Sand Turning Brown

hi all. i have had my set up for sevral years now, but a few months ago (6) i changed from gravel to sand and added plants a co2 system and also a new fluval 305.(not all at once i might add) all this was done over a 6 week period, now the plants aren't growing all that well and like the title says my sand is also turning brown (brown agle-diatoms) i have been doing 1/4 water changes weekly syphoning the sand whilest doing so, but it keeps coming back .. i have 11 tetras 10 other small fish, sry i cant remember there name 2 catfish and a plec in my 200 litre tank.. any and all advice will be much appreciated (i'll take a picture to add later(battery is dead in the camera) many thanks

how many hours a day are the lights on for? Do you dose a liquid plant fertliser?

max1e said:

hi all. i have had my set up for sevral years now, but a few months ago (6) i changed from gravel to sand and added plants a co2 system and also a new fluval 305.(not all at once i might add) all this was done over a 6 week period, now the plants aren't growing all that well and like the title says my sand is also turning brown (brown agle-diatoms) i have been doing 1/4 water changes weekly syphoning the sand whilest doing so, but it keeps coming back .. i have 11 tetras 10 other small fish, sry i cant remember there name 2 catfish and a plec in my 200 litre tank.. any and all advice will be much appreciated (i'll take a picture to add later(battery is dead in the camera) many thanks

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Pritty much the same setup as me. My sand was turning green, with in a week of being cleaned.
Simply turned my light off for longer. Its only on 9.5 hours a day now, seems to of sorted the problem.

Steve

hi guys, thanks for the replies

i have the lights on from 12-9pm so just the nine hours (on a timer so same day in day out)

as for fertizer. im using jbl ferpol 24- 3 drops per day, and i have also been using flore plus tablets as the dosage states in the hanbook.

would it be advisable to take my carbon media out of my filter?

why doesn't my tank look like yours not jealous honest hehe

i have ordered a powerhead today to see if more water circulation will help, i'm at my whits end here, even thinking of starting from scratch

I have had planted tanks with sand and not had to many problems. Don't think you have a circulation issue, most plants prefer a pretty slow to moderate turnover such as yours. Algae will only take hold if there is too much spare "energy" in the water, be it from excessive light or an abundance of avaliable nutrients such as over dosing plant additives or high nitrate. What is your nitrate reading? As for carbon, it is not selective in what it absorbs, so will be taking away some of the benefit of the plant food. I only use carbon for a short period after completing any treatments to cleanse the tank. I would say drop back a little on the lighting and plant additves a little and see if the algae dies back, which hopefully it will.

Hi
welcome to the forum
do you know what lights (bulb wattage) & what 'CO2 system' you're using ?
to me, it sounds like you're giving the plants plenty of light & CO2 but not enough nutrients (all 3 are linked).The plants aren't getting what they need, so aren't doing too well.
Dying plants =small ammonia spikes (not enough to damage fish)=algae
get the plants to grow well, and the algae should clear up.That's what has worked for me.

stu

I find having the lights off for 2 - 3 hours in the middle of the day (and therefore on for 4-5 hours, off for 2-3, then back on again for 4-5 hours) stops algae from growing. I heard its because it needs the constant light source and breaking it up interferes with that.

hi all thx for the advice thus far.

i've taken my carbon out turned my co2 up a little (my co2 system is a pressurized jbl), lights down to 8.5 hours a day....
my lights are 30" 25w t8 1 glo aqua glow and 1 glo life glo. and my tank is 36"w24h"18"d ( 22" water depth to sand), the lights are lying on 8mm glass as the tank is sealed.


NITRATE is around 10-20ppm

any advice on fluid fertilizer to use to please
many thanks

I had a similar problem. It could be many problems including algae, hence the lighting and fertilizer questions I guess. I cured it but increasing flow after stirring my sand up and doing an 80% water change. I moved the fish out whilst I did this and the filter off just to make sure nothing is harmed. You don't look particularly heavily planted, if you're careful of the roots, you could try and stir up the top few layers of sand. Personally, I'd use this as an excuse to do a deep clean and rescape

Not sure what causes it, but this seemed to fix my problem. When it happened to me, it didn't look like algae or anything but who knows. Hope you find a way to fix it

For the record, I dose Seachem Flourish (comprehensive mix) 3 times a week in a low tech tank and I keep the carbon in my filter. It's the trace elements plants need most of all as I understand it and the carbon doesn't seem to interfere with that. Correct me if I'm wrong. I'm incredibly tired today and may or may not have made some mistakes in my post

well i have ordered more plants, hopefully they'll starve the alge unfortunately i lost my pleco yesterday (i think the short move stressed him to much)(had new flooring put down) so i need a good tank cleaner, thinking of getting a sail fin plec. and some khuli loaches to disturb the sand too. but if this doesn't get rid of the alge i might start again with new base, tank etc. so im now think of buying this as my base (made from solid oak)


and getting a 60x18x18or20 inch tank. do you think this will support the weight? i'd also like to use sand again with live plants but i'm not sure as i might end up with the same problem.(as the mrs wants an elephant nose)
ANY AND ALL ADVICE (NEEDED) AND APRECIATED THANKS

steps il take to change tank---

start emptying old tank into a 24x12x12 tank then transplant fish plus plants into this, then get new tank put into position fill with substrate plants, then refill with dechlorinated water after 12 hours restart old 305 filter(i think this will be good enough to run this tank)? leave to run for a couple of days test water if alls ok introduce fish to new home (i must admit that i'm leaning towards the new tank route, and what do you guys think of led lighting?) anyone know wheres the best place to get a tank from?

You might want to fit a third, centered table leg just to support the middle. If my cheap IKEA drawers can keep up my 26 gallon tank, I'm sure this'll do the job if you support the center of the cabinet. It looks better made than my chest of drawers.

that was my thought too, thx.. any idea where i can get a decent tank and lid from ?