Green Sand

Monkey Man Zero

My substrate is live sand. The two tanks are an 8gal and 125 gal and both have the same problem. While cycling the tanks I had green algae on the rocks and sand. Some of the sand has remained green. Water parameters are nearly identical. Nitrates are around 5-10, nitrites and ammonia are 0. I have sand sifting cleaning crews of blue legged hermits and turbo snails. Tanks are almost 3 months old.

Is there something I can do to get white sand again?

clinto

Do you use RO water? If not i would do that for sure. You could try a jawfish or sand sifter goby of some sort. I would look into a refugium also. I have one on each of my tanks and and ever since have had no algae problems like before.

unclejed

I will suggest that when you post and are asking
for help or for ideas, please include all basic information. Basic
information should include; all water parameters, size of tank and
complete set up meaning, filter type (sump, canister etc.), lighting
(what type and total output)plus what is your lighting schedule
(how long a period are your actinic and daylights on) and if you have
fish only with live rock and if you keep corals. Also how long the tank
has been up. I know some of this is in your bio but many bios don't
contain this info. The algae you speak of sounds like the light variety like what forms on the glass. If so it will in turn go away. You can add 3-4 Tiger conch, I have them and they do a great job at keeping the sand clean. You can also very lightly stir just the top 1/4 to 1/2 inch of the sand every couple of days and make sure you have adequate circulation directed to the front area of the tank.

bandr1002

me personally, i have a sand siffting goby and he does wonders. (keep in mind that they are jumpers, so you will need a tight fitting lid) also as mentioned before, you shoud use RO water to top off, no tap water. Also water flow should help resolve the prob.

las4444

I had the same problem. I know what "green" means. There is not a single sand shifter that can help. It is so aggressive they could not possible keep up. Does it also clumps the live sand? I fought it four months. Believe it or not I fixed the problem.

I think the term algae is misunderstood sometimes. We all know the dreaded bacteria algae such as red slime. No, red slime remover did had no effect on the green algae. But slime algae comes in different colors, right! I did 20% water changes for a week straight, bought a UV sterilizer, took out all my filter material to no avail.

First, when the light first turn on does the sand look as green as when the light just turned off the night before? If it greens up over the course of the day it is most likely bacteria. Does it cover the glass daily?

Nitrates. Hey let's be honest. I keep mine at ten. Many tanks are kept close to this level. Why the bleep don't they have this green stuff.

This is how I took care of my green sand problem. I turned the lights off for two days. No blackout just off. I ran a 50/50 split on the whites and blues for 1 hour a day. Added 1 hour until day 4. keep it at a total of 6 for two weeks. Now, four weeks later still no green sand and back to a total of 10. I clean my glass once a week out of good tenor.

If you have a reef it may be a bit more sketchy. However, I think one could find a schedule that works for their needs.

I hope this sheds some hope on the dreaded green sand. My wife thought I was nuts when trying to rid it.