Brown color on sand

[Dreamsound1]

How do I get rid of all the ugly brown stuff all over my live sand and how to prevent it from happening again?

[Beengirl]

Is it diatoms? How old is tank? If fairly new, might be diatoms. Could also be cyano. Pics would help to decide.

[obscurereef]

It sounds like diatoms. They feed off of silicates (can come from source water or sand). Are you using RO/DI water? Is your tank fairly new? It usually starves itself out if it's just the sand w/ silicates causing the problems. Otherwise, check your water and make sure you're not introducing unneeded nutrients to feed the diatoms.

[Mrc8858]

Is it a new tank? Diatoms are almost guaranteed to wreak havoc on a new tank while it stabalizes.. just don't overfeed and keep up with water changes and it should disappear

[Dreamsound1]

I've had my tank going for 4 months now and yes I've used RO water and I have checked my water levels and everything is right where they should be

[Mrc8858]

Umm... Are you hiding all the live rock in the sump? To keep a healthy tank your should try and get atleast .75-2 lbs per gallon and those are definetly diatoms.. just keep up with the water changes and maybe think about running a type phophate/silcate sponge to prevent it from happening again

[Beengirl]

Live rock isn't an a absolute necessity as long as you have good filtration. Some people like the more sparse look of a fish-only tank, and while I do understand that, I would add something (anything) for the fish to hide behind when they're scared.

[Dreamsound1]

I don't have any live rock just a sponge with bacteria on it in my sump

[AbsoluteFaye]

Get some live rock! It looks awesome and give your tang someplace to hide. My tang hid a lot at first but he/she comes out all the time now that there's lots of rock. I have a tomini tang.

[Dreamsound1]

Yeah I will but I'm only keeping him in this tank for a little bit longer until I get my 110 gallon fish tank

[Dreamsound1]

Do you think a sleeper gold head goby would help with this problem?

[Nu-Nu the eel]

Dont get a fish to fix a problem. Its natural, i dont really see the problem with it. The ocean floor isnt perfectly white and clean so im not sure how your tank could be unless you overturned the sand every day and siphoned crud out all the time.

[Dreamsound1]

Well I won't get one for the problem but I really want to get one so it can just eat the food that stays on the bottom

[obscurereef]

More hiding places=less they hide. They'll get more stressed and feel vulnerable when there's very few hiding spots. Pretty much what other people have been saying.

[Dreamsound1]

Ok I'll get something's for them to hide in