stirring the substrate/messing w/ the tank!!

[dclegern]

Question about how often to mess with the substrate, and clean off the rocks(turkey baster).
Even with the new tank up and runnin' smooth, (everyone and everything happy)I still have a slight/but constant diatom issue and just not as pretty as I'd hoped.

I've been using TLC religiously, 7% water changes a week, and barely feeding.
Skimmer cranks out more crap than ever, and all water parameters are good.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!!
I wanna just leave it alone and enjoy, but the 'murk' as wearin' me out.

[hobogato]

how long has the tank been running?

how deep is the sand bed?

[RayAllen]

Sounds to me like you are on track with what you are doing. Also sounds like you may just have a couple of dead spots that allow the gunk to settle. Maybe adding a power head or two would take care of your problem.

[dclegern]

hello again Hobogato....
The new tank has been up for 4-5 months now. almost everything was a transfer from the 65 gal that I had before.
Seemed to have the same issue on that one. (but I fed it a lot)
The inhabitants love the new halide lights, but I may tone it down an hour to see if it helps any.

I just hate constantly cleaning it, and wondering if messin' w' it is what's causing the issue.

[hobogato]

it could be the last bit of the tank settling in after the transfer, especially if you stirred the sand up and didnt rinse it when you moved it over. it also could be the depth of the sand, if it is between 1" and 4" - the so called no man's land for sand bed depth (too shallow to function properly as a dsb, but too deep to keep clean). i have a very deep sand bed in my tank and stir only the top half inch or so every couple of months. when i ran a shallow sand bed (< 1" ) in my other tank, i would stir problem areas every few weeks before doing water changes.

[Ping]

ditto what Ray and Ace said. When you say cleaning it, are you talking about the glass or the sand bed?

I usually turkey baste the rocks prior to every water change.

[alton]

Remember you are having to go through the "New Tank Syndrome" again. At about a year you will forget you ever had a issue, it all just seems to turn out. Providing you keep up with good maintenance.