Brown substance covering my sand

[mattleycrue76]

so i came home from work today to find to surface of my sand covered in some kind of brown substance. the tank has been running for 5 days now and has no livestock. i have been keeping the t5s on for about 12h a day to see if the water would heat up too much (it doesn't). also since i do not have a ro/di unit yet i used treated tap water. is this normal in the cycling of a tank or do i need to be worried?

 

[Krish]

Sounds like diatoms...No worries. All a part of cycling and should go away as the tank cycles and matures

 

[speedymichael]

out of curiosity, is it best to just let this go? Or should you stir it up and try to suck it out? I was told it is just best to let it go on the sand and rocks (alright to clean the glass). Thought I should get a second opinion

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Just let it go, but add some snails if your ammonia/nitrites are at zero. Trochus snails will make quick work of diatoms. In addition, the diatoms will just burn themselves out over 2-3 weeks and be gone. They're ugly, but won't be around forever!

 

[NC2WA]

Nassarius snails are a good choice as they stir up the sand pretty good.