algae of some sort?

[jubjub]

my tank has been up for about 12days or so now amonia is pretty darn low, and looks like my cycle is about done.... so my question is i have alot of stuff in my tank that looks like brown dust. i was expecting to see hair algae is this normal?

 

[rickofco]

Yes it is normal sounds like a datom out break part of the cycle some say to reduce length of time of lights but any way it will pass.

 

[Larah]

really? When? When, will it pass?
Mine is killin' me, LOL! everyday, it's the same
routine of cleaning cleaning cleaning, brown
diatoms......... LOL!
We're on day 35 of a 60 gal with 35 lbs of LR.....

 

[bertoni]

These blooms usually disappear after a couple of weeks, at most, I'd guess, but sometimes, some intervention seems to be needed.

 

[dileggi]

Sounds like diatoms, and as rickofco and bertoni stated, this is quite normal. My diatoms started about 15 days or so into my initial cycle. Then I developed cyano, which is also normal for a new tank cycle.

Mine lasted for about a month, maybe a little longer in total. Water changes were a big part in keeping it under control. I also added some phosban to reduce the phosphate in the tank, which is what helps cause the brown algae. I then added a skimmer and this really seemed to speed up the process of getting rid of it. Basically, water changes, picking as much out manually as I could and constantly cleaning my filter pads and filter floss.

 

[jubjub]

oh cool i was thinking i might go out this weekend and look into a clean up crew... to help with that....i am runnning the skimmer at the moment as well and its just super dark green so good stuff happening. snails should take care of the diatoms right?

 

[bertoni]

Yes, the diatoms, if that's what they are, are no problem.