green sand ?

[claireroe]

I've put sand in my second tank and all was well 'til this week . Now i have these green patches on my sand at the bottom . I it algae ? I've tried scooping it out and i can but i take some of the sand with it too . Any ideas on what it is and how to get rid of it and stop it coming back ?

 

[Annastasia]

I have the exact same thing on my sand. Definitely algae.
You could try cutting the light time down some. That should help.

 

[smithrc]

increase the circulation on the bottom - gets rid of it in 2 days flat

 

[claireroe]

by increase the circulation you mean ? chuck the sand around a bit ? should i be moving it / stirring it every day ?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I would increase how much you clean your sand on a regular basis. Don't just gravel vac/syphon it, but stir it up with your hands making sure that the very bottom layers get mixed up- you should do this at least once a week.
With the badly affected areas on sand, stir it up so the algae affected bits get cut off from any light sources any they will naturally die off; when it comes down to it algae is still a plant and still needs light and it you deny that to it, it will die.
You can also put live plants on any algae affected areas and the live plants will out-compete the algae for light as well or you could just put some ornements/rocks on it.

 

[smithrc]

if its the same green algea we got on our sand, it comes from nowhere - really quickly??

i just pointed the output from one of our filters towards the sand and the algea dissapeard as quickly as it came.

we dont clean regularly, and even when i tried the green would be back with in a day.

 

[Slyspy]

I understand that this slimey algae/bacteria thing is most likely caused by high phosphor and low nitrates. I am going to fight mine by adding nitrates (!) as fertilizer for my plants, thus encouraging them to out-compete the algae for other nutrients. It may even work. Just need some potassium nitrate. It can be killed by antibiotics, I understand, and can be physically removed, buried etc but it will always return unless you find and deal with the root cause.

 

[claireroe]

ok , I stirred the sand up last night and the green algae went , got up this morning and more patches have appeared in different places ! I can't move the sand every day . I have cut feeds to once per day and cut light down to 10 hours . Is there anything else I can do ? I don't really want to cover it all with rocks and stuff otherwise what would be the point in having sand if you can't see it ? My tank is still cycling ,would this make it worse than usual ?