Geoffrey's 4ft

should there be nutrients present and you have a halide which has a high PAR,it will cause the nutrients present to break out with nasty algea problems.
just rinse you playsand well until the water is eventually crystal clear, and no it does not leach silicates.
no chemicals required,just thourough washing in RO is what you need.
 
geoffrey said:
i have noticed that when i put my halide on the algae problem seems to be more prelevant. is this from the high output of UV?

when washing, shouldnt we add some chemicals of some sort just to make sure the sand is absolutely and properly DEAD, im sure playsand leaks silica...

maybe if somone can add a couple of names of chemicals that can ensure playsand is proprely cleaned..
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How many times did you wash the playsand when you first got it ?
 
Simple hose pipe in a bucket. Like panning for gold.

Any light will get the algae growing, if there is due reason.
 
well i made sure i cleaned my sand so don't worry bout that... just did it with tap water... hence phosphates etc. but i'm sure it has well leaked out by now. my cyno is not as bad as it used to be so maybe its coming right. one thing i have learnt about this hobby is time!!! it takes time...
 
Too true, marines is not really made for the fast pace world we live in where instant gratification is the norm.

The PO4 can hang around quite abit, as someone said remove pollution through dilution - water change, water change :thumbup:
 
jacquesb said:
Sunburst - light AND high'ish phosphates and nitrates.... Plants like food too ;-)
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Sorry JB little lost. Please explain:)

geoffrey said:
well i made sure i cleaned my sand so don't worry bout that... just did it with tap water... hence phosphates etc.
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The tap water residue; lets say 2000ml would/could never be held responsible. Your average single feeding would add more phosphate

geoffrey said:
ok guys i came back after just over a week and found my tank PACKED WITH CYNO!
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This imo will continue for about 6 months. ie fairly heavy cyano. It will then taper off, but a light rusty film will remain, for a lot longer




geoffrey said:
but for the moment i'm gonna just leave all my lights off except for the 2x 24w t5's
until i can get my powerheads and phos remover.
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Why? The light is acting as the catalyst that will help speed up the removal. IMO

geoffrey said:
i have noticed that when i put my halide on the algae problem seems to be more prelevant. is this from the high output of UV?
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To be expected. The only time i would consider reducing the lighting is with long hair algae. Cyano is simple to mop up and at the same time you are removing the very cause.
 
sunburst said:
The tap water residue; lets say 2000ml would/could never be held responsible. Your average single feeding would add more phosphate
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Wow, that is interesting, Sunburst would you say majority of our PO4 problems come from food and overfeeding ?
 
very interesting sunburst. thanks for the help. but then again i'm only feeding once a day.

since i am away one of my powerheads fell off the glass and drpped onto the sand. blew sand everywhere, messed up my DSB completely in the front of the tank. luckily the back is untouched, damn so hacked! furbz was there to sort it out! shot champ...
 
Warr7207 said:
Wow, that is interesting, Sunburst would you say majority of our PO4 problems come from food and overfeeding ?
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Yes. Overfeeding is relative to so many factors. Big skimming being your most effective line of defense, although in your case i don't believe the cause.

geoffrey said:
very interesting sunburst. thanks for the help. but then again i'm only feeding once a day.
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Like you i also believe that cyano and diatom blooms are more prevalent in silicate beds. I must admit this goes against common opinion. I have come to this conclusion from watching the results of a tank i have at work. I also had a sand bed shifted by flow. Instead of leveling the bed i added the cheapest most available media. Silica. Three years later this is the only part of the bed that has a persistent diatom film. For months after the top up, this area oozed hectic cyano.
But if that is strange hows this. I have had a sandstone rock for over ten years that has permanent thick red cyano. Its a small rock so out of curiosity have just left it.
 
Mekaeel said:
Sunburst,Would you say that silica sand beds leach silicates? According to reading i have done, silica sand does not leach silicates???
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Obviously from what we read the answer is an emphatic no. I personally have never bothered to even try read for silicates. Now that i think of it, if silicate is so inert; how do we measure for it???
 
Holy smokes Miki. There's a gap in my education. When did you become a moderator. Congratulations on doing a job that you have done for a long time
 
sunburst said:
Obviously from what we read the answer is an emphatic no. I personally have never bothered to even try read for silicates. Now that i think of it, if silicate is so inert; how do we measure for it???
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What you think of this ref:

"Silicon
The role of silicon is much less studied than other nutrients, however it is considered to play an important role in the requirements of many coral reefs organisms such as sponges and diatoms. Their role on corals reefs, especially since reefs are mostly calcareous based and not siliceous, is less than other marine environments. The principle source of silica is likely from terrestrial runoff, and its principle form, silicic acid, is found in a dissolved form in seawater."


Source: The Food of Reefs, Part Seven: Dissolved Nutrients by Eric Borneman - Reefkeeping.com
 
hmm this topic is getting interesting... so is playsand friend or foe? lets have a poll to see how many people got or still get cyano/diatom outbreaks if they have playsand as substrate...
 
I have 80kg's of playsand as my substrate in my tank, no problems whatsoever.
 
ok viper u the exception:p . im siting with 100kg in my 4ft. had a serious outbreak of cyano. how long has the sand been in your tank viper? did u have problems in the begining?
 
Sand has been in the tank for a few months now, never had a days trouble from the first day it went in, apart from a slight diatom outbreak, however that was caused from putting all my rock back in after cooking it so I had a mini cycle going on in the tank.

I did however wash the sand extensively, until the sand was pure white and the water in the bucket was crystal clear, it took me frikking ages to wash all the sand.
 
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