Bit of a Problem....

[Haggisman14]

about 3 days ago, I started getting a big outbreak of brownish tan algae on my sandbed. Now it's a 6 month old tank, 20H, and haven't had any outbreaks recently. Now the other thing is that around the same time the algae appeared, both my GSP variants started sucking in their polyps, as well as my finger leather.

Do sandbeds in smaller tanks tend to do a crappy job, b/c if that's the case i might be tempted to siphon out some of my sand bed...i've got about 1.5 inches on the bottom right now. I really like the look of the sand, but if it's going to give me a problem, then i don't want it.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Marc

[SeaStar]

Haggs, more than likely your experiancing dinoflagelattes and more than likely it's just another phase in the life of young tank.
Dino does feed on silicates in the water I believe so check your top off and change water for silicates. Also some sands do contain silica which is why many hobbyist stay clear of silica based sands (what kind do you have). The GSP and leather are probably being irritated by the dino growth.

[Haggisman14]

I'm using the South Down sand, which is what everyone swears by. For water I'm using RO top off. How long do you thing this might stick around for?

[SeaStar]

Haggs, My bad. I meant to say Diatoms not Dinoflagellates. I guess I wasn't as wide awake as i thought at 6:00am. Diatoms are controlled by limiting silicates (check your RO) also herbivorous snails will feed on them.
Dino forms more of a mat and usually traps air bubbles under it. Dino(in case that is what you have) can be controlled by raising your Ph to 8.4 through kalk drip or other methods

[Haggisman14]

what other methods of raising the ph is there....I haven't been doign anything differently for the past 3 months, and very curious y it happened out of nowhere.

Also would it help out if i got rid of some of the sand in my not so deep sandbed?

[SeaStar]

Haggs, for a better understanding about what is going on in your tank read the thread in "The Coral forum" titled Maturity Issues. Eric Borneman supplies a great answer to the same type of question I asked of him many months ago. I think after reading it you will have a better understanding of why things just happen out of nowhere in a tank. Especially a young tank. The thread has been made a sticky and is a little long by now, but his reply is on one of the first few pages and no need to go further unless you desire.

[SeaStar]

As far as raising PH the only two ways that immediatly come to mind are dripping kalk and getting more oxygen to the tank. Being many homes keep windows closed in summer and winter or the case of a household that contains smokers for instance. Carbon dioxide levels can be elevated in a home and this drives down PH.
Sometimes just opening windows can help but not always practical or should I say comfortable. One way to get more O2 into a tank is to extend the air inlet of a skimmer to the outdoors.
Also do a search on Ph. I'm sure you will find some more answers.

[Haggisman14]

Thanx Carmine, I really appreciate all ur help with this!

Marc

[grasshopper]

Another way to raise pH and ALK at the same time are to dose with washing soda. Unlike baking soda (which raises Alk but lowers pH) washing soda raises both. This is a useful method if your Alk is also low. Check the reef chem. forum, there's a link to the 4 areas a tanks chmistry can be in and how to correct those 4 problems.