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Viewed: 387 -- Replies: 26 | ||||||||
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| Posted | Coral Sand Always turns Brown...? |
| 26-04-2006 16:39 by drummerduck |
I'm guessing this question has been posted before.... AND..... i guess this really should be in the marine section (sorry fredrik!!).... but this may cross over into tropical.
My substrate is turning brown with me having to turn it over every 2-3 days..... its p*****g me off to be honest!!! What is causing this? do i need a phosphate remover? I run an external Ehimes 2028 for my filter.... V2 skimmer that works nicely, Eden 228 powerhead, tunze 6060 stream pump.... everything in tank o.k.... corals are out in full.... fish are happy... hermits snails all good.... why the brown substrate... cheers all.... |
| 26-04-2006 16:42 by michael hinson |
have you got a big enough clean up crew?maybe a sand sifting star fish would help turn sand
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| 26-04-2006 16:43 by anna |
hi dd how b u? how long u leavin ur light on 4?
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| 26-04-2006 16:54 by drummerduck |
maybe 12 hour cycle... i have a Sand sifting star fish... maybe i need to get another? its a Rio 400 (400lts) 60x24x18.
Its pretty ugly looking....  |
| 26-04-2006 16:54 by drummerduck |
the brown substrate that is!!!  |
| 26-04-2006 17:13 by anna |
lol dd my marine knowledge is very basic so i have no answers i think u need alan! |
| 26-04-2006 17:41 by Fredrik |
going to get a salt water set up and join you marine people, from sweden we dont keep them really as they belong in the oceon and it difficult be can surviving them. i get finding nemo |
| 26-04-2006 17:43 by drummerduck |
ALAN........ |
| 26-04-2006 18:11 by yanton |
drummerduck, use a gravel cleaner to make it look better.
i found (in my marine days) that gradually the nutrient in the water that the brown algae needed was eventually used up, then more attractive algae took over - but water changes sometimes brought the brown algae back for a little while. |
| 26-04-2006 18:16 by drummerduck |
i use that with the water change, i agitate the gravel and suck the dirty water..... but to use this otherwise means constant top-ups. |
| 26-04-2006 18:39 by tommy |
dnt use a gravel cleaner ... im having the same problem at the moment and not sure what it is coz my nitrate is zero and my phost is near enuf zero .. im goin to try the Nitrateminus made by tetra |
| 26-04-2006 19:46 by stevebrillo |
lol i thought it was just me but i got the same too ten weeks now my my lights are new so its not them nitrates and phost are lo doing water changes every 2 weeks doooh...i cant work it out ..so yea alan if you there ... |
| 26-04-2006 19:47 by stevebrillo |
we all need u |
| 26-04-2006 19:49 by anna |
hey tommy why u gonna use nitrateminus if ur parametres r ok? |
| 26-04-2006 19:50 by anna |
yeah alan where are u? i always enjoy his thread answers cos theyre so informative! |
| 26-04-2006 20:34 by Lee Smith |
could be diatoms, high silicates could be causing it good water movement helps, i had same problem but an RO unit and time seemed to solve it! |
| 27-04-2006 08:45 by Alan |
Clean up crew is the answer how deep is the coral sand?
Rio 400 is large I think so more than one sand sifting starfish will be needed you have hermits so nassarius snails are not an option which is a shame as they are fascinating and extremely fast snails equally cerith snails are a no go too as hermits love these both these snails burrow a lot turning the substrate over. You could try a cowrie I have never kept one of these I believe some are reef safe they are detritovores and they burrow so that will help with the substrate turnover. Does your set up contain live rock? If so great as this will introduce worms and the like to the tank which will help with the substrate turnover it does take some time for these to establish though. I would refrain from siphoning through the substrate as you will be removing beneficial organisms if you do. This discolouration of the substrate is a phase but you mustn't expect it to remain sparkling white it won't. As far as phosphate remover I think it is sensible for all tanks to have a phosphate remover in there somewhere so I would add a phosphate remover as soon as is convenient. This is just a stage of maturation in the tank give it time. If however it is forming a mat above the substrate you are looking at a silicates problem this again is a phase as long as you are not introducing silicates it will pass but remove the film frequently to get the silicates out of the system. |
| 27-04-2006 08:53 by anna |
mornin alan what phosphate remover would u reccommend? iv always used green x as that doesnt seem to alter anything else! |
| 27-04-2006 09:53 by Alan |
I've only ever used rowaphos but there are some new ones on there way to the british market I believe that make rowa phos redundant only time will tell though I think it is called elimiphos or something like that. rowa does the job at the mo though |
| 27-04-2006 12:40 by drummerduck |
So is Rowaphos a powder you mix or is it a pad to add to a canister (sorry i could probably look this up on the net!!). In the Ehimes 2028 i have some there are two typesof media the small pellet type media like carp food( sorry don't know the name of them) and some small plastic tubes. I was going to remove just SOME of the small pellets to make way for a phos pad? Is this wise Alan?
Also just to get this right are you saying that i should leave the brown substrate alone..... UNLESS it gets really bad? I'm going to add another Sifting Star..... i have lost most of my snails to the hermits as i didn't realise that these would clash.... but they do.... i do prefer to have crabs/hemits rather than snails.... Are brittle's a good Starfish to have for turning over substrate as i was considering getting one...and the last question....(sorry).... Do Cleaner Shrimps which are a good addition to a clean up crew safe to house with boxer shrimps.... i have read conflicting rules on keeping them together. In a new book i have it says that boxing shrimps can be aggresive.... but in the lfs they have these in together.... i was going to buy a pair but want to increase my collection with other types.... sorry for the bombardment of questions there Alan but this come with knowing you stuff!!! 
cheers. |
| 27-04-2006 13:32 by Alan |
Rowa phos looks like carbon comes in a tub with a mesh back with rowaphos on the front.
Ermmmm not sure about the media you are using I just use ehfisubstrat in my freshwater tanks I'm not familiar with the other media. What colour is the media is it a sort of off white to grey colour? It sounds like the small plastic tubes are a ceramic media that is primarily biological in function and the other media I really don't know what shape are the pellets are they perfectly round and greyish blue in colour it could be that it is ehfisubstrat pro but I'm really clutching at straws with it. How many litres is the tank and how many hermits do you have? I would recommend adding another sand sifting starfish. As far as a brittle star goes they are no problems but beware of serpeant starfish they can go predatory if there is insufficient food I have one that when stretched out can touch the back and front of my tank 18" disgusting thing I have to feed him once a month to keep him from getting predatory its fascinating to watch but a bit horrifying when you see them suddenly grab hold of a fish to try and eat it, I was amazed how quick I was with the tongs! They are fantastic detritovores but I have never seen one sifting sand. Providing you don't have the reddy brown slime type algae that forms a mat over the substrate I would leave it. Never siphon it as you will be removing beneficial organisms that will deal with a lot of the waste you are trying to remove. I have kept cleaner shrimp with a boxing shrimp before but it is risky some boxing shrimps will tolerate other shrimps whilst some won't all boxing shrimps however are quite territorial and will eat the loser. I think I was ucky last time round but it really depends on whether you are happy to take the risk and the size of your tank and the amount of rock work. Do you have live rock in your system? 1 thing to remember with reef tanks is your are creating an ecosystem the fish and corals are really incidental to this and neither will survive long term in a failed ecosystem and to get it right you need the largest possible biodiversity you can and this can only be achieved with top quality cured live rock. I would go for a minimum of 1 hermit for every 2 imp gallons of water possibly more and get the right sort to. If you want snails go for turbos of a size that will dwarf the hermits and when releasing the turbos place each one the right way up either on the rock work or the glass they can't right themselves very well if they land upside down and this is when they are most vulnerable to attack from hermits. I keep turbos and hermits together with no problems my turbos are even breeding although not many survive I can normally spot one or two little ones. One other thing turbos are extremely susceptable to osmotic shock so aclimatise them over about 2 hours adding a couple of egg cup fulls of tank water or half a tumbler to their bag every ten minutes. Should do the same with hermits really but they are much tougher but shrimps I would give at least 2 hours as well. |
| 27-04-2006 13:36 by Alan |
starfish also need around 2 hours as well. |
| 27-04-2006 13:51 by drummerduck |
The media in the ehimes are small, round, light brown balls....smaller that a malteser if i can use that as an example... and quite hard. You can just about make them out in this pic. The write up says...
2 litre of Eheim Ehfimech - an effective mechanical filter media that is placed in the bottom basket of your Eheim Professional 1 coarse blue filter pad that acts as a final mechanical filter 4 litres of Eheim Ehfisubstrat Pro - the biological filter media with an extremely large surface area that enables the efficient breakdown of biological wastes 1 fine white filter pad that acts as a final fine filter media, trapping the smallest of particles to ensure crystal clear water  |
| 27-04-2006 14:07 by Alan |
I wasn't far off then I never really think of ehfimech as mechanical but I suppose it could be described as mechanical as it will cause debris to be deposited. You also have ehfisubstrat pro its basically cintered glass has a massive surface area 1 litre of the stuff has a surface area of about 450 square metres for bacteria to colonise. |
| 27-04-2006 15:25 by drummerduck |
So i actually made a good choice of filter for a marine setup not forgetting i could not afford the sump setup or trickle fiter system?
I was always worried i was running in cicles with a canister filter on a marine setup.  |
| 28-04-2006 08:18 by Alan |
You have got a good filter and it will be excellent for keeping ammonia and nitrite at bay but there is an inherent problem with all canisters and trickle filters on reef aquaria and that is managing nitrate so watch out for it building up. |
| 28-04-2006 09:31 by drummerduck |
yeah been there!!
cheers Alan. |
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