Reddish orange algae

[AlexRoerden]

There is this reddish orange substance on my rock and sand and idk what it is. My tank is about 2 weeks old and didn’t know if it was part of the cycling process? Anyone know what it is?

 

[Sniperhank]

Turn your lights off. It's just cyanobacteria growth feeding off the excess nutrients in the water column. No reason to make more work for yourself when the cycle is done. Just make sure you have at least one powerhead in your system for CO removal. It will also make sure that there are no low flow zones for cyanobacteria to grow.

 

[bribo12]

Looks like diatoms to me. Is this a new tank? Use rodi water and it will eventually go away as the available silicates in the system are used

 

[Sniperhank]

Looks like diatoms to me. Is this a new tank? Use rodi water and it will eventually go away as the available silicates in the system are used

If the rocks are more of a brown tint and it is just a dusting in the sand, then I can easily agree on diatoms over cyano.