substrate problem

[mikesamc]

I had a red slime outbreak a few weeks ago that i cured with red slime remover. Now the aragonite is turning orange, rust color. Is this the start of another problem?
I have 2 power heads for circulation plus the main pump.

Nitrate-0
nitrite-0
ammo-0

Any idears?

 

[ckam]

hows your phosphate? have u done a water chang since the algea cleared up?

 

[mikesamc]

I don't have a phosphate test kit.
I changed about 30% water twice since the slime.

 

[ReefWannabe]

how old is the tank? maybe diatoms? they look like rust lol. i should know!

 

[mikesamc]

tanks about 8 months old.
the refuge/sump is almost fully grown with caulerpa and it does not have this growing on the sand.
this morning there was nothing there when i turned the lites on. later the gravel will be almost covered.

 

[rchull69]

Do you have a lot of water movement in the tank? I had this very problem appear in my tank a couple of years ago. I doubled the pump size and turnover rate and have not had a problem since. Check out penductors and eductors. I use these with no powerheads in the tank. They will definitely move your water around in the tank.

 

[mikesamc]

I looked these things up, pretty interesting.

 

[minireefer]

Do you have any sand stirrers like a sand sifting star.Mine keeps my sand pretty clean.Also fighting conches do a good job

 

[Chris]

Its phosphate most likely, use some phosban and the problem will go away. You can get a phosban reactor from two little fish for less than $50.

 

[mikesamc]

No sand sifters. I've been looking for one for a while. LFS seems to always be out when i get there.
I bought a phosphate test kit and got 0 .

 

[rchull69]

I had always been told that sand sifting starfish are bad as they take all the nutrients and bacteria out of the sandbed. I have 2 Orange Spotted gobies and 2 fighting conches that keep the sand turned 24 hours a day. I haven't had a spot of anything in the sand for over 2 years now. If you have 0 nitrates, then I would suspect lack of water movement in the tank. Just my 2 cents. :twocents: 2 words: penductors or eductors.

Eductors: http://www.nciweb.net/tank.htm

Penductors: http://www.myreefcreations.com/penductor.htm

I currently have 2 3/4" eductors on the left and right outer and 2 3/4" penductors in the center pointing away and down. If I can figure out how to post a pic other than jpeg, then I'll post a pick or two of my set-up to give you an idea. I also use a 3600 gph as a return pump.

 

[rchull69]

Here is a link to a picture of my tank.

http://www.thereeftank.com/photopost/data/500/10890Tank.JPG

I forgot that I did have 1 powerhead, but it is a Rio that sits behind the rocks and pushes water behind the rocks.