Gunk in Sandbed

[Phischy]

I've noticed that in my sand bed there seems to be an increasing amount of gunk. Where it is pressed against the glass I can see bright greens and reds. Is this cyano? I've got 3 nacarrious snails roaming about but haven't really seen them in awhile, hopefully they're still alive. I just seems to be right where the glass is, where it gets cruddy.

Do I just need more flow or to turn the sandbed overmore?

 

[dragon79]

phischy

my girlfriend has that same exact thing going on, but it's just red. Just as you say, the sand pressed up against the glass has a red tint to it. Before if anything would grow, it would be the brown algae, now it's getting color. I figure it's just algae and to break it off, looks like moving the sand and cleaning the portions the glass that has the red I suppose. I am currently treating my girlfriends tank for cyano bubble algae (clear white bubbles) and if it takes care of that, perhaps it'll take that stuff out too.

 

[Phischy]

I don't know what this stuff is, it's not really attached to the acrylic and when you disturb the bed it prett much dissappears. It's just rather ugly and I don't know what it is.

 

[incysor]

I'd leave it alone...I think it's just part of the algae/bacteria that you're supposed to have in a DSB. If you really stir up your sandbed you're gonna kill off the anaerobic bacteria, and you'll have at least a mini cycle. Sand bed sifting critters turn it over at a much slower rate, and in smaller patches so you don't have a big die off of it all at once. If you look at pics from large tanks with DSBs it usually looks like this.

B

 

[Phischy]

ok, then I won't worry about it again. My motto is "Go Slow" so I haven't done anything to the tank to treat it, I'll just let sleeping dogs lie.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Perfectly normal for the sandbed up against the glass to turn colors. Mine's a neat mix of green and red in the cube.

 

[dragon79]

as long as it's normal, then it's all good.

 

[Vafik]

At my LFS their 11g nano has that red crap all over the tank. He said it was b/c of poor water circulation. Which with that tank I'd agree. His not yours He had just added very very very small Power head to the tank. And even though I'm so new to this that I dont even have a tank yet :lol: I could tell the tank need alot more water movement in it. Is it just on the sand? or is it growing all over the tank? the LFS's was all over the tank and I do mean all over.

 

[Phischy]

I could probably add a powerhead for water movement behind my rock wall, otherwise I can see all my corals all over the tank swaying in the current. The gunk is only in the sand bed, not on top. I don't think water movement is my biggest issue. I'm pumping more than 400gph in my 40gal tank.

 

[incysor]

I could probably add a powerhead for water movement behind my rock wall, otherwise I can see all my corals all over the tank swaying in the current. The gunk is only in the sand bed, not on top. I don't think water movement is my biggest issue. I'm pumping more than 400gph in my 40gal tank.

I think yours sounds normal...Red gunk on top of the sandbed would be cyano, which we've just discussed, and discussed, and discussed... :lol:

B

 

[Trogdor]

I have the same thing. I don't really think it's cyno though. I could be wrong but it looks more like coraline growth on sand & glass. Mine is mostly green and a dark reddish purple. I have had bubbles form in the same area so I would assume that it's from the anaerobic bacteria like incysor stated.