Stirring the sand bed ( Very Thin Sandbed?)

[Ducati 911]

I have a 20G soon to be mixed reef thats a little over a month and a half old and Ive been fighting cyno for the past 2 weeks now. I keep getting mixed opinions on whether I should stir up the sand a little each day to keep it from growing ( seems to only grow on the sand, Im using LS) or just let it overtake the sand and let it grow itself out?

My sandbed is very thin so im not too worried about stirring it up a little I just would like some advise. \


Im using RO/DI 0TDS
SG - 1.026
Temp- 79
Nitrate- 5
Nitrite - 0
Ammonia - 0
pH- 8.1

There is a lot of flow in the tank so I dont think thats the problem
Unfortunatly those are the only tests I have so far .

Thank you!

 

[StealthRider]

You can stir up just the top to get the algae to get buried but I wouldn't go too deep. There are many ideas about it. I would love to hear them.

 

[ericauch]

everytime i stir my sandbed my friggin alk climbs. also sends debri up witch can get on your corals. if you have cyno stiring up the cynobacteria is bad news. if ur doing it for algea cover just lightly run your hand over the sand. thats what i do =)

 

[disc1]

I've noticed that since I got the pistol shrimp, nothing ever grows on the sand anymore. None of the corals are really safe down there either, but he definitely keeps the cyano turned under.

 

[Ducati 911]

Why would stirring up the cyno be a bad idea?

 

[Ducati 911]

anyone?

 

[dogstar74]

I would aggressively stir it up every time you do a water change. I have a shallow sand bed, and there is no chance of hydrogen sulfide forming bacteria there, so I use a MJ1200 power head and really give it a blast. The water in the tank will turn cloudy brown, but that's alright. Your filtration will take it out of the tank. Also you will be siphoning a ton of crap out with your water change. On a 20 Gallon I'd suggest a 10 gallon change at a time. I don't believe in small water changes, I figure if your change water is stabile and well cured, then a 50% or greater WC won't hurt a thing.

Good luck!
Aaron

 

[frankpayne32]

Just stirring it up won't really do anything. You need to actually remove the cyano/diatoms from the water while simultaneously lower the nutrients in your tank. This is what I do that works very well:

-Syphon out detritus/nuisance "algae" from sand bed.
-Do a 25-33% water change.
-Add fresh carbon and phosphate media (GFO)
-Turn out the tank lights for three days

I do this whenever I notice a little brown on my sand bed. Works like a charm and keeps it looking clean for at least a month then I repeat the process. I also do small water changes and lightly siphon the sand be every week. Good luck!

 

[pmgaudio]

I am new, and had the same problem, which I seemed to fix by adjusting my Power-heads for dead-spots, and have not had any form since. Another thing, I did was attend CMAC this past Sunday in CT and learned a thing or two about a lot of things. Cyno, in general, is a bacteria that lives in the ocean, therefore in your tank. It is too small to see until it settles on sand rock and such. it is everywhere so you wont "get rid" of it, but make it invisible.
While nutrient levels will effect the size of the outbreak (Learned that the cyano will feed more on higher levels of nutrients "food). So
I could be 100% wrong, as my memory is a bit sketchy, but it is gonna happen, just how large a scale is up to the husbandry, and most importantly flow. I have mine under control and after a dozen Turbos, my green hair algae outbreak is gone too. (Phos-ban in the HOB didn't hurt either) Hope this helps, hope all goes well for you

(See, I can be NICE!!!)

 

[Ducati 911]

Another thing, I did was attend CMAC this past Sunday in CT and learned a thing or two about a lot of things. (See, I can be NICE!!!)

I would love to attend something like this.. can you give me a little more detail on where and when they meet?