Brown algae or diatoms ?

[mike406]

Just cycled my 55 gallon saltwater tank. My levels are perfect but I have a lot of brown growing on my lr and glass. My lfs told me its normal. Please advise as to wether or not I should be worried and doing some maintenance.

Thanks so much

 

[Pizza101]

Just cycled my 55 gallon saltwater tank. My levels are perfect but I have a lot of brown growing on my lr and glass. My lfs told me its normal. Please advise as to wether or not I should be worried and doing some maintenance.

Thanks so much

It's normal for sure. I would add some red and blue leg hermits in there to hep cleanup. I saw your snails already so those two will be hard at it for sure

 

[mike406]

Ok. I will do that tomorrow. Should I cut down on lighting. I run my 2 12,000 k whites about 8 hours a day and 2 actinics about 9 hours a day. ???

 

[obscurereef]

Don't stress about it. It won't harm your fish, it's just a natural occurrence that happens in newly cycled tanks or aquariums with poor water quality. Diatoms feed off of silicates (could come from source water or certain sand), nitrate, and phosphate. It will starve itself out after a while..maybe a few weeks. You won't get rid of it by cutting down on light, it's the excess nutrients in the water that are making it grow. CUC love to munch away on diatoms. Can't even see any diatoms in your tank, but if it looks like they are getting out of control, don't freak out, let it just take it's course and go away by itself. However, I do suggest keeping up on frequent water changes. This will help reduce the nutrients.

 

[mike406]

Ok. Thanks for your advice. When u say poor water quality I wonder because my ammonia is 0 my nitrates are 5.0 and nitrites r 0.25. My ph is 8.2. Are those levels ok being my cycle is basically finished. I'm not sure. It's been cycling for 5 weeks or so. Please advise. Thanks I am a newbie looking for advice so I can learn. I did research on diatoms and most websites said it was a sign of good quality water. I'm confused.

 

[obscurereef]

It happens with newly cycled tanks which have a high amount of nutrients because they are new...I meant poor water quality in an established system. In a year, for example, you see diatoms again, it might be because you're not doing water changes, or your RO/DI or RO filters (whatever you use) haven't been changed out in a while. Hmm...good quality water? I've read about them too, and it's usually a sign that your cycle is finished. If it was good water quality, then there would be very few nitrates, phosphates, and silicates, and usually the diatoms wouldn't grow. What was the source of info? If your ammonia is 0 and your nitrites are .25 and nitrates are 5, your cycle isn't finished. It will be finished when there is 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite. I would recommend getting fish when you have 30 ppm nitrate, but it already looks like you got a fish :/. Did your nitrates get really high yet? pH looks good, and looks like things are doing fine as in your cycle is going smoothly

 

[mike406]

My nitrates were 30 ppm on sep 28 and started to come down after that. On october 2 the nitrates were 10. Should I do a 10 percent water change later or should I just leave it for now? I actually have 3 fish. A fox face, cardinal, and box fish which is going back to the lfs because I read that it can be toxic. My wife loved it when she saw it at the lfs so I got it for her. The employees did not tell me it was a very difficult fish to keep. Maybe I jumped the gun with stocking it so quickly. I have to stay patient. Very hard to do when I get do involved with a project. Anyway thank you for all of your help and advice. I truly appreciate your time.

Michael B

 

[AquaRick]

The diatoms feed on silicates. They really have nothing to do with the water quality of your tank. All new tanks get them. They'll go away as they die off once they consume the silicates in the sand & surface rock. Just wait it out. No need to change your light schedule or feeding habits (unless your other parameters are off)

 

[mike406]

Thanks aqua Rick. I need all the help I can get

 

[AquaRick]

yup feel free to ask any questions. Folks here are awfully nice