Hair Algae on sand

[likwid]

Hey guys,

I've been getting a bunch of green hair algae on my live sand lately. I stir up the top layer of the sand every couple days, but it always comes back the next day. I am using phosphate remover, and only feed every second day. It is a 10g tank with 72w lighting and a HOB skimmer. Currently there is only 2 hermits, 3 turbos, 3 astrea snails, various corals, and 1 clownfish.

[Moogled]

Pull the hair algae out by hand. I find that if you keep that up, it won't grow back as much.

[likwid]

Its not long enough to pull by hand, they are just little strands a couple cm high.. they turn my sand from a white to a greenish color... Any other ideas

[likwid]

anyone?

[Reefer Rob]

If it's only on the sand it sounds like you have nutrients leaching out of your sand bed. How old is the sand bed? Is it shallow enough to syphon it? Sand beds hold a lot of crud that builds up over time, slowly decomposing and polluting your tank, at least that's what I found. IMO, JMO etc.

[likwid]

The sand bed has been live for about 5 months now. Its about an inch or so deep. I got it from an old established tank that was sitting dried up in a bucket for a long time, so no idea how long it was used for.

[Reefer Rob]

1" is OK to syphon. I syphon my sand bed into though filter sock one a month or so. I don't have to rush the job because all the water is going back into my sump, filtered of most of the crud. If you've never syphoned your sand bed before you might want to do it when you do a water change, there's likely to be some nasty stuff in there.

The best thing I did to clean up my sand bed was to establish an algae refugium. It out-competes the algae and diatoms that grow in your tank.

[likwid]

Could I just use a gravel vaccuum and clean the sand that way? If so, should I go all the way to the bottom or just the top half inch or so

[Reefer Rob]

Sorry, that's what I meant, use a gravel vacuum. I would go all the way to the bottom

[likwid]

BUMP... Still getting green algae on my sand surface. All I want is a nice white sand bed, how can I solve this? Phosphates are 0 and all other levels are fine.

[Geofrog]

The algae is consuming the Phosphates as fast as it builds up so you will get a zero reading on the phosphates. Have you considered getting a sand sifting goby to clean the sand. They do an amazing job of turning over the sand and keeping it clean, but I'm not sure if your system is big eneough for one.

[likwid]

Hmm, any other ways around this?

[Der_Iron_Chef]

I'm curious, I don't think anyone has asked about your source water. Do you have an RO/DI unit, or do you buy filtered water, or use tap water, or what? If your phosphate levels read 0 and you're feeding sparingly, there's got to be something feeding the algae.

[likwid]

I am using RO water, and dont have any fish in the tank, so I feed a tiny bit once a week or so. I am very confused.

[geobee]

how often do you do water changes? personally i would remove the sandbed completely, i find its much easier to clean!