Yep I got diatoms big time to Sas. Normal shallow SB, all dead rock and did a easy cycle with bacteria in a bottle. I have two out of the ordinary situation though, I have only one MH over a 8 foot tank and its a good 3 feet above (still waiting on my lights) and I had nothin in the tank to eat the brown crud. I put a couple of tangs in and they have eaten all the long stuff and have a heard of snails on their way.
Look at it like this Sas, if you did a new reef with LR you would be going through the Greens (hair algae, bryopsis and so on) with the dead rock your not going to get any of the normal pesty algaes so that kind of leaves the door open for diatoms. Keep the maintenance going and get some snails and such to pound it down.
Mike
