Brown Stuff On Top Of sand in planted tank

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

This is my first time keeping live plants in an aquarium. I just got some dwarf hairgrass. But anyways. There is this brown stuff on top of my sand in the aquarium. Is it just a type of algae? My D. Harigrass doesn't have any algae on it but all the brown stuff on the sand is making the aquarium look kinda bad.


Any tips for me?

 

[rich311k]

Does it come off like dust? Sounds like diatoms.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Yeah it does. If I move the sand a little bit it goes away. But then it just comes back. What can I do to get rid of it?

 

[rich311k]

I assume this is a new setup. It will go away on its own. Diatoms are microscopic dudes that feed on silicates. They will die off once the supply of food is gone. They are quite common and appear in most new tanks.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Thanks

Yeah it is farely new. Well thanks for the help. The plant has own been in here for about 2 weeks. It contains 5 ghost shrimp, 4 tetras, 1 killi fish, and 1 bushy nose pleco. But yeah thanks for tellin me this.