brown diatoms after switch?

[kevin21]

hey,

just wondering if its normal to get brown diatoms on the glass rocks, etc. after making the switch from crushed coral to sand.

obviously we had to replace most of the tank water with brand new water.

so im guessing this is normal?

i guess ill just test the water and if they stay stable within the week i can start stcoking again?

tank is a year old...55g reef(empty...no corals because of the heater disaster).

 

[DgenR8]

Diatoms are a normal by product of the tail end of a cycle. You probably have a good amount of nitrite and nitrate in the water, and I wouldn't be surprised if you had phosphate issues, too.
Allowed to run it's course, it should use all available nutrients, then die off.
Anything you put in the tank is a potential source of more nutrients.

 

[kevin21]

so your saying my tanks going through a mini-cycle after adding the sand?
tanks a year old so this isnt the first cycle.

hm mini-cycle would make sense though.

thanks

 

[luke30mm]

my tank is going through the same thing would adding cal. fuel the diatom?

 

[DgenR8]

Coralline and Halemedia are the only Ca. based algae that I know of. Diatoms don't care about Calcium at all. The best thing to do with diatom algae (caused by a cycle) is keep the water quality as high as possible, and wait it out.