dawgfan1

Fellow fish fanatics,

I have a curious problem, My live sand is starting to turn pink, not on the surface (yet) just on the sides where the sand is taller than the glass and I can see about an inch of it around the bottom. The sand is not that old maybe 1 year? I got it from my nephew when he moved and had to get rid of his setup, however it did sit in two rubbermaid containers for about a month while I got this rig up and running. I kept it moist but unheated. Never exposed to freezing cold. My readings are good, except nitrates, which always seem to run 20 - 40 ppm regardless of water changes. I never noticed it before, untill the ich outbreak now it seems to get progressively worse and worse. I thought that since we are down to the one tang, the bio load had an effect on the sand and it was some type of bacteria. However I have noticed green glass algae has gotten worse, tested phosphates, under.25 ppm, I even added phosphate pads to the filter and added an aux. hang on filter to polish the water. Maybe algae not linked to pink sand, but what the heck is it. I was reading a post about dead sand, looked under live rock and didn't see any black spots, I am afraid to clean it as I am worried about maybe releasing toxins? I don't know, but would like to hear the forums thoughts on this.

chadf

It could definately be coralline algae.

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My 90 gallon reef
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Striped bristletooth tang, Coral beauty angelfish, Royal gramma, 2 Occelleris clownfish, Lyretail anthias, Tongue coral, Green frogspawn, Palythoa colony, Orange and green ricordeas, Green striped mushrooms, Crocea clam, About 40 snails of 11 different species, Sand sifting starfish, Emerald crab, 130 lbs live rock, 240 lbs live sand

gm333

It is normal, if you look at alot of pics of peoples tank it is most generally always there. It happens because the light trvels through the glass and algae grows inbetween the glass and sand. You can clean it out, but personally I would leave it. I have some in parts of my sand that doesnt get moved around much.

chadf

I also have it.

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My 90 gallon reef
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Striped bristletooth tang, Coral beauty angelfish, Royal gramma, 2 Occelleris clownfish, Lyretail anthias, Tongue coral, Green frogspawn, Palythoa colony, Orange and green ricordeas, Green striped mushrooms, Crocea clam, About 40 snails of 11 different species, Sand sifting starfish, Emerald crab, 130 lbs live rock, 240 lbs live sand

dawgfan1

Thanks Folks, turns out I am normal.