# Sand Turning Green



## BaRoK

I noticed that my sand is turning green lately. Wondering if this is a type of algae or cyano?

I have a couple of Koralia 3 powerheads that create flow on my 55G FOWLR tank (have hammer coral and a polyps). The tank has been running for about 4 months now and all tank inhabitants seems to be very healthy and eating very well. I feed them frozen brine/mysis shrimps and flake foods every other day. I also have a HOB refugium with Chaeto and live rock rubble. I turn on my refugium lights after my main lights are off for about 8 hours.

I also to 15% water change every two-three weeks, depending if I'm not busy on the weekends. Not sure how old my T5HO bulbs since I bought them used. By the way, lights are on on my tank for 8 hours.

Any suggestions on how to get rid of my sand turning green? What causes my sand turning green? I know I have to change my bulbs soon. I might have to do a weekly water change to start the battle. Just did a water change last night.

I'll have to test my water parameters tonight and will report tonight.


----------



## Big Ray

Hey Barok, you are on the right track, weekly water changes help alot at lowering nutrition. also the light bulbs turning too old would cause unwanted algea as well.

do you have any algea eating fish in there ? lawnmover blenny does a great job eating algea away ... or you could post a pic of the algea for someone here to identify it better. good luck.


----------



## bigfishy

Maybe you need a phosban reactor?


----------



## wtac

If you don't have any fish/inverts that will stir up the sand, it's going to turn green, at first at least . Age of the bulb is important as well as most bulbs go through a spectral "red shift" which favors unwanted algal growth.

Nassarius snails, sea cucumbers and sand sifting gobies will keep things stirred up. If you have hermit crabs, just be weary that they will kill off the snails for the shells when it's "time to move" to a bigger shell.

When you get the new bulbs, cut back the photoperiod by a few hours as new bulbs have a higher intensity than old bulbs. This should help minimize "burning" corals and algae growth. Every week, add another hour to the photoperiod until you get back to your normal photoperiod.

HTH


----------



## BaRoK

Here are images of my tank and green stuff growing on my sand.


































http://img714.imageshack.us/i/0358s.jpg/
http://img217.imageshack.us/i/0362g.jpg/
http://img190.imageshack.us/i/0372t.jpg/
http://img413.imageshack.us/i/0373d.jpg/

My water parameters are:

0 phosphate
0 nitrate
8.1 ph
1.024 salinity

I do have blue hermit crabs, turbo snails and a emerald crab as my cleanup crews. I also have blue and orange goby that digs sand but not on the algae area. I might have to get nassarius snails from SUM.

Also, I use phosban at the outlet flow of my refugium.


----------



## explor3r

do u vacuum your sand?


----------



## KeMo

ok. So like said before water changes can help. Are you using any kind of phos remover. Diatom's eat phosphates and silicas . I was having the same problem about a week or two ago on my sand bedd. It did not get to the green stage. Alot of the time's diatoms will start out brown then it can turn green so i have read. Then some are green to start off with. 
As you will see in your tank the Diatoms are on your sand bedd and not spreading to your rock. Stops about an inch or so before it gets to it. Thats a good sign as you dont want it to spread to the rock. Also a good sign of good LR. You tank does not look new.So a big diatom outbreak is not normal. (if it is new then that is normal) You are prob adding phosphates or silicas when doing top ups or water changes. Or over feeding. I would take your Siphon and clean the sand bed. Take the top layer or so off until it looks clean. If it is all over the bedd I would not siphon(clean) the hole sand bedd at the same time. Just in case you disturb the bacti living it it. I would do 1/3 each day for the next 3 days. Test your RO/DI water if you are using it. And if not this is a great reason why you should switch. Tap might work for abit but after awhile the phos levels and what not start to build up in the tank and you can have probs. 
Good Luck Keep us posted.


----------



## wtac

Looks more like diatoms to me, just the way the substrate looks "clumped" together w/the growth.

Change the lights first as it's one area of potential issues to address. At 4months, a little late in the "problem algae phases" but if you have never experienced it before, just consider yourself lucky as over all the system looks pretty good and will pass .

The Pearl Bubble and Gonipora don't look too happy and not easy corals for a "new" system. If the goni hasn't extended it's polyps in quite some time, the prognosis generally isn't good. Are you feeding coral suitable foods, ie ReefRoids/Cyclopeeze?


----------



## BaRoK

wtac said:


> The Pearl Bubble and Gonipora don't look too happy and not easy corals for a "new" system. If the goni hasn't extended it's polyps in quite some time, the prognosis generally isn't good. Are you feeding coral suitable foods, ie ReefRoids/Cyclopeeze?


I got excited on buying the goni coral and pearl bubble without researching, typical newbie mistake. I mainly feed them phytoplankton, I'll have to try feeding them Reef Roids.

I will try to scrape the top portion of my sand. Can I wash the scraped sand with RO/DI water and let it dry for at least two weeks before putting it back to DT?

I have not tested my RO/DI lately, I'll be testing it tonight.


----------



## Kweli

I had this pop up very shortly.... Hermits seem to have been eating in/around the area and it left in a few days

pops up every once in a while for 24 hours


----------



## Chris S

BaRoK said:


> I got excited on buying the goni coral and pearl bubble without researching, typical newbie mistake. I mainly feed them phytoplankton, I'll have to try feeding them Reef Roids.
> 
> I will try to scrape the top portion of my sand. Can I wash the scraped sand with RO/DI water and let it dry for at least two weeks before putting it back to DT?
> 
> I have not tested my RO/DI lately, I'll be testing it tonight.


I would just do a gravel "wash" everytime you do a water change - no need to remove and rinse the sand. From the images, it doesn't look that bad. You can do as KeMo suggests and do partial gravel "wash"'s with consistent smaller water changes.


----------



## wtac

BaRoK said:


> I got excited on buying the goni coral and pearl bubble without researching, typical newbie mistake. I mainly feed them phytoplankton, I'll have to try feeding them Reef Roids.
> 
> I will try to scrape the top portion of my sand. Can I wash the scraped sand with RO/DI water and let it dry for at least two weeks before putting it back to DT?
> 
> I have not tested my RO/DI lately, I'll be testing it tonight.


We all put the "cart before the horse" and I'm just as guilty . Phyto is just part of the "food web" and the more diverse of particle size one feeds, it just helps close the gap of corals nutritional requirements. This is where it's difficult to gauge how much to add of what and any excess is a potential food source for unwanted algae, cyano, etc, so a good skimmer and maintenance regimen, as well as a "good eye" is important to adjust the feeding regimen to the system needs.

As Chris has mentioned, just turn the sand over when you go a gravel vac and in time, you will have passed the dino phase in a system establishing itself . No need to do spend time and resources on something that just needs a bit of time and patience .


----------



## aquanutt

Nice setup, congrats.

I'm no expert in this but I did notice your powerheads point up and maybe your sand doesnt get enough flow on the bottom of the tank.... Sand doesn't move much lack of flow, not enough grazers to turn the sand over? 

just my 0.02cents
cheers
sly


----------

