Whats is in my sand?

[szyker]

Hello, I need help with identification with a problem and suggestion how to fix it.

Mostly under sand against the glass I have a brownish spots, almost all length of aquarium has it. There are also few spots of it on the sands, but not much. Does anyone what that could be.

Small description of what I was battling in last months:
Tank is fairly new (over 6 months). Few weeks ago I had dino which hit my aquarium like a truck (my inexperience didn't help). I was able to overcome it with huge losses in corals. After it disappeared I had huge spike of PO4 and algae with cyano bloom. It was like all types of algae, cyano and aptiasia were just waiting for dino to die.

Slowly I am overcaming the problems.
- For algae I bought some cuc and I am doing my best to keep params stable and pretty low (not 0). Its going pretty well so far.
- For cyano I used RedCyano RX from Blue Life + I am dosing CyanoClean from korallen zucht. I also changed flow in aquarium little bit. I think I am slowly overcoming it.
- I am dosing BioDigest and Bioptim to stronger the bacterial biome in the tank.

But I have no idea what is in my sand. Is it cyano? What's interesting that if I stir the sand, the next day the brown thing is again again the glass. Help please.

 

[CoralB]

Make sure your parameters are in check. It looks like your establishing a new tank , the biggest thing is to keep your parameter up and let it takes its course

 

[tzabor10]

Live sand or not? What type of rocks? Sand sifting critters will help. And you need to clean your sand with a gravel vac. Good luck

 

[CoralB]

The brown thing is diatoms , just keep the course . Mainly check you phosphates . Never let them hit zero .

 

[CoralB]

Patience is the key

 

[szyker]

Live sand or not? What type of rocks? Sand sifting critters will help. And you need to clean your sand with a gravel vac. Good luck

Dead sand and rock. Rock is marco rock, sand from aquaforest.

I have conch and nassarius snails which even reproduced in my tank.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

What are your parameters?

 

[szyker]

What are your parameters?

KH - 7.2 -> in process of rising it
PO4 - 0.04
NO3 - around 5 mg/l
Ca - 443 mg/l
Mg - 1336 mg/l
Salinity around 35 ppt
Si 0.4 mg/l

 

[56longroof]

The algea below the sand on the front of the glass is harmless. What does your flow look like across the sandbed? Little to no flow can cause nutrients to accumulate on the sand giving algea What it needs. Here's a couple pics of mine. I have never vacuumed or stirred it. Good flow and a ton of hermit crabs and snails keep it clean.

 

[szyker]

The algea below the sand on the front of the glass is harmless. What does your flow look like across the sandbed? Little to no flow can cause nutrients to accumulate on the sand giving algea What it needs. Here's a couple pics of mine. I have never vacuumed or stirred it. Good flow and a ton of hermit crabs and snails keep it clean.

Woa, interesting. So maybe like you say it's harmless. Thank you for pics, it really looks smillar.

About the flow, this brown thing is pretty much along whole glass, both in high and low flow areas.

 

[Dogeatbird]

Long story short, various algae, and bacteria. Light is diffusing through the glass plane, allowing for the miraculous window into your “bio-filter”.

Do not worry about this much. Some consider it unsightly, but it is normal. There is a couple of things if you can’t stand it.

1: skirt the aquarium bottom with something opaque. Easiest is some black out window film, acrylic paint. Essentially a curtain so you, or perhaps others don’t claim your sand bed is “dirty”.

2: adjust cleaning protocols. Carefully pull back sand at viewing panes, and clean as desired. Be cautious of silicone seam, and work small areas with rotating frequency. Large disruption of sand beds can expose trapped nutrients(NO3,PO4 blooms).