Dirty Sand - Can't seem to get the elusive white sand

[apb03]

I know, yet another post about stuff on the sand, but I'm truly stumped. It goes away completely at night and grows only on the sand during the day. I'm pretty sure it's not Dinos, I test my parameters constantly and I have never had my nutrients bottom out. Thinking it was Cyano, I've tried two rounds of Chemiclean to no avail, so I'm not thinking it's Cyano at this point. Also, I don't have that slime cover that you get with Cyano.

I don't think it's Diatoms, since it clears up and it's not a brown dust, and my rocks are perfectly clean.

My parameters are:

130gal total water volume (peninsula)
Tank age - 6 months

Nitrate - 13.1
Phosphate - 0.26
PH - 8.3
Alk - 9.3dkh
Salinity - 35ppt

I do 10-15% water changes weekly and it usually comes back by day 2 or 3. I just started GFO to drop my phosphates down to .1 but I'm not sure that'll help. I have 2 Conches, a Sea Cucumber, tons of crabs, snails, and a watchman goby...they don't really move the sand enough, but I suppose I can get more.

2x MP40 is running at 75% so flow is ok.

I'm at a loss! Does anyone have any ideas on what I should try? Maybe it's time to get a UV?

 

[MichaelReefer]

Probably Dinos

 

[apb03]

Probably Dinos

Was hoping that wasn't the case, strange I don't get any snotty stuff with bubbles.

Will try getting a UV next.

 

[Bullnose]

I tried a sand bed again when I started my last tank and went back to bare bottom after a year. Its just not worth the hassle imo. UV might help but youll have to keep turkey basting or find a way to get it up in water column.

 

[QuickrdenU]

Try TIME. 6 months is still young. But also UV and a Diamond Goby.

 

[Propane]

What do you have for a cuc?

 

[Kfactor]

i do the diy coral snow with the mb7 add too it

 

[SANDTRAP]

Probably Dinos

I’m curious why you would suggest Dino’s as I have something very similar going on?

 

[Snoopdog]

Two things you have not tried that will work.

Time and patience.

 

[Jedi Knghit]

Was hoping that wasn't the case, strange I don't get any snotty stuff with bubbles.

Will try getting a UV next.

You should figure out which type of dinos you have before throwing money away on a UV. I had large cell Amphidinium
dinos, and the symptoms were similar They are all over the sand when the lights are on, disappear into the sand when the lights are out, and little to no bubbles or snot. Unfortunately, they do not go into the water column, so UV is useless.

 

[Rmckoy]

.26 phos isn’t good . And could be co reuniting to the algae.
Along with the young age . Of only 6 months .

Perhaps looking into some sort of phosphate reducer media.
Do you run a skimmer

 

[SANDTRAP]

What kind of rock did you start with?

 

[apb03]

What kind of rock did you start with?

Marco dry rock. Definitely took me a while to get it going, for sure. They are now algae free with tons of coralline so all is well there. This only appears on the sand for some reason. I can't say for certain but it did seem to coincide with when I started carbon dosing using Bacto Balance/Elmini NP.

I've since stopped that and now started GFO to help with nutrient export. Not sure if it's related, but I'm working down the list of suspects.

 

[apb03]

.26 phos isn’t good . And could be co reuniting to the algae.
Along with the young age . Of only 6 months .

Perhaps looking into some sort of phosphate reducer media.
Do you run a skimmer

I amnow running GFO so phos should be down in a week or two. I don't have any algae, my tangs see to that. I use a Nyos 160 for my skimmer and have a filter roller as well reefmat 1200.

I know. 26 is considered high but that's sort of dubious. Nevertheless I'm lowering it to see if there's a change.

 

[apb03]

You should figure out which type of dinos you have before throwing money away on a UV. I had large cell Amphidinium
dinos, and the symptoms were similar They are all over the sand when the lights are on, disappear into the sand when the lights are out, and little to no bubbles or snot. Unfortunately, they do not go into the water column, so UV is useless.

I tried looking at it with a microscope but was hard to tell if I had it, will try that again, thanks for the advice. Definitely would rather avoid the cost if I can.

 

[SANDTRAP]

Marco dry rock. Definitely took me a while to get it going, for sure. They are now algae free with tons of coralline so all is well there. This only appears on the sand for some reason. I can't say for certain but it did seem to coincide with when I started carbon dosing using Bacto Balance/Elmini NP.

I've since stopped that and now started GFO to help with nutrient export. Not sure if it's related, but I'm working down the list of suspects.

The reason I asked is some rock is notorious for leaching silicate as well as phosphate depending on how it was made as well as how much phosphate it has been exposed to. Silicate + phosphate = diatoms on steroids. I would take a small rock out and test it if you can. It doesn’t look like any kind of Dino’s I’ve ever seen? Especially with those #s.

 

[apb03]

What do you have for a cuc?

I have:

Two strawberry conch
Sea cucumber
10 Hermits (mix of Halloween and blue leg)
30+ Snails including about 7 nessarius
Yellow Watchman goby
Halloween Sea urchin

 

[apb03]

Try TIME. 6 months is still young. But also UV and a Diamond Goby.

Ya basically all

The reason I asked is some rock is notorious for leaching silicate as well as phosphate depending on how it was made as well as how much phosphate it has been exposed to. Silicate + phosphate = diatoms on steroids. I would take a small rock out and test it if you can. It doesn’t look like any kind of Dino’s I’ve ever seen? Especially with those #s.

Thanks I will try that. I had that in the back of my mind too, I'm curious how it goes with the GFO as it will also suck up silicates. I have a silicate test in a drawer somewhere.

 

[blaxsun]

The whitest sand you can get is CaribSea Oolite. To keep it this way, you need a massive cleanup crew (both surface and subsurface) along with black sea cucumbers.

 

[apb03]

Two things you have not tried that will work.

Time and patience.

Actually quite the contrary. I've had this for two months and did only natural approaches for my tank with good husbandry and invested in a cuc.

The chemiclean was the only thing I did after all of that and I did have cyano, this is what remained.

I am and will continue to be patient. There's a difference between good upkeep and patience.