Dirty Sand bed

Has anyone ever experienced a light tan/green type of algae (I'm assuming) on your sand bed that forms in clumps? It just started last week and I cleaned it up but then it came back a day or two later. I have the water flow hitting it but it just blows the sand all over the place and really doesn't help. I know I need to stock up on my clean up crew but wondered if anyone ever had that issue.

I have a 155 gallon mix. I had my LFS out to do a quick tank check up and all my parameters are solid. Not sure but the only thing I've done was remove my Chemi-Pure elite from my fuge since the water flow was slow. I also have some red algae on the sand in my fuge but it's only when I turn my light on...when it's off it goes away? I have a 65 watt fluorescent flood light from Home Depot. I plan on getting looking for a 10k light since I heard that works best to grow the chaeto.

Any suggestions would be great!

Thanks

D

 

Pictures would help as well as water parameters.

Sounds like poor lighting could be part of your issue as well.

 

I will try to get a picture tonight and give you the parameters. The lights in the main tank are fine, I'm running 10k metal halides (plan on going to 20k later this year) but will give you the exact times everything comes on when I tell you my parameters.

Thanks

 

I haven't used Chemipure in quite a long time, but I know it takes some things out of the water that can help algae grow. By removing it you are probably not removing quite the same amounts of algae-aiding compounds (e.g. Nitrate) that you were before so are giving algae a more favorable environment to grow in.

 

I'm running a GFO reactor, but yes that's when this problem started happening after I removed the chemipure elite and my lighting is actually perfect. I thought about getting a carbon reactor in place of the chemipure since the bag was hanging in my sump..but still wasn't getting enough water flow or movement in my refugium. Or would you suggest putting the chemipure back in and just adding a small pump in my refugium for the water movement. I have a Aqueon ProFlex Sump Refugium Model 4 if that helps and the chemipure just hung over the wall.

 

maybe Diatoms? how old is the tank?

 

I tend to view media like ChemiPure to be either a bandaid or mechanism for putting more in a system than the bioload capacity will allow. In the latter it works great and is a good mechanism for such. In the former it's better to try and find what is causing the issue.

- Are your Phosphates high?
- Are your Nitrates high?
- Do you have excess nutrients in the tank?

In other words, what was the ChemiPure taking out that's causing the algae growth now? Find that and fix it and you won't have to worry about it any longer. Of course that's easier said than done

Still, make sure all your parameters are where they need to be first then look at other things. I just looked up Chemi-Pure Elite and one of the store sites says it uses Ferric Iron Oxide to remove phosphates and silicates. Both will cause the algae growth you describe.

So now more questions:

- Are you using RODI water for water changes and top off?
- What kind of skimmer are you using?
- Do you have a lid on the tank?
- Have you tested for Phosphates?

 

carbon and gfo dont need a lot of water rushing through them... gfo needs 60-80 gph max to be most effective...gfo needs to just barely boil...

carbon shouldnt be moving at all...just a little water going through it works best