rusty colored sand

[goodreefer]

hello everyone, I've had my 8 gal. biocube up now for almost 4 months and all of a sudden my sand has been turning to a rusty color I have done my normal water changes, checked my parameters and everything is up to par. The hammer and blue mushroom aren't opening up like the normally do but the polyps are at bloom any help would be nice. by the I have a 10 gal. also use the same water when maintaining it and the tank is looking awesome...thanks for your replies in advance...Ray

 

[TimSchmidt]

Can you please post your water parameters and what type of water you top off with? Could be diatoms, algae, or some bacteria. Usually controlling your feedings, increase the flow across the sand, and maintaining you water changes will get rid of most of that.

 

[goodreefer]

my ph is 8.2, nitrite/rate 0, ammonia 0. rodi for water, only feed once a day. I did notice this morning 2 of my snails have been gotten to by 1 of the red hermits. could it be a clean up crew problem not enough. now i believe just down to 2 hermits. thanks Ray

 

[TimSchmidt]

Sounds like an algae bloom. I would get some sort of sand dwelling CUC. nassarius snails work well. I personally like the Tonga nassarisus snails (I think that is how they are labeled for sale) but some people don't like that big of a snail. One or two should be plenty.

 

[goodreefer]

thanks once again Tim, on my way to the store. How about hermit crabs which do you prefer blue or red legged? Seems to me that red one are bullys?

 

[TimSchmidt]

I have blue and zebra in my tanks, but any hermit can and will murder snails for their shells.

 

[supertech99]

FYI, I AM A NEWBY ALSO BUT WANTED TO TELL YOU THAT IN MY 10GAL I HAVE THE SAME RUSTY STUFF AND HAVE 6 NARSSISUS SNAILS AND ONE MARGARITA SNAIL AND THE 6 HAVE ONLY KEPT ABOUT 1/2 OF THE SAND MOVING ENOUGH TO KEEP THE RUSTY STUFF OFF. THE LFS IS OFFERING 3 TONGA'S FOR $5 SO I PLAN ON GETTING THEM, FOR THE VARIETY AND THE SAND MOVEMENT. ITS PROBALLY OVERKILL BUT I LIKE SNAILS AND I HAVE HEARD THAT THE CLOWN I WANT TO ADD IS A REALLY MESSY EATER! :lol:

 

[reefman23]

This will probably clear up with time... all part of a new tank.

Jesse

 

[goodreefer]

thanks for the input guys, I'm also going to try to clean the pump. It's a factory one that the bio 8 comes with. I also have a rotating attachment for the output, should I install this for more water movement?

 

[TimSchmidt]

the Hydro flow? Depends if you want the variable flow (most corals prefer variable in my experience) To clean my pumps I just put them in vinegar and let them run for an hour or so. But in my nano I can't go without flow that long so I stick a koralia nano for water movement while cleaning the stock pump.

 

[goodreefer]

yes that's what it is, I'll most def. install it. thanks once again Tim

 

[goodreefer]

Tim, in the middle chamber of my tank it has bio balls should I leave them in or remove?

 

[reefman23]

Tim, in the middle chamber of my tank it has bio balls should I leave them in or remove?

Remove them for sure. They lack an anaerobic area which means that they do not fully complete the nitrogen cycle. They stop at the last step where nitrates are converted to nitrogen gas thus causing a build up of nitrates.

Jesse

 

[TimSchmidt]

Tim, in the middle chamber of my tank it has bio balls should I leave them in or remove?

Remove them for sure. They lack an anaerobic area which means that they do not fully complete the nitrogen cycle. They stop at the last step where nitrates are converted to nitrogen gas thus causing a build up of nitrates.

Jesse

+1

But if they have been in there a while then slowly remove them to allow the good bacteria to grow in the rock (where it should be).

Say 25% at a time every week.

 

[goodreefer]

yes they have been there from the begining. Would it be ok if I used lr from my other tank to replace the bb's

 

[TimSchmidt]

It's up to you, I don't have anything there (middle chamber) right now, but I will be putting a macro algae next weekend.

 

[goodreefer]

what type of setup do you have? So it don't hurt if you don't have anything in there? How long has your tank been up? also what type of fuge light are you running? I have a nice sump my buddy gave to me thinking of putting it to work on this tank what do you think?

 

[TimSchmidt]

I have a nano cube DX 12 gallon. It's been up for a couple months. A buddy gave me the tank free so I've been playing with a couple ideas and now have the parts to do the mods I want. I am adding in a 70w metal halide lamp, adding additional fans for cooling, adding a nanocustoms.com 3.1 fuge light. I have one sponge in the first chamber, nothing in the second, and the return pump in the final chamber.

I have ricordias, frogspawn, christmas tree worms, a blue spotted jawfish, and a spotted mandarin (I either trained her to eat prepared foods, or I got really lucky trying to train her to eat prepared foods).

 

[goodreefer]

that is a sweet looking tank. I see you didn't mention charcoal in you first chamber is it good to use it or not?

 

[TimSchmidt]

I use either charcoal or chemi pure every once in a while. Most of the time I use it when I'm being lazy and go two weeks between water changes. If your water is not clear then using it will clear the water nicely.