how do i keep my sand from getting brown??

[billaweed]

I'm just curious on what i need to do to keep my sand from getting brown. My tank is new and only has been cycling for 2 weeks. I have two peices of live rock, one green striped mushroom, a pulsing thingamajiggy, and a bunch of another type of soft coral. My lighting is kinda dim but i ordered a new set of lights.

could it be the lighting as to why the sand is brown? My buddy has had his 75 gallon tank set up for about 4 years now and he has the same problem even with his 745Watt MH setup. Does growing a large amount of coral have anything to do with brown algae on the sand? and will it end up going away with better lighting?

just curious. The guys at the local aquarium store said it was nothing to worry about..

any thoughts?

 

[matts125]

well sand in a lot of our minds is dangerous in the first place because the of amount of decaying organics it can hide in it, however the most important thing is to have plenty of inverts in there to keep it stired up and airated. the best things to keep in there is nassarius snails (1per 5 gallons), sand sifting stars (1per 25 gallons) and hermit crabs..

Matt

 

[cwby416]

You will go thru an algae cycle where everything will be turning ugly and brown.... Long term remidies....dont over feed, get some cridders that will keep the sand mixed up, and vac the heavy spots.... you already put corals in?? what are your water params? two pieces of LR? how big is the tank?

 

[cwby416]

I swear matt!! you keep beating me by one minute all freaking day!! :lol:

 

[balogh03]

Depending on what size of tank you have, sleeper gobies do a great job of stirring sand beds. Mine keeps my 240's sand pearly white

-augustus

 

[mmkeeper]

your tank is still a baby. you have alot to go thru till it is a grown up. You seem to be moving alitte fast here. I wouldn't add anything except snail till you finishe your cycle. 2-4 more weeks. The brown algae will come and go thru out the life of your tank. Light, organics and other things will cause the growth.

 

[class clown]

yes.. all of the critters that these guys have mentioned are all good - definately go the critter route. However, don't overlook the importance of flow too - good flow over the sand will help prevent brown detritus from forming on your sand bed. good luck and keep things slow and easy on the additions or else you'll end up frustrated like I did and probably half the other people on here did too.

 

[matts125]

I swear matt!! you keep beating me by one minute all freaking day!! :lol:

I am just trying to spread my Knowledge, we think alike though..

 

[billaweed]

You will go thru an algae cycle where everything will be turning ugly and brown.... Long term remidies....dont over feed, get some cridders that will keep the sand mixed up, and vac the heavy spots.... you already put corals in?? what are your water params? two pieces of LR? how big is the tank?

its a 50 gallon tank, and all the corals i have were givin to me by a freind that has way too much coral and is trying to make room. Let me know if i need more live rock, and what other things i need for my tank as I am just starting. My peices of live rock are only the size of a volley ball. I also have live sand to help the cycle process, along with using a "Stability" additive that helps the cycle process too..

thanks

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Diatoms: New tanks will get them and they are brown. They too will pass in time as the tank cycles. Live with it

 

[Krish]

Diatoms: New tanks will get them and they are brown. They too will pass in time as the tank cycles. Live with it

I agree...Sounds like diatoms to me as well which is firstly a part of cycling and also, are usually the results of using regular tap water that has silicates in it which is uses to build it's skeletons. You'd have to be sure to use ro/di water ans also, increasing flow along the sand bed helps a bit.

 

[cwby416]

for a 50g I would have at least 75# of LR, but to each his own......What new lights did you order? do you have any filtration on it..skimmer...sump...??

 

[kendog261]

I agree...Sounds like diatoms to me as well which is firstly a part of cycling and also, are usually the results of using regular tap water that has silicates in it which is uses to build it's skeletons. You'd have to be sure to use ro/di water ans also, increasing flow along the sand bed helps a bit.

The diatom bloom should end pretty fast next will be more then likely hair algae

 

[Krish]

The diatom bloom should end pretty fast next will be more then likely hair algae

May be a bit longer on the diatoms than usual. Here's why I say that going on a post "billaweed" made on another thread. The use of regular tap water if containing silicates, will cause the diatoms to stick around...

Previously posted by billaweed
I have a 50 gallon tank I just started not more that 9 days ago. I put unfiltered tap water in it, 15 lbs of cured LR, and one cheap fish that died after one day. I then added soft coral and anemones after one day of cycling. Right now i have a snail, hermit crab, starfish and coral and nothing has died. Yesterday i added 20lbs of live sand to the mix

oh and all my amonia, nitrate, nitrite and phosphate levels are perfet. Am I just lucky or what?

 

[cwby416]

Great catch Krish!! yeah tap water will get ya every time!! Definatly need more LR, and Less livestock at this point... WC WC and WC!!! (with RO water)

 

[Krish]

Great catch Krish!! yeah tap water will get ya every time!! Definatly need more LR, and Less livestock at this point... WC WC and WC!!! (with RO water)

I agree. Here's the page from the thread if you want to check it out, but Scooter and I were trying to get that point across as well...Not the greatest way to start off a tank, but can easily be fixed

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=248808#post248808

 

[billaweed]

Great catch Krish!! yeah tap water will get ya every time!! Definatly need more LR, and Less livestock at this point... WC WC and WC!!! (with RO water)

Are water changes a good thing to do with new tanks? I was told to hold out on water changes until the tank has cycled.. I've done one 10 gallon water change about 3 days ago because i was cleaning the brown (diatems?) off my sand and rock with a filter syphen..

Thanks for all the input fella's I appreciate it

 

[Krish]

Are water changes a good thing to do with new tanks? I was told to hold out on water changes until the tank has cycled..

You are right that you should hold off in the beginning when cycling a new tank. The reason why is to give the tank a chance to do it's thing and build up the necessary bacterial colonies that will be responsible for taking care of your tank biologically as doing water changes can prolong it, but during this time, it is also advised not to add any livestock and expose them to toxic ammonia and nitrite until the tank has cycled The fact that you have added some livestock already after just 9 days from startup (if I remember correctly including corals) makes it a bit tricky as you don't really want to expose anything to any toxic levels of ammonia, nitrite and high levels of nitrates so water changes may be their only hope to dilute some of these levels.

Just my 2 cents... I'd personally say it is best to remove the corals atleast and any sensitive fish you may have until the tank has mutured a bit more and cycled out and introduce them then, but it's just my personal opinion

 

[aquarookie]

IME, diatoms actually LIKE light. In my tank they used to cover EVERYTHING EXCEPT the shaded rock/sand etc.

 

[Krish]

IME, diatoms actually LIKE light. In my tank they used to cover EVERYTHING EXCEPT the shaded rock/sand etc.

Yeah...They do require light to grow, but like other "algae's" need more than just light to grow. Excess nutrients including sillicates in the water, phosphates, nitrates etc will all fuel the diatoms. That's why you don't see diatoms in established tanks (with lighting over them) where excess nutrient levels are practically non-existant. By limiting light a few hours a day to beat diatoms may prevent it from growing alot, but having excess nutrients in the system will mean another algae (one that doesn't require much lighting at all to grow) will probably grow in it's place to use up the available food source