Keeping Sand Clean

[dmweise]

When I get bored, I look at aquarium videos on YouTube.com. I have noticed that there are two types of sand beds... really really nasty ones and pristine ones.

Here is an example of a pristine one that seems to be in a well established tank:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pl82HUpUtU

I would love it if my sand bed was that clean looking. Mine gets diatom algae on the top. My lawnmower blenny and yellow eye kole tang eat it, but its not the prettiest thing in the tank. To be honest, it makes me a bit nervous when my sand bed has stuff growing on it.

The flow in my tank is good. I do not have any stagnate areas.

Water Parameters:

pH: 8.0
KH: 9.0
Nitrate: ~20 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Ammonia: 0 ppm

My tank is a 90 gallon tank. I have the tank under a 36 inch T5 fixture with 6 bulbs, 3 are actinic, 3 are 10k.

I have a couple of fighting conchs and about 15 or 20 nassarius snails. None of my corals or fish seem sick. I've got a marine betta that has a roughed up "lucky fin" but it doesn't seem to be bothering him.

[Europhyllia]

How fine is your sand? if it's not too fine (prone to get swirled into the water column) you could just see if more flow just over the sandbed helps.
Or clean it right ebfore you take your video ;)

[lakers10]

I have black sand i love it. but i really want white sand my sand is pretty clean but it could be that u really cant see dirt lol

[firecoral3msd]

Do you have hermit crabs? If not, get a tiger tail sea cucumber or an atlantic sea cucumber. They keep the sand bed white and clean. I had one but I had to sell it. I would get another one but I'm afraid my long tentacle anemone will sting and stress it.

[Kristy]

We have come to understand that our sandbed is a lot cleaner / whiter than most because everyone who comes to visit our tank asks us the same thing... "how do you keep your sandbed so white?!?"

It could be the 20 or so nassarius snails we have that emerge like a plague at feeding time. But my main theory is that it's our diamond goby that keeps it so clean. He is the janitor of the tank and takes his job very seriously, constantly carrying a mouthful of sand from one spot to another!

One other thought: We also use a long-handled wooden spoon every two weeks to move some sand along the front glass line. The flow of our tank causes the sand to distribute in almost a V shape along the front glass, meaning the ends end up being much deeper than the middle, which can deplete down to bare bottom if we leave it alone for about a month. So every time we do a water change (usually every two weeks, sometimes three) I take the wooden spoon (that is strictly for aquarium use) and drag sand along the front glass line. This stirs the sand that is visible in that first inch or so of display and redistributes it evenly along the front glass.

I know there are different thoughts out there on whether or not it is advisable to stir the sand so do your homework before you decide to try this... would probably depend how deep your sandbed is, how old and established, etc. but this is what has worked for us for about two years now. Might suggest that you confer with Ping about your particular situation? He's our resident expert on sandbeds!

[ErikH]

Diatoms are fueled by silica. Find the silica source (probably that RO water from the store) and you will beat the algae. That is your cause, stop it, and stop the effect/affected from getting worse.

[dmweise]

I have a black sand. It may be dirtier than what I see, but it is not clumpy. It is not super fine grained. The flow of the tank moves across it rather quickly.

I have lots of nassarius snails and I have some hermit crabs, but not many, probably 5 or so.

I move the sand around occasionally, but the nassarius snails do a lot of that during feeding time. It is very plague like.

Silica, I haven't that of that. I will have to ask them about that.

[allan]

I also have a black sand bed. Got it for two reasons, one I thought they looked cool in the other tanks I've seen... and two because I didn't want a dragon goby in there for the extra work I have to go through blasting sand off of coral and rocks.

Additionally I have a shallow bed with only about six or eight of the nasarious snails.

I don't know if they have a darker sand or not but I do get a visible brown dusting on my sand bed that comes and goes periodically. I don't worry that so much as the cyano. I've tested my rodi water and it comes out at 0 ppm, not sure if that measures silica though.

I've seen a lot of really white sand beds on youtube but I wonder how much of that is white and how much of it is reflected light drowning out the color of what lies on the sand to make it snow-like.

[ErikH]

My sand is white! :)

[sampsonndelila]

YELLOW HEAD!