on the sand

when i leave for work i turn on my 4.... 65 watt...PC's

when i get home 8 hours later i have this light brown tint on some areas of my sand...

im just getting over my cyano problem....but this stuff isnt thick as cyano....its really just a light tint of brown...and when i siphon it out....its just barely on the surface of the sand (doesnt run deep is what im trying to say)...

any ideas??? im going to cut back on my lighting or get some timers, im usually around 10 hours a day...

 

Check your water! How old is your tank? If it's younger than 1yr, get used to it

 

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im almost at the year mark...is there a remedy??

 

Generally?! Yes! Pristine water quality is the key! This means 0 Nitrates/Phosphates! Did you add fish or corals lately ?! Sometimes, addition of new inhabitants may cause short ammonia/nitrite/nitrate cycle. Check your water!

 

everythings fine from that aspect....zeros across the board...although i did add a large clean up crew yesterday...but no fish or corals lately...im thinking a good water change....and i was also wondering this.....

i was thinking about changing the sand color to black, which would require me to remove all of my existing sand...could i do this all at once, without harming the tank...or would removing the beneficial things from the sand harm the tank?

 

If you remove all of your current sand, you will be removing all the beneficial bacteria that is in your sandbed. You will essentially be putting your tank back about 80% of new cycle. The only bacteria you will have is what is in your rock or your mechanical filtration system. If you decide you have to change your sand, I would get dividers and shove them into the sand to make sections in the sand, siphone out each little section at a time, maybe 10% (depending on how much sand you have) or so once bi-weekly until all the sand is replaced. That will have less impact on your system. I hope my suggestion makes sense anyway.

 

i def. understand...i also forgot to mention i have a 20 gal. long refug. pretty stocked up with plants, sand (and i have a big thing of mineral mud im still on the edge about adding)....do you think this could support the new sand added to the main tank?

 

I started a thread on here quite some time ago about this very exact situation. It only gets worse, mine had GREATLY intesified from a light dusting to full-blown brown filamentous algae. As it turns out it is a cyano/other misc microscopic critter mix, and it is a pain in the butt to eradicate. I still have it, even after several months of fighting it. However, I am finally beating it. I added more powerheads, phosgaurd, changed salt mixes, switched to R/O water (from micron filtered), chemipure, large water changes every weekend, manual removal from sand and live rock (yes, it will probably eventually spread to the live rock if not dealt with quickly), new lights, and a refugium. Fortunately this junk siphons out easily, and I recommend getting it out when you see it. These photos are of what eventually happened to my tank (it is much better now, but still some brown does exist).

 

Yup. Sounds like it. Nothing to worry about if it's diatoms. Just mind your water quality as previously stated.