Gunk in the sand bed...

[SoUnDwAv3]

:cry: I keep gettin' this film I don't know what to call it. It could be algae, but I don't know. I'm new to this. The sand sticks to it, and when I try to suck it up, its too heavy for the vaccum. It's really annoying. Anybody has any suggestions. Any advice is most appreciated.
:roll:

 

[djconn]

Is it a red color?

I just suck all that up when I do a water change with a regular piece of plastic tubing. The suction is strong enough to pull anything up with it. If you're using the vacuum attachment, try taking it off.

You might want to change water sources if this problem persists.

 

[cadeucsb]

dj... how are u starting suction with just tubing? the ol mouth method?

Also, if that algae is green, sounds like it could be cyano. I have the best luck waiting til the lights have just come on in the morning and the algae has retracted from no light and catch the little clumps with a turkey baster.

 

[djconn]

Yeah, I just start the suction with my mouth and put the bucket below the tank. Get old gravity workin for ya.

I have different size tubing for different tanks. The tube for my 20 gal has pretty big diameter, say about .5", and the tube for my 2.5 is pretty small.

 

[SoUnDwAv3]

the gunk in my tank...

It's red, it's a film covering the rocks, it's black when it's in the sand. I just turkey baste it or pull it out with tweezers.

 

[incysor]

That's cyano. It means you have too many nutrients in your system and/or too little flow.

If you use a fairly large diameter tube to do you water change you should be able to suck it up when you're doing your water changes. I get spots here and there from time to time, and it just syphons right out.

There's also a product called chemi-clean that works well on it. But it'll only kill the cyano that's there, it won't stop more from showing up. The only things that will really stop it are less nutrients, and more flow.

B