Algae? On sand bed

[Brownsound]

Hey, fairly new to the hobby, the tank's (40 long) been up for almost 7 weeks now. I have an inch deep fluorite bed with about 3/4 inches of sand on top of it, however the sand has recently become discoloured and somewhat greenish brown. It's ordinary play sand (Washed and washed and......washed) with only a couple of plant types in there, a pretty decent bio-load, no deaths or anything. Filtration is via a whisper 30-40; lighting is a coralife plant light, there's a daylight bulb and a plant bulb. Lights on for about 15 hours a day. Already had the diatom bloom, however I felt like it ended prematurely, my cleanup crew consists of an apple snail, a clam, 16 shrimp, 2 plecos, a flying fox, and two cory cats; not sure if they had anything to do with the diatoms disappearing. The algae seems like it's pretty deep into the sand, I've swirled it and it still doesn't look too hot. Any way to vacuum up the sand and replace it without disturbing the fluorite and root structure?

Sorry this is so long.

 

[Riiz]

I think for starters, your photoperiod is too long, I suggest shortening it down to 10hrs. This should help with the algae, and maybe stirring the sand and burying the algae covered grains will help too.

 

[fishorama]

I had that for a while until there was enough plant mass to outcompete the algae. I did remove a little sand from the most algaed areas.

And like Riiz said shorten the time the lights are on. Some people split the time so they're on a few hours in am, then off until after work, then on again. 8-10 hours is enough.

 

[Brownsound]

How much time do you think I should leave between photoperiods? The thing is the tank's in the basement, so unless the lights are on I can't really enjoy watching the fish or anything. Would moonlights interfere between photoperiods?

 

[fishorama]

When are you down there to watch them? Are there windows nearby? Timers work well. Just start with a straight 10 hours & see how that works for a while.

 

[Brownsound]

Yeah I'll think I'll just give it a shot and try it out, there're absolutely no windows down here, it's a finished basement. Thanks for all your help.

 

[Riiz]

How much time do you think I should leave between photoperiods? The thing is the tank's in the basement, so unless the lights are on I can't really enjoy watching the fish or anything. Would moonlights interfere between photoperiods?

Yeah moonlights would allow you to observe the fish in a night setting and wouldnt contribute to algae.