cleaning substrate

[macman29]

HI ... i want to know how to keep my substrate clean .

a lot of dirt on the floor of my tank . i have 1 black cucumber , shirmp and 2 hermits .

and the sand is still dirty .. and how come it's a bit on the brown side .. read somewhere in

the forum it's not a good sign .

so how do i cure this prob ?

Do i use one of thoses sand cleaners they sell at LFS ???

hope u all can give some pointers very xian ah see the sand so dirty ..

[lightningstrike]

intermediate solution will be to siphon it. but this is not a long term solution.

[macman29]

yeah ... i know ... i use the siphon thing already ..

is there any other way to keep clean ???

[lightningstrike]

hmmmmm...... can try reduce feeding and increase current.

[Eric]

yeah ... i know ... i use the siphon thing already .. 

is there any other way to keep clean ???

Siphoning,Reduce feeding,increase current,reduce photoperiod,use phosphate remover.

Eric

[FuEl]

Diatoms don't cause much harm but they do look unsightly. You might want to top up your water using reverse osmosis or distilled water as these will be void of silicates that are present in tapwater which will fuel the growth of diatoms. If you are dosing iodide you might want to cut down as excessive dosage will lead to diatom bloom.

[Marineman]

This is a very common problem in a captive system, you can see this in a lot of display tanks in the LFS which started well but end up cyno, diatoms and some even have hair algae.

I suppose the only way is to reduce feeding, use less addictives and daily maintenance, siphoning, good water flow etc. I am now considering a bare bottom glass tank for easy maintenance where you can see where the detritus are.

[macman29]

ok .... will give this a try .... thanks bors .

[giantbicycle]

a hardworking sea cuke will help greatly too