Check out this nastiness...
Tank has been up for about 2 years, but the sandbed only about 6 months old. I feel like it contains FAR more detritus than it should.
It never seemed this bad until I started dosing silicates to help battle dinos. I accidentally dosed WAY more than I should have. Around that time is when I noticed how filthy the sandbed was underneath, though I can’t be sure it’s actually related.
Bioload is not massive - I’ve got 7 fish in a 110g. I have an RSK-600 skimmer that's rated well above my total water volume. I have 2 MP40s constantly running with pretty high flow throughout the tank.
CUC includes a sand sifting star and maybe a dozen nassarius snails, among all of my other non-sand-burrowing crabs and snails.
It just seems to me like this is way dirtier than it should be. I had a 30g for a few years and it never got this bad.
My source for Nassarius snails has been out of stock for quite some time now, so I may get a couple conchs to continue to stir up the sand. I QT all of my inverts, though, so I wouldn't be able to add anything to my DT for at least a couple months.
Assuming you agree that it's as bad as I think it is, what should I be doing with it? Should I continue to siphon it occasionally? Just leave it alone until I get more sand-dwelling CUC? Rip it all out and rinse it (looking at you, @brandon429 )?
Tank has been up for about 2 years, but the sandbed only about 6 months old. I feel like it contains FAR more detritus than it should.
It never seemed this bad until I started dosing silicates to help battle dinos. I accidentally dosed WAY more than I should have. Around that time is when I noticed how filthy the sandbed was underneath, though I can’t be sure it’s actually related.
Bioload is not massive - I’ve got 7 fish in a 110g. I have an RSK-600 skimmer that's rated well above my total water volume. I have 2 MP40s constantly running with pretty high flow throughout the tank.
CUC includes a sand sifting star and maybe a dozen nassarius snails, among all of my other non-sand-burrowing crabs and snails.
It just seems to me like this is way dirtier than it should be. I had a 30g for a few years and it never got this bad.
My source for Nassarius snails has been out of stock for quite some time now, so I may get a couple conchs to continue to stir up the sand. I QT all of my inverts, though, so I wouldn't be able to add anything to my DT for at least a couple months.
Assuming you agree that it's as bad as I think it is, what should I be doing with it? Should I continue to siphon it occasionally? Just leave it alone until I get more sand-dwelling CUC? Rip it all out and rinse it (looking at you, @brandon429 )?