that you trapped all the detritus and garbage with the new sand and it has brewing ever since.. I never like to add sand to a sand bed. if you are going to do a deep sand bed do it from the start or suck sand out and add new sand... If you use Chemi-Clean I guarantee it will take it away but you need to find the root of the problem. I think that you trapped stuff under the sand and that's why I tell you to use the Chemi-clean, unless your rodi water is testing high tds.. also if you add tiger sand conches they will help tremendously with cleaning your sand bed.

 

[johnike]

Votts sounds correct.
When I took the sand from the 180 and topped it off with new when I set up the 240 a couple years back, I got the same thing. I dealt with Hydrogen Sulfide pockets for a year or so. Here's a good read.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-12/rhf/

I SLOWLY and GENTLY poked and stirred mine for a few months, and everything disappeared.

 

[xtlosx]

Why not just invest in some nassarius snails? What I do is pickup 20 or so every couple of weeks and eventually you have 100+ constantly coming up, stirring your bed and keeping it turned. You can do this without having to prod it yourself, and it's done in a natural fashion.

Are you running GFO? I have been deal with this for MONTHS, and with large water changes, running GFO, and stirring the sand naturally it's going away. Chemi clean will likely work, but like I've said in the past, it's happening for a reason so it will just come back until you fix the original problem. Don't do it the easy way, just keep at it.

 

[Duc1098]

I had a similar issue, ended up using Dr. Tim's Waste-Away and Refresh. They have a treatment plan listed on their website. The bacteria in the refresh and waste-away are supposed to work its way into the sand bed and consume nutrients. Worked well for me.

 

[madadi]

I think its a common issue where cyano take over the good bacteria. in my experience I dosed a little erythromycin antibiotic. I know it might kill other bacteria also, but it killed the cyano for sure and it didn't come back. I know this is an extreme fix. I used the fish medicine that comes in the little packets. you have to read the ingredients and make sure the antibiotic is there. I used like 10% of recommended dosage and I never had a problem. try it if all else fail. like others have stated. dosing a good bacteria might fix it since the idea is that eventually it will outcompete the cyano. cyano is photosynthetic though and other bacteria is not so it definitely has an advantage even in a low nutrient tank like mine was.

 

[Helter Skilter]

Check your phosphate levels.

 

[Duc1098]

Nutrients won't always show up in this case. Cyano is very good consuming nutrients before you can test for them. That's is how it was for me.

 

[mantenak]

Thanks everyone for the advice...I do use RODI system, my TDS are near zero. I will check again today. I have a diamond watchman goby that shifts the sand around. I think I will have to resort to using Chemi-clean and will let everyone know what happens.

 

[ostrow]

TDS can be zero but if your cartridges are old will cause cyano and/or diatom blooms. Replace sediment every 2-3 months, cardon 4-6 and DI as tds indicates.

 

[xtlosx]

Thanks everyone for the advice...I do use RODI system, my TDS are near zero. I will check again today. I have a diamond watchman goby that shifts the sand around. I think I will have to resort to using Chemi-clean and will let everyone know what happens.

I just did chemiclean yesterday at noon after being very much wanting to use it as an absolute last resort. My problem was BAD, for a long while, and it certainly got rid of a bunch quickly, and it will be a couple of doses before mine is gone. Happy to report, no losses, S. Giganteas, SPS, and animals all look great. Just turn off your skimmer for the two days

 

[Helter Skilter]

Nutrients won't always show up in this case. Cyano is very good consuming nutrients before you can test for them. That's is how it was for me.

You are correct, phosphate doesn't always show up. However, most of the time they do. Checking phosphate levels is a good start to determining the problem and should be checked frequently any way. I used to check mine weekly along with Alk, Mag, pH and Ca.