Annoying dirty sand bed issue in my 180

[AtlCPA]

Tank has been up about 7 months and just in the last month or so, I can't keep the right side of the tank's sand bed clean. Looks like a brown, rusty dirt. Can't get a good picture of it, but it doesn't look like cayno to me. There are a few other spots that get dirty, but it's mostly a the right front side which is a lower flow area. I vacum it and it looks great.....until the next day when it's super dirty again.

My nitrates got up to about 50 a month or so ago, but over a couple weeks I did several large water changes plus increased the Zeovit dosing and get them back down between 5-10. I think I didn't increase my dosing to keep up with the increasing bioload of my tank. I also did a couple sand bed vacs slowly over several days.

I also have a small cleanup crew which I just order a 100 animal pack online to increase the cleanup crew. Could that be a big part of the issue? I probably only have 10-12 snails in this tank.

Other parameters are steady with alk around 9, calc 430.

This isn't my first tank, but it's the first one this big. Pic below to give you an idea. Corals are thriving for the most part. About 12 fish total. I've been doing 5% water changes a week per Zeovit recommendation, but I don't think that's enough with my current bio load.

 

[saltyhog]

Your sand looks immaculate in that picture!

From your description and the age of your tank it sounds like diatoms to me. Those will usually run their course and go away once available silicate has been exhausted. If there are any bubbles or "snotty" appearance to the brown stuff that would indicate something different. Enlarging you clean up crew sounds like a good idea, many snails will consume diatoms. I particularly like conchs and ceriths for that duty.

Beautiful tank for only 7 months!

 

[dantimdad]

Tank looks good!

I would get a couple conchs. They will keep the sand bed stirred up and clean.

 

[AtlCPA]

Thanks fella's. I was able to move some of those corals over from a frag tank, which helped.

The sand does look great in that picture, but that's all changed now. Looks ugly now and it really bugs me.

 

[bdare]

Sand sifting gobies? Sand sifting star fish?

 

[Hemmdog]

I’ve had good luck with sand sifting gobies. I’ve never stirred up my sand, never siphoned my sand or any of that nonsense. My sand always looks brand new and white.

All thanks to this guy

 

[AtlCPA]

ok, good to know on the goby.

 

[brandon429]

hey on that tank above Hemmdog, reach in on a cell phone vid in the corner of the tank where its white

grab sand, drop it. curious to see if it clouds

does he remove clouding, or just make the very topmost layer white/cross section pics show what I think w register as clouding during a drop test

reach on down, no curve grabbing~ give it a go like if a rock stack fell over while you were on vacation, or a pump dislodged or something. get deeper than the topsoil we have use for that vid coming from an animal only turnover bed. If you don't want to make the vid, I understand, but you'd get to really feature what that fish can do with the vid.

if anyone wants to measure whats in their cloud:
tape a small diameter flex hose to a dowel and press it all the way down

draw off brown water into a cup let settle, pour off top water.

bubble the decanted sample two days and keep it level topped off with freshwater so the salinity stays roughly stable.
in two days or so, test for nitrate and let us know

 

[Hemmdog]

hey on that tank above Hemmdog, reach in on a cell phone vid in the corner of the tank where its white

grab sand, drop it. curious to see if it clouds

does he remove clouding, or just make the very topmost layer white/cross section pics show what I think w register as clouding during a drop test

reach on down, no curve grabbing~ give it a go like if a rock stack fell over while you were on vacation, or a pump dislodged or something. get deeper than the topsoil we have use for that vid coming from an animal only turnover bed. If you don't want to make the vid, I understand, but you'd get to really feature what that fish can do with the vid.

 

[brandon429]

from today, now if poss just to update

you did a deep grab legit.

 

[Hemmdog]

from today, now if poss just to update

I Just took that right now.

 

[Hemmdog]

Yea that goby does work. If I did that in my other tank with sand & no goby it would be cloudy for hours lol.

 

[brandon429]

the op's tank/sandbed seems too new to be a rinse issue, I'd be lightly guiding out his invader with siphon work while adding cuc/adjusting things in case its something like dinos where massing never helps. his sandbed didn't look very aged, looked like common new topical growth.

nice job on the sandbed those are legit grabs and you have it balanced. that's as clear as our hand cleaning tests, equal depth nice one.

 

[Hemmdog]

the op's tank/sandbed seems too new to be a rinse issue, I'd be lightly guiding out his invader with siphon work while adding cuc/adjusting things in case its something like dinos where massing never helps. his sandbed didn't look very aged, looked like common new topical growth.

nice job on the sandbed those are legit grabs and you have it balanced. that's as clear as our hand cleaning tests, equal depth nice one.

That’s great to hear. Thank you!

 

[AtlCPA]

Ok, I think I’ve found the culprit.

As I mentioned, I’ve done lots of water changes over the last several weeks....and now I can say it’s made it worse. Came home today and here is the pic.

My BRS says only 1 tds coming into the rodi and 0 coming out. Can’t be right only 1 coming in.

I tested my RODI water with a hand held tester and it’s reading 50 tds.

That’s got to be the problem doesn’t it?

 

[High ICP]

Depends on what’s in the TDS

I look at my shower glass, I can tell you that most of my TDS is calcium carbonate

I would definitely do a big backflush on the RODI and get new filters and resin

 

[Neoalchemist]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but with the given description and the speed at which it advances I'm leaning towards amphidimium dinoflagellates

 

[Neoalchemist]

Water changes do tend to fuel dino's

 

[Neoalchemist]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but with the given description and the speed at which it advances I'm leaning towards amphidimium dinoflagellates

https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?posts/3578648

 

[AtlCPA]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but with the given description and the speed at which it advances I'm leaning towards amphidimium dinoflagellates

Certainly possible although would the high nitrates I had make it less likely to be dino’s?

Also, I was clearly putting water with too high TDS with my water changes. I got new filters for my RODI yesterday and started a 10% water change yesterday and will do several more today.

I’ll let you know how it goes.