neonnight Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 i have a 2 week old 12 gallon nano. i am experiencing sand drifts from the power head. i dont mind them and think it looks kinda cool but it goes from 2 inches down to about a half inch. is this going to be a problems? i have tried to smooth it out 2 times but within a few days it goes back to the same drifts. Link to comment
NanoNewb2011 Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 it should eventualyy start to compact downn u can also try repositioning the power head Link to comment
thirdchild Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 What kind of sand are you using? Seems a little fine from the distance in the pics Link to comment
iPhone Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 turn your powerhead down if you are able to,or aim it up towards the surface. Link to comment
neonnight Posted September 23, 2012 Author Share Posted September 23, 2012 the sand is CaribSea’s Arag-Alive Bahamas Oolite (0.25 - 1mm) yes it is fine i didnt expect it to be that fine but its what i got. the powerhead has a Hydor FLO on it so its hard to control that. i really dont mind the drifts because they seem to stay the same once they are made i just dont know if that will help or kill my live sand Link to comment
Deleted User 3 Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 It happens to my tank too. It's really annoying to me and i even have some thicker sand substrate. Link to comment
gulfsurfer101 Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 You can try to remove some of that stuff and add some aragonite to your sandbed. Link to comment
gulfsurfer101 Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 I use a 500 gph power head in my 5.5 and the aragonite seems to stay in place. It would be all over the place if it was that fine. Also that stuff is prone to trap nutrients and leads to slime algae. Link to comment
neonnight Posted September 23, 2012 Author Share Posted September 23, 2012 i dont wanna cut down on my flow i was going to try to seed my sand with thicker sand from the LFS but i really like the way the fine sand looks.as another member said maybe it will settle down once the tank gets more established. Link to comment
eddiecorrea Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 It won't settle down. I hoped the same thing with the black sand I have. I added an MP10 and removed my hydor flow. I added the deflector onto the return and have it blasting straight at the surface of the water. No more sand movement for me. Link to comment
supernan79 Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 I agree... won't settle down. I've just had to redirect flow as well. I stopped using my powerhead (it was too much and I don't have a deflector for it) and am ordering a koralia nano 420 (?) I think that's what it was, lol. I'm pretty knew to this too and I'm also going to get some coarser sand because when the current moves the sand there's a LOT of silt that clouds up the water and I have to put a HOB filter on to clear it up quickly or it drives me crazy! I'm still open to other ideas too. I never expected the sand to be this fine, but, also, it's what I got so I just used it not realizing the consequences. My tank is still young enough that I feel comfortable breaking it down to change out the sand. Not a lot of life in it yet. Just a couple clowns and a shrimp. Got a zoa and mushroom, but have had a quarantine tank set up with the same water and to the same temp so I'll just swap everyone over there while I do the change. I also wanted to modify the filtration area, so I can do that then too. Link to comment
neonnight Posted October 27, 2012 Author Share Posted October 27, 2012 i stopped playing with my sand and just let it do what it wanted to.. yes i have drifts but things have settled down and i kinda like the look of the drifts it looks more natural Link to comment
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