My liverock turning brown? help........

[tungnguyen78]

Hi every one.

I'm kind new in saltwater keeping, have some problem here..
I have 56g tank ( 1 month old )
50lbs of live rock
50lbs of crush coral and live sand

magnum 350 cans filter
1 power sweep
1 flower
1 coralline lights (2x65w 1blue and 1 acr , 2 luna lights )

live stocks
1 yellow tang
1 blue tang
1 clownfish
1 coral(don't know the name :p)
1 fire shrimp
1 cleaner shrimp
2 helmet crap

My problem is why my live rock start turning brown, water stating little cloudy is this normal? what should i do? my live stock will be OK? and my tank going to be OK? any equipment do i need to keep up what i'm doing?
here my video...
YouTube - SNC00041

Any ideal to keep my tank more success
Thank You to all reply, hope to see it A.S.A.P

[thatmagicguy]

Your tank is one month old. And in my opinion it is over stocked for being just four weeks old, but I admit, live rock and sand can speed things up a bit. What you are more than likely dealing with is diatoms on your rock. I would be more concerned about monitoring the water for ammonia/nitrites.

Diatoms are normal for new tanks. In a well balanced system they exist in low manageable numbers because there is enough micro-fauna to compete with them for nutrients and they fall prey to micro-fauna as well. Diatoms are very successful at reproducing and with the right amount of nutrients in the tank they will proliferate. As the tank matures they will go away on their own. They do this because once they proliferate to a certain point the population crashes due to a lack of nutrients. Also, other micro fauna develop and compete with them and also prey on them.

If you are over feeding the fish, if you are not skimming properly, if there are excessive phosphates and other nutrients in your tank they can be a nuisance.

I always convinced my customers to wait them out, and let nature take it's course which it will if left uninterrupted. In every single case they went away.

Adding chemicals to eradicate them will be an instant fix, it will delay the normal maturation process and they will return.

It is better to allow your tank to mature uninterrupted and let them go away on their own.

You do need to learn about the nitrogen cycle and how it applies to your new tank. You need to learn how to monitor your water with a test kit as well.

Bill

[roka64]

I agree with the above. The CC will need to be cleaned and will limit an effective clean up crew.
I'll let the tang folks chime in, but I doubt they will both be happy in that tank once they get bigger.
Welcome to the site.
Remember, we are here to share free advice and personal experience, your LFS is in it to make money....

[thincat]

I agree with the above. You need to get a test kit to monitor Ammonia, nitrite,SG and nitrate to start with. Did you cycle the tank or are you using the poor tangs to kick start the nitrogen cycle??????????

[CaptainAhab]

That tank is way to small for those Tangs right now. The yellow continues to try and stretch his fins but doesn't have enough room.. The blue (hippo) ,which you can barely get a glimpse of thru the live rock shot, appears to be about the same size and does not even seem to leave the same spot.

They appear to be medium - medium large already.

It's a nice looking setup just some poor decisions on livestock.

You should really consider taking them back and getting what you can for them. IMO

[roka64]

Captain, nice catch! I didn't watch it until now.
Tung, you may want to see if you can take them back and get other fish that would appreciate your tank and be out and about a lot more (for your enjoyment).

[tungnguyen78]

Thank you to all your advice, I'll love to follow all of your advice, but will all my live stock be ok ? And how long is take to the live rock back to normal? and how long for water clear again? do i need to change that cans filter to overflow filter? and do i need a proten skimmer verry soon.? do i need more live rock? or what else do i need?

Thank you.

[mtlion]

I too have a newly established tank (6 months) with an in sump skimmer and had an explosion of brown diatoms on my LR and substrate. It went away after a while and had recently come back again. I am going to stay true to what I did last time and let nature take it's course. I just keep monitoring the water and doing my PWC's. Seemed to take care of it before, just be patient.

[mtlion]

I also agree way too many fish to soon, and the tangs are too big for that size tank IMO.

[Harry Gross]

Personally "I" don't feel qualified to respond about your "fish"-stock...but I will suggest hermitt crabbs.
My tank...(which is 100gal.)...acquired the same problems w/diatoms.The placement of 5 hermitts(and 5 Naus,-snails) has kept "ALL" such things in check.( I would research any post about "cleanup-crews")...as well as the captains above suggestions.

[goisles1]

Originally Posted by Harry Gross

Personally "I" don't feel qualified to respond about your "fish"-stock...but I will suggest hermitt crabbs.
My tank...(which is 100gal.)...acquired the same problems w/diatoms.The placement of 5 hermitts(and 5 Naus,-snails) has kept "ALL" such things in check.( I would research any post about "cleanup-crews")...as well as the captains above suggestions.

I'm not sure if Hermits atually eat diatoms, but I wouldn't be surprised.

However, Diatoms are just a normal part of getting a new tank going. All the Crushed Coral and substrate he added to the tank are full of silicates(sp) which need to be depleted before the diatoms will go away. Mine took 2-3 weeks to burn out when I started my tank. Then, When I setup my refugium, and had an outbreak there as well (new sand). All Normal and expected.

[fireman26m]

All the turbo snails I have had in the past loved diatoms. Might try a couple...they're great for other algae growth too. Be sure you have your rock stacked very stable. Mine have been known to shift the rocks in trying to get to a particularly tasty patch of algae. My diatom blooms have always gone away on its own but the snails help keep it at a lower level until then.

[tungnguyen78]

thank you guy for all helping me, my tank now water clear, i did start putting some "clean up crew" some crap, snails, they must work very hard hihhihihi, now i just seat back relax wait until all the brown thing gone, i will take some pic and post up, i'm working on the sum and gona but some more rock in there, with my new overflow system.

[mtlion]

If it happens to come back again (as in my case) don't get discouraged. I just got through another 2 week outbreak and it is going away again just like before.