what is this? - brown stuff on sand

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stan450z

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Jan 19, 2009
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brown stuff growing on my sand. only in some spots. looks like the way the powerhead seems to move around some of my sand towards the middle, it only accumulates in two areas on the side.

Also got a chiller and with time looks like the coralline algae is growing nicely as well as some other stuff, want to check if the stuff on my rock is good or bad. thanks.

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crap. how do i get rid of them? can i just suck off that small layer off the sand maybe add more clean up crew? are they growing on my rock too? how would i have gotten them in the first palce?
 
No, they will burn out on there own. This is a natural process of a SW tank. It is irritating but natural.
 
Yep. Diatoms are part of your tanks maturing cycle. Diatoms tend to come in hoards but will burn themselves out eventually. Just let them do there thing and they will be gone.
 
Yeah, if you use an RO/DI unit or RO water from your LFS, then it will aid in keeping down the things that jessicasmarine said. As well as algae blooms etc..
 
thank you. i do remember when i first started my tank i got these annoying things and they went away as long as i cleaned them up more often. I sucked out some of the dirty sand and did a larger than normal water change and will keep an eye on it. Only makes sense that if I add this new live rock the same is to happen.

One problem I do have is HIGH NITRATES. in this 100-20 PPM range.
http://wiki.aquatribu.com/images/7/7b/NO3-Red_Sea.jpg
None to little Ammonia, and none to little nitrite. Whats the problem with this?

I did check the water I introduce and they are perfect, 0 - 0 - 0.

I want to add new fish soon. Should I wait for the Diatoms to go away, what about my Nitrate levels?
 
Nitrates that high will stress anything in the tank, you need to do PWC's on a frequent basis until they get down to a managable number. For a FOWLR tank I would say at most 20ppm preferably below 5
 
its not 5 to 25 its just 5. When you do the test initaially you go off the low range side, if its above 50ppm you add 1ml water and compare to the high range side
RedSeaFish
 
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