Suspect Sand bed what to do.

[azsoccerpop]

In 4 months i have finally figured out that doing things cheaply is not the same as being economical. I have replaced much of what I started with upgrading hardware and dry goods in most areas. I am now in month 5 of my mixed reef tanks with some beginner stylos, monticaps, softies and an acan in what is a fallow tank. When I set up my 90 gallon I looked on craigslist and found an ad for "live sand" with one heck a great deal at $20 for 100 lbs. I rinsed the sand and dried it and proceed to put in in my tank 1st at a depth of 2-3" then 65 lbs of live rock.I am 60 days into an 80 day QT of 3 fish but in the DT there are tufts of hair algae mostly brown color and a touch of red cyano on the sand bed only. Nothing on my rocks. With no fish, my Nitrates have remained at 0 and Phosphates since the introduction of a biopellet reactor has stayed below 0.025. Silicate also tests at 0. The sand I purchased was not the typical tan colored aragonite but a pure white sugar like sand with black mixed in. I am trying to identify it and the closest I have come is Caribsea Black Live Sand Indo-Pacific.

Funny though the hair algae only sticks to the black gravel and not the white. Long story short do I replace the sand bed or wait for my 2 tangs to get back in and go at it. If replaced, what damage is done to the biological filtration of a tank that is doing very well other than this? What concerns regarding current inverts,coral and live rock? Can it be done without a full draining of the tank?

Thanks to anyone who took the time to read my long winded post.
Thanks again for any suggestions or assistance.

 

[organism]

I rinsed the sand and dried it

At which point the sand went from live sand to dead sand. The die-off from killing the sand resulted in the algae growth you're seeing, it will eventually go away as long as you keep your parameters in check. There are also nutrients from the tank being newly cycled so you'll have some algae from that as well.

 

[f3honda4me]

^^ what he said

 

[ca1ore]

Eh, maybe not. Depends a bit on what the 'live sand' really was, and what it contained. Most commercial live sand (a waste of $ by the way) is just wet sand with added bacteria. Even if all that bacteria were to die, the added nutrients would be miniscule - it's bacteria!! That the OP washed and dried the sand tells me that it's unlikely to be the culprit, but it's weird looking stuff. I'd toss it just because it's an aesthetic foul.

 

[Skim]

First you probably picked the worst depth of sand 2-3 inches, you should really try and stay under 2 inches or go deep with 4+ inches. If you like it which you may as I sure the colors of the fish and corals pop with the black, you may want to remove some so you have like 1 inch or if you have more go deep 4+ inches but 6 inches would be better. I would not worry too much about a little Hair Algae, I am sure it won't be the only time you see it in your reef keep days. Just add some GFO and watch that Hair Algae fade away.

 

[anthonys51]

To save live sand is just bacteria is like saying live rock is just bacteria. To say live sand is a waste is so not true. First it's cleaner. Second it has all sorts of love in it worms, pods so on. It might be double the money but it's not just bacteria


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[anthonys51]

First you probably picked the worst depth of sand 2-3 inches, you should really try and stay under 2 inches or go deep with 4+ inches. If you like it which you may as I sure the colors of the fish and corals pop with the black, you may want to remove some so you have like 1 inch or if you have more go deep 4+ inches but 6 inches would be better. I would not worry too much about a little Hair Algae, I am sure it won't be the only time you see it in your reef keep days. Just add some GFO and watch that Hair Algae fade away.

I agree I either go bare , 1 inch or 6 inches So many people pick 2 -3 inches but that's is the worse depth. I know a whole bunch of people are going to say I been doing it for 20 years worked great for me. Well i smoked cigarettes for 40 years. Doesn't make it healthy


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[ca1ore]

To save live sand is just bacteria is like saying live rock is just bacteria. To say live sand is a waste is so not true. First it's cleaner. Second it has all sorts of love in it worms, pods so on. It might be double the money but it's not just bacteria.

I don't think you understood my point. The majority of bagged 'live' sand is just sand, some water and bacteria - and it is a waste of $$ (unless the premium is worth it to you to just avoid washing dry sand). Some vendors do sell real live sand with things like worms, pods, etc., collected from the ocean; and that may well be worth the money. Though perhaps not for the folks who regularly and aggressively vacuum their sand bed :lol:. Regardless, that the OP rinsed and dried his live sand makes the discussion somewhat moot .. at least for him.

 

[anthonys51]

Yes I agree. Never rinse your live sand in freshwater it will cause everything to die and only do harm. On a side note why would anybody the cheap live sand. Caribbean Sea selling one for basically 1 dollar a lb. how cheap you want to go


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[organism]

Eh, maybe not. Depends a bit on what the 'live sand' really was, and what it contained. Most commercial live sand (a waste of $ by the way) is just wet sand with added bacteria. Even if all that bacteria were to die, the added nutrients would be miniscule - it's bacteria!! That the OP washed and dried the sand tells me that it's unlikely to be the culprit, but it's weird looking stuff. I'd toss it just because it's an aesthetic foul.

I don't think you understood my point. The majority of bagged 'live' sand is just sand, some water and bacteria

I think the misunderstanding comes from your assumption that the OP bought a new bag of live sand. That is not the case unfortunately, so the added nutrients are not miniscule since the dry sand contained a lot of formerly living things.

 

[Agostinone]

I'm curious about the suggestion to shoot for a sand depth of 1 inch or 6 inch while avoiding the common 2-3 inches.

I did a RC search on sand depth and nearly every suggestion I read stated 2-3" (truth be told I only read a few threads but the trend of suggesting 2-3" was consistent). Does anyone have any pointers to some scientific-ish discussion about the 1" or 6" suggestions.

In my case, the sand bed on my reef tank is just about 1". It started out at ~2" and in the early days of the tank I was fighting some real pain in the but light brown slimy algae that grew on the rock and sand. I was siphoning off the brown junk every water change and as a result my sand bed dropped down to about 1" by the time I concurred the brown crud. I was considering topping off the sand bed bud everything is great in the tank these days so I decided not to change anything. I guess I'm a +1 for the 1" sand bed depth suggestion based on my experience.

 

[thegrun]

To save live sand is just bacteria is like saying live rock is just bacteria. To say live sand is a waste is so not true. First it's cleaner. Second it has all sorts of love in it worms, pods so on. It might be double the money but it's not just bacteria


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It's pretty hard if not impossible to find true "live" sand as you describe it, nearly everything you see sold now days is simply dry sand with bacteria added to it. I've seen very dirty "live" sand which is another reason I don't like it, it's difficult to clean and you have to use saltwater to clean it. Back in the day when true live sand with worms and pods was readily available it frequently had so much dead organic matter in the bag that it caused big spikes in ammonia and because of that it fell out of favor.

 

[anthonys51]

It's pretty hard if not impossible to find true "live" sand as you describe it, nearly everything you see sold now days is simply dry sand with bacteria added to it. I've seen very dirty "live" sand which is another reason I don't like it, it's difficult to clean and you have to use saltwater to clean it. Back in the day when true live sand with worms and pods was readily available it frequently had so much dead organic matter in the bag that it caused big spikes in ammonia and because of that it fell out of favor.

I bought carb sea live sand to start my remote dsb and it had all those red worms and pods in it. Don't really understand why you don't think they sell it. Plus I added it to a going system didn't rinse anything. Abd tank was crystal clear.


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[ca1ore]

I think the misunderstanding comes from your assumption that the OP bought a new bag of live sand. That is not the case unfortunately, so the added nutrients are not miniscule since the dry sand contained a lot of formerly living things.

Made no such assumption as actually reading what I wrote makes quite clear.
OP has offered no subsequent clarifications so it's just speculation (unless you know him).

 

[ca1ore]

I'm curious about the suggestion to shoot for a sand depth of 1 inch or 6 inch while avoiding the common 2-3 inches.

I did a RC search on sand depth and nearly every suggestion I read stated 2-3" (truth be told I only read a few threads but the trend of suggesting 2-3" was consistent). Does anyone have any pointers to some scientific-ish discussion about the 1" or 6" suggestions.

Look for information on deep sand beds. If memory serves, the consensus is that anything beyond 4" starts to function as an anaerobic DSB. Beyond that, most of us have our 'favored' recommendations that have no basis in science. I keep sand burrowing wrasses, so 3" of sand is what I do. Have had no issues with it.

 

[anthonys51]

Scientifically without doing any scientific research 2-3 inches is the worse. Theory is dsb only start working after 4 inches as stated above and anything over 1 inch basically just collects dirt That's the logic behind it. But don't think in reality it that's simple. It's like saying smoking and drinking is bad fir you but people do it for 90 years and live. Others do it for 20 and die. I went with no sand bed because I have 28 fish in my tank and my objective is to have 50. I went with a 57 remote 9 inch sand bed because I had the tank already and had the space plus I think I read the surface area if thst much or little sand is monstrous.


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[stevedola]

I had 3" sand bed for years with no issue.I occasionally would vacuum it out with a pipe but not regularly. Had to add a little back every now and again but its maintenance. Many people keep 3in SB. I couldn't deal with 1" blowing around and seeing bare bottom after a couple months. To each their own just dont tell anyone it cant be done because there are plenty with beautiful tanks that have 2-3 in SB.

 

[Kengar]

I have set up new tanks by curing raw live rock in situ on a bed of aragonite purchased dry. In two or three weeks time, it was plenty live.

 

[mindi]

First you probably picked the worst depth of sand 2-3 inches, you should really try and stay under 2 inches or go deep with 4+ inches. If you like it which you may as I sure the colors of the fish and corals pop with the black, you may want to remove some so you have like 1 inch or if you have more go deep 4+ inches but 6 inches would be better. I would not worry too much about a little Hair Algae, I am sure it won't be the only time you see it in your reef keep days. Just add some GFO and watch that Hair Algae fade away.

what he said