good morning, i was just reading a thread on sand bed cleaning and it was mentioned that if you have enough flow across the sand that i should not have dirty sand, does this also include the brown diatom lightly laying in some areas of my tank. would you use a powerhead with a spraybar at each end. ( i am sorry my tank is a 150 gallon, 60 inch in length and is 24 in tall) if this is correct how low into the tank should the spraybar be . right now i have a mag 24 returning from my sump and 2 rio 2100 powerheads inside the main tank. however when i direct them where i think i get good flow across the sand bottom, the sand is moved and makes new hills that also hinders other sand areas. then i redirect them more across the middle of the tank, i get less sand disturbed hills but now i get some bottom diatom. i am using the coralife 24 ro unit for water changes and currently have new vho flourescents. any help or thoughts will be appreciated. thanks
water flow across lsb
- Thread starter 12learn
- Start date
hi there 12learn.....
All i did in my old tank, before going to a new one wiht a closed loop is have a low powered powerhead at one end of the tank. Start off with it a few inches high and just keep edging it upwards untill it stops disrupting the sand bed....have a wide nosle on the out put of the powerhead to distribute water over a wider area...worked a treat for me...
Brown diatom algae on the sand bed is a usual pointer of a dead spot as the detrius is settling there, rather than being held in the water column and removed by skimming and filtration...
Hope that helps a little...
Niko
All i did in my old tank, before going to a new one wiht a closed loop is have a low powered powerhead at one end of the tank. Start off with it a few inches high and just keep edging it upwards untill it stops disrupting the sand bed....have a wide nosle on the out put of the powerhead to distribute water over a wider area...worked a treat for me...
Brown diatom algae on the sand bed is a usual pointer of a dead spot as the detrius is settling there, rather than being held in the water column and removed by skimming and filtration...
Hope that helps a little...
Niko
in addition to what niko said....if u have a dirty sand best u can also always just siphon it like u would a freshwater gravel bed...just make sure u dont suck the sand out.
You can also rely on livestocks like cleanup crews, blenny, and goby to stir up your sand a little bit. Another natural way to do it.
