Tank has been cycled since about December 1. I always had a little bit of a brown, algae like substance, but over the last several weeks it has exploded.
Diatoms are my guess. In particular, it uglies up the substrate, which is a sandlike substance I bought at PetSmart. It seems like if I gently stir the very surface of the substrate, it actually cleans it off and the diatoms turn into a "dust" in the water, which is then sucked out by the filtration system over the course of a few minutes. This is the only way I can get the substrate looking good again. Even vacuuming it doesn't really work, unless I suck it all up in there which I don't like to do.
Is this safe? Does it help or hurt overall? Any other ideas?
Diatoms are my guess. In particular, it uglies up the substrate, which is a sandlike substance I bought at PetSmart. It seems like if I gently stir the very surface of the substrate, it actually cleans it off and the diatoms turn into a "dust" in the water, which is then sucked out by the filtration system over the course of a few minutes. This is the only way I can get the substrate looking good again. Even vacuuming it doesn't really work, unless I suck it all up in there which I don't like to do.
Is this safe? Does it help or hurt overall? Any other ideas?