Substrate Opinions and Help

[tigerlily896]

Hello,
First about my current set up (sorry if this is too much information, but I want to have it all out there!):

Tank Volume = 75gal
Lbs of Live Rock = 40 lbs. (I know this isn't enough, working on getting more.. this stuff is royally expensive)
Substrate = 40 lbs of live sand
Livestock = 1 Ocellaris Clownfish. 2 Turbo Snails. 1 Peppermint Shrimp. 1 Conch
Salinity = 1.024
Temp = 78.5
NO3 = 12.5 mg/l
NO2 = 0
NH3/NH4 = 0
KH = 7 dH
pH = 8.2
Water source = premixed saltwater from LFS.
Filtration = Eheim 2217 canister filter, Reef Octopus protein skimmer.
Circulation = 2 Koralia pumps

My problem is algae. Lots and lots of algae. It's all over the walls of the aquarium and on the sand. I definitely am not absolutely positive but I believe the red slimy algae that is collecting on my sand is actually cyanobacteria. Which I have read is not good.

I went to a new LFS today and explained my problem to the owner of the store. He almost flipped when he heard I have live sand in my tank. He said that live sand is usually not live at all and is full and dead and decaying crap that is probably great food for my algae. Long story short, he recommended Crushed Coral substrate and a sump system. He said the sooner I get the live sand out, the better. He also said that after I get the sand out, put the rocks back in in the design I want and place the substrate around them. Not have the rocks on top of the substrate.

Now, so far I have been to two other LFS before this one, and this is the most advice and guidance I have gotten in a while. I feel like the other stores either tell me what they think I want to hear so I will buy something or have employees who don't know what they are doing...

The one I went to today (whose owner told me Crushed Coral is the way to go) had beautiful tanks set up. Everything looked clean and well taken care of. Even his tanks with fish to buy had crushed coral and live rock as opposed to the previous fish stores who have nothing but fish crammed in there. He said hes been taking care of tanks this way for 11 years with success.

However a quick google search shows that the idea of Crushed Coral as a substrate is not at all popular. People are saying it collects debris quite easily and is hard to clean.

So what are yall's opinions on all this new information I have just obtained? Its a lot and conflicting and I am pretty lost at the moment.

Thank you for any input and insight!

 

[James404]

Sorry but that store owner should not be telling you to switch out sand for crushed coral. If it is cyano the ways to get rid of it is to increase flow, reduce feedings/nutrients, and reduce your photoperiod. Doing a 3 day blackout might help too.

On a side note regarding the Live rock, since you already have some, save your money and buy a bunch of dry base rock. It will all turn into live rock eventually. Good sources are from bulk reef supply or MarcoRocks.

 

[fstar25]

Do not listen to that Guy. 80% of the tanks you see on RC have live sand in the display tank.

What type of live sand did you use?

Live rock directly on the glass could lead to a higher chance of cracking the glass (unlikely but possible). The only real reason to not have sand under the rock is if you have some serious sand burrowers that could cause a rock collapse if they dug under it.

Good luck.

~Frank

 

[rayn]

Agree with James404. Specially on the base rock. My 120 got 85 lbs of base and just today got about 55 lbs of live. Got a deal though, only like 2 bucks a pound, which is the same as base. Crushed coral will hold detrius more then sand, and if you get a sand shifter they may not be able to handle your crushed coral. I have a small, small amount mixed in with my sand in my 55 and it seems to work out okay with my cucumber though

edit..... if you want your life rock down first, put some eggcrate down, live rock, then sand around it. Keeps the rock off the glass and still not able to burrow out from underneath.

 

[Tuscaquatics]

No, no, no crushed coral. Or at least don't pull out what you have and put in CC. You will be sorry.

 

[Scuba_Steve]

Thank you for coming here for advise.

#1... Dont trust LFS until they prove themselves trustworthy.

Crushed coral is bad. Keep your sand, increase flow, blackout for a few days, a week or more if you dont have any corals. Ditch the canister filter, or remove everything except for carbon and gfo.

Do a good sized waterchange. Siphon out as much algae as possible while doing this. Cut back feeding till it goes away. We pretty much always overfeed.

Saying you have Koralias does say much BTW. There are many models of Koralias.

Keep it up, and you can never provide to much info BTW!

 

[tigerlily896]

Great advice, thanks for all your replies!

@fstar25: I am not sure on the type of live sand, I actually threw the bag away after I had put the sand into my aquarium. I will go to the store I bought it from and see which one it was. Probably good to have that info tucked away in my log.

@Scuba_Steve: Thank you so much for the advice on the algae problem. I will put it to use right away. Also for the Koralias model, I have a Koralia 2 and a Koralia 4. The 2 was salvaged from a 38 gal I had for a short time before upgrading to a 75. This hobby is quite addictive!

Oh and I would update my original post with the model #s but the edit button seems to have disappeared. Or I am just tired and blind right now, haha.

 

[Scuba_Steve]

Yes this hobby is definitely addictive! If you dont want to buy another powerhead just try to reposition a bit. A 2 and a 4 should be a decent amount of flow in a 75, I doubt flow is your problem. How long has the tank been setup? It could be just a waiting game, though a good blackout will do you a lot of good. Fish prefer dim lighting/no lighting, so dont be afraid to blackout as long as you want if you dont have coral. Keep doing large water changes until your nitrates go down, and test for phospates. Also test your source water for them as well. Some GFO in a reactor might help.

 

[billsreef]

Back in the day when CC was the common substrate, I kept plenty of LFS tanks looking nice and clean with it. Quite frankly, it was a pain and labor intensive. Sand or bare bottom is the best IMO.

 

[spskid01]

Did you ever check the tds of the ro water might be feeding ur algae problem