Sand, Stupid Sand

Hey there, had a very Aquatic weekend,

I did my long overdue water change, took each piece of live rock out and scrubbed it down with a tooth brush. And modded 2 MaxiJets to get some better flow patterns.

But I still have this problem. If my power heads are even remotely near the bottom and or near the front of the glass all the sand in the front of the tank gets dug up. This has been happening for a while now. The jets are pointed and banking off the front of the glass and I think its causing the scooping action. But it seems like if i move them too hight off the sand i don't get much flow down there and then I start getting brown stuff growing on the surface of the sand. Right now i have 2 maxijet 1200's on either end of the tank facing back across the tank. I did the mod to them where you cut off the outflow so every time the Reef keeper cycles them they start up and shoot out about 25 degrees to either the right or left.

So I am posting this in sand because I am wondering is my sand just too light? I also think my sand bed might be "dead" So I was thinking of trying to get some fresh live sand to lay aross the top and hope maybe that will help "reactivate" the sand. I also need to get some more sand sifters. I dont really have anything now, the Astreas and hermits never go down on the sand if they can avoid it.

Oh, and how do you guys really check your flow? I mean when i stir the tank up with crap i can see stuff blowing around, but I dont want to have to do that every time i want to know where all that water is really getting pushed.

Whew. Thanks guys.

Heres a link to that mod I did.
Cutmaxijets

 

Trust me your sand isn't dead!
Often times it is an experiment to find the exact location that works for your particular tank based on a number of variables, such as number of pounds of live rock and how it is situated, coral species and number, tank size and design and powerhead number GPH.
I have very fine aragonite sand due to my Tridacna Clams, Conch snails, various corals and Sea Cucumbers, so I know what you are talking about in terms of stirring up sediment and sand all over your livestock.
Your best bet is to diffuse the water flow by banking it ff your glass to disperse the flow to a great area and also reduce the chances of laminar flow and problems with stirring up your sand.

 

sand storm are a hasstle I had the same thing it was just a matter trial and error.
my sand is as fine as it gets, and I have 4mj's1200's in a 55gl.

Oh and NAUGHtY, NAUGHTY dont slack off on your water changes