sand turning orange

[Gti_Leo]

earier this week i've been having my sand turn orange towards the back of the tank near the glass where algae builds up between the sand and glass, only now its rising above the glass and the sand is turning orange. also gettign microbubbles coming out of the sand(which is good)

also notticed a little bit of red and green hair type algae. yet i haven't seen a trace of PO4 when i do tests and only get 5ppm nitrates

this just goes to show you even if your trates are low still do your normal biweekly waterchanges and don't skip a week when things seem good

 

[ricardo48]

orange tint is most likely diatoms which use silicates not phosphate or nitrate. Try running some GFO to clear the silicates and it should go.