Cyano?

[danh]

This is my 5g tank at work. I do 2-3g of total water change a week. Normally in two changes. Two clown fish, one snail, two hermits and the corals you see. As good of growth as I'd expect from the stock light. I can't seem to get rid of this stuff on the sand. The tank is a little over a year old. I've always topped off with water filtered with a carbon filter and Prime. I feel like that's likely the problem. Any other ideas? I rarely test this water because it's at work but I can't imagine that nitrate or phosphate could be high given the water change schedule.

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[jennm]

Yep, cyano.

Do you vacuum the sand during water changes?

If not - you need to.

Jenn

 

[danh]

Not really. I had a diamond goby in it for a short period of time. He made a beautiful mess of things. I haven't found a sand vac that does any good in a 5g tank. I do try to stir up the sand a little bit when I refill though.

 

[jennm]

Moving the poop around doesn't get rid of it. Either by goby or by stirring.

Python makes a small vacuum. I've used them on 5g nanos for years.

http://www.pythonproducts.com/products.html">http://www.pythonproducts.com/products.html</a> Pro Clean Mini is what you want.

I'm sure every LFS in the region has them.

Jenn

 

[danh]

Got it. I'll try to find one.

 

[jennm]

Spend the extra dollar or two to get the one with the longer vacuum. It's the same diameter as the one with the shorter vacuum but you will have less sand loss.

Pro tip: Crimp the tubing with your other hand to control the flow. If the sand starts to go up the vacuum and out the tube, crimp down to slow the flow and the sand will fall back down.

With a bit of practice you'll be able to dislodge the lighter detritus and let it go out into the dirty water, but keep most of the sand in the tank.

You can also remove the vacuum and use the tubing alone as a siphon to vacuum detritus off rocks and out of cracks and crevices.

Jenn