sand wont clear up

John will put together a custom cuc perfect for your tank.

www.reefcleaners.org

 

How old is your tank / sand? and what type of sand is it? some cheaper sand has silica in it which bacteria will use to create the brown spots you see. It will fade in time as they use the silica up. If it's aragonite sand then silica may not be the culprit and could very well be the water at your LFS. I would ask to see a TDS reading of their ro water the next time you are there.

 

Interesting side point of silica based sand is that some hobbyist confuse silica based sand as leaching silicates into the aquarium. This is a urban legend and is false. Silica based sand is composed of rocks that have been ground down into very small particles some the size of dust and some the size of a small pebble.

There is the chance that this form of sand could have hard metal deposits that could leach into the tank. While the sand of the oceans are derived from this exact process (the slow erosion of rocks from rain and weather). The majority of the sand that can be purchased is man made sand. Since this process occurs 1 million times faster than the natural erosion process the potential of hard metals or other sediments could still exist in this sand.

This man made process can leave us with a dirtier product and could be the reason for silicates in the sand. But it's not actually inherent due to using silicia sands... it's due to using low quality sand.

 

Purchasing additional cleaners is just masking the inherent problem. Then when there is no algae he can expect higher nitrates, phosphates, and silicates since there is no algae to process those nutrients. More cleaners is a poor recommendation.
First off, are you thoroughly testing this water before adding it to your system? Just because you are purchasing it doesn't mean its any good. Are you buying it mixed, as fresh water, both? What type of sand was it? What kind of salt mix? What is your flow situation?

 

The additional cleaners would eat the food prior to breakdown as well. Keeping the Nitrate and phosphate lower to start with. And if you are depending on diatoms to keep your water clean... OMG!


Water quality going in is a very important question. But there is no downside to adding more cleaners. Especially ceriths/nassarious that will help turn the bed.

 

I'm sorry, but about everything in this post is false. Silica does dissolve and leach into water. Here is an informative article about silicate dissoultion in the oceans if you care to read it:
Biogenic Sediments

Not only will silica based sand leach into the aquarium, there are many mechanics that actually speed up the process. Silica itself will disolve and leach much quicker than the other heavy metals you speak of. Higher temperatures, as in our nice tropical little reefs, speeds up the dissolution. Water lower in H4SiO4, like our synthetic salt mixes, speed up dissolution. Silicoflagellates, most commonly in our tank as diatoms, really mix up the science of it.They can not only pull the silica out of the water column, but can "feed" off the silica source directly. Their cycles of life and death then release more silica into the column.
Where the sands of our oceans is derived from, depends on the type and location. Most of the ocean does not have any sand at all. While subtropical, inland, and other cooler areas get sand from the process you speak of, reefs do not. Most reef (the environment we are trying to mimic) is made up of various calcium carbonates, like corals, shells, and naturally occurring limestones. The process of breaking them down does involve weather, waves, erosion, etc, but the vast majority of it is caused by various species of parrot fish. The sands of the reefs around the world contain very little silica.

 

i have always had some type of algae in my tank, i think you have sugar sized sand in your tank and i believe you will have better luck with 2mm plus size sand, water flow is important going through the sand, buy youself a ro di water filter and don't trust anyones water, lfs have been known not change there filters as offten as they should, from what i see you don't have a very bad problem.

 

Silicia based sands are almost always quartz based from what I understand... I keep to my original statements. The link you provided also has absolutely nothing to do with what is called Silicia sand... But rather silicates in a natural environment. That thread has very little information that would carry into this discussion. As that is a completely different chemical make up than the sand we use.

"Quartz (SiO2) is considered "totally insoluble" in water according to the US MSDS, and is also nontoxic (although inhalation of silica has many well-documented health risks for humans -- I'll explain at the bottom if anyone cares). Yes, water is a "universal solvent" and yes, everything (including the silicone) dissolves slightly into the water over time, but the amount of dissolution is so low that it is impossible for it to make a difference to your aquarium. There certainly are highly soluble forms of silica that will increase the level of dissolved silicates in the water (such as aluminosilicate) and are likely to cause problems, but quartz sand (SiO2) is not one of them.

Source: http://www.reefs.org/library/article/r_toone9.html"


The silicia based sands in the hobby are all Quartz based that I'm aware of.



The most common constituent of sand, in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal settings, is silica (silicon dioxide, or SiO2), usually in the form of quartz, which, because of its chemical inertness and considerable hardness, is the most common mineral resistant to weathering.

From wikipedia..

I can do this all day!! I know my sand!


Ok, one last one and i'm done.. Just don't like when someone trys to call me out as completely false.

"One of the issues that has been floating around the reef keeping hobby for a long time is the issue of whether “silica” sand actually releases soluble silica or not. It is remarkable that so many people have strong opinions on this issue, and yet so few people have ever bothered to do the easy experiment of measuring it. Many even fall for the trap of concluding that since their glass aquarium is not dissolving, then silica sand must not be either. All of the arguments against soluble silica being released from “silica” sand can be easily refuted, and I have done so in the past, but that is not the point of this article. Still, some background is worthwhile before getting to experimental results."

Source: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/1/aafeature1


The sand isn't the issue. It's the form in which we manufacture it.

 

Did you even read the article? The entire silica section was about silica sediment and Si02 directly.
If you want to get your facts from places like MSDS and wiki about silica in your tank that's your choice and it's fine. I'll stick with simple, well-known chemistry and marine biology.

 

"If you start with true beach sand, and don’t fracture it much, then it is very likely that you will detect little dissolution of silica from it in a few days (although I’ve not tried it), because most of the readily dissolved minerals would have disappeared long ago (or are trapped inside). But commercial play sands are not typically from beaches, and are not collected with any kind of gentleness. They are often mined from sand pits, crushed, screened, and generally treated rather roughly. This serves to break many of the grains, exposing new mineral inclusions that are then primed to dissolve. This source is, in my opinion, where most of the soluble silica comes from in “silica” sand."

From Feature Article: Silica In Reef Aquariums — Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

I think we can all trust advanced aquarist right? Our manufacturing process is what causes the leaching. It's not inherent to the sand. Exactly as I have been stating.