Last one, on my sand?

[Nonfamous]

What is this brown stuff on my WHITE sand???? :grumble:

Its a light brown colour. About the same colour a Phosban, but it is NOT Phosban. It goes away in low light and comes back after I remove it. Diatoms? A form of cyano? Its definately not red or pink.

 

[bjohanson1234]

I would guess either diatoms or cyano. Try redirecting the flow so that the sand just moves but doesn't get blown around.

 

[Nonfamous]

I would guess either diatoms or cyano. Try redirecting the flow so that the sand just moves but doesn't get blown around.

I have done that and it does stay clear. Two issues arise though. First is that is I have a stronger flow in that location I will need to move some corals. Second is the aesthetics. I really don't like the power head on the side. From both the inside and outside it looks bad to me.

I really hope the cyano isn't coming back. Not sure what I would do about it if it did. Last time it took chemicals and I really don't want to do that again.

 

[bjohanson1234]

What are your water parameters? Cyano will come back if you didn't solve the underlying problem. Usually low flow and high nutrients.

 

[chichimom79]

+1 BJ. Cyano likes low flow areas and high nutrient levels, as do most nuisance algae.

 

[Bifferwine]

Looks like the start of cyano. Especially if it comes and goes with the light.

 

[Nonfamous]

Great. I thought I solved this problem. The only parameter that's out of line is a positive test for phosphates. Even running phosban it test positive. There has got to be a decent test for it somewhere.

FWIW, my sister has a masters in watershed management. She works for the EPA and has been searching for a good in home/aquarium test "kit" for me. Nothing yet. She tests ground water all day long so she knows a thing or two about water. Granted its fresh not salt, but she does have connections.

 

[Nonfamous]

Changed over to Kent Marine Phosphate Sponge in a Phosban reactor. I'm going to let it run for 2 days. I have removed the bag filter and will attempt to run the system without it from here on out. After the two days of the Kent Marine, we will see if there is a change in my sand. If not....chemical route again I guess. I hate doing that though.

 

[little_fish]

Using chemicals again wont work. The chemicals are antibiotics and what you have in your tank survived the last round so it is resistant to the antibiotics. You need to get to the source of your issues to prevent the cyano from returning.

 

[Nonfamous]

I have no idea what my issue could be. Short of completely tearing the tank down I'm at the end. I still question if this is in fact cyano. It brown and is not slimy like before. I'm hoping the added power heads ( added 2 400 gph) and the Kent stuff can get things back under control.

I did notice yesterday that my rear set of lights had a LOT of salt creep so I cleaned them good. Not sure it was affecting the light enough to cause a problem. Can't hurt though. It time to replace my RODI filters as well I guess.

Also my dosing was incorrect last time. Not sure if that's an issue or not. It was too low.