White sand no more

[BigFishy]

The sand I have at the bottom of my tank isn’t “WHITE” anymore but more of a [FONT=&quot]slightly [/FONT] dirty white. I have four nassarius snails, four turbos and couple hermits and a sea urchin that move the sand around a lot. So, I’m just curious if this is normal.
I don’t think it’s diatom since I’ve had diatom in the past and fixed that issue. I use RO/DI water and Silicate/Phosphate remover. Water parameters are good, except calcium is a little high (500-510).

I think I’m safe in the assumption that your sand doesn’t stay white forever.

 

[Smitty]

I think it's just one of those things that just happen over time...I used to say the same thing about my sand.

 

[14 gallon nanocube]

Hello you could grab a bunch more nassarius snails i got 20 in a 40 gallon breeder.
If you really want it clean i would say cucumber if you have the right substrate do some research they are great gravel cleaners gravel goes in one end off white comes out other end white

 

[daugherty]

but no matter what you do the sand will turn kinda a off white

 

[wontonflip]

I have a diamond watchman goby that keeps my sand nice and clean....he did wreak havoc his first week in the tank, where he clouded up my tank, and made my skimmer work overtime. But now, it's nice and clean and my water no longer gets cloudy.

If you have corals, though, he may spit sand at it, causing them to close from irritation.

 

[AmberSunrise]

I also have a diamond watchman and my sand stays very white and clean I never worry about gunk building up and he is so fun to watch.

 

[sen5241b]

There has never been any perfect way to keep your sand clean of accumulated detritus. Strong flow will help keep stuff from settling in the sand to begin with. Nassarius snails and hermits will turn the first inch of sand and bristle worms will go deeper but not enough sand will get turned. I turn my sand by hand in small sections every few months releasing only a small amount of detritus at a time. Recently I moved rocks that had not been moved in over a year to turn some sand.

If too much detritus gets in the sand over time (like a year or more and sometimes years) deadly hydrogen sulfide bubbles will form in the sand and if released could kill everything. I like the hand turning method.
Have you been over feeding?

 

[dcantucson]

I recently completely restarted my 12 gallon Nano. I completely removed everything and put in new sand and new live rock and let it be for 8 weeks. On Monday I decided to clean the glass and while doing so I stirred up the substrate some. To my surprise there was tons of dust/dirt or whatever in there. No fish or corals or any livestock had been in there. What gives? It seems to just settle and build up all by itself.

 

[fastrd400]

This is the reason I went with a black sand. That, and I really never let anything build up in my sand bed, when I vacuum, I stick the thing in the sand and pull out the crap!

 

[dcantucson]

Do you use a battery powered vacuum cleaner in your tank? If so what brand and does it do a good job?

 

[fastrd400]

no, just a straight up syphon vac. works great, pulls the sand up to the top of the tube, but very very little makes it out of the system.

 

[Cathic]

I think he was being facetious. If not I think Dcan needs to do some research on the relationships between water and electricity.