Sand Bed Algae, Yuck.

[NoriMuncher]

What can I do to clean this up?

 

It's a 25G lagoon, about 9 months old now. AI Prime with settings stolen from a thread here (was probably the Saxby or BRS settings, can't remember). I've been stocking very slowly, waiting to get through the ugly phase but not making any progress. I planned on minimalist filtration, so its just been filter pads, ceramic balls, a sad little lump of chaeto in the sump (which doesn't seem to be doing well). I had hoped that the 30% water change weekly with RO/DI would suffice.  Added GFO & carbon a few weeks ago, but it doesn't look like its helping. 

 

Tests show zero ammonia/nitrite/nitrate, 9.5 dKH, 8.2 pH.

 

Another wrinkle, mystery death (clown) two weeks ago, no sign of pest or infection, nothing was added to the tank in the previous month or since. 

 

Didn't want the added noise & fuss of running a skimmer, but does it look like I need one? Anything else to try first?

[Garf]

I would say more flow. Do you jsut have the two returns with the one DC pump? Also, zero nitrate is no good, you want some for your corals. Also test Phosphate. 

 

Other than that, how is your pod population? Any thing you can do to increase bio diversity is good. 

[Elizabeth94]

Can you describe the algae? Dusty brown, gooey brown, reddish, bubbles?  Was the tank started with dry rock out of curiosity?
 

I only ask because if you are running gfo, doing a lot of water changes and have no detectable nitrates - you may be making it a good place for dinos. 

[Garf]

And no. certainly do not need a skimmer. That looks to simply be diatoms. The junk behind the zoa rock also, and on the glass, looks to be a low flow area. I would take any nutrient removal stuff out, and simply run carbon and filter pad. Perhaps adding some Vibrant or Microbactor7 to add some more beneficial bacteria. Do you have a light for the chaeto? You don;t want that stuff wasting away, all it is doing then is releasing nutrients back into the water as it melts away.  

 

How is your maintenance going? How often do you change the filter socks and/or filter media? 30% WC weekly is a lot, I'd either do that every other week, or reduce to 10% every week.  

[Tamberav]

Do you stir or siphon the sand bed? Otherwise it just collects crud.

[NoriMuncher]

Flow - Its the stock pump on the left, Sicce .5 on the right, RFG on both. I could kick up the flow but I don't like moving the sand around & seeing a more violent shake (rather than gentle wave) on my corals. Guess I need to test phosphates...

 

Nitrates - Yeah this might be a key issue. Keep thinking I'm feeding too much, but if there's no nitrates there's no nitrates. Would explain why the chaeto seems to be shriking too despite a lot of light.

 

Pods - Added some with the chaeto, but aside from an initial burst I don't see them. They might not have anything to eat, I was dosing reef roids for a while but that coincided with the algae surge, so I stopped it. 

 

Tank was started with life rock, and "live sand" in a bag.

 

I siphon the sand with the water change, pic was taken two days after a good cleaning. This junk shows back up fast. Most pronounced in the low flow areas, but plenty in the higher flow too. 

 

Along with checking phosphates, is low nitrates the likely issue? Should I overfeed for a while?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ninjamyst]

If it's dino then it's the typical over filtration issue with new tanks.  Look up dino and see if it matches what you are seeing.