Brown got worse! With pic!

[Ab129]

So I was able to vacuum out most of the green algae from my sandbed but it seems like since I've done that the brown stuff has gotten much worse.
Just checked parameters
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 0 -5 (in between on color chart)
pH 8.4
Phosphate 0
Salinity 1.025
Only things I have done outside normal routine was vacuuming out the green stuff and putting a bag of phosbond in the sump. Tried to disturb the surface of sand as little as possible.
Algae on glass and water clarity are improved, if anything.
What is this and how do I get rid of it?

 

[mal7887]

Looks like a diatoms outbreak.

Is tank new?

Keep in mind algea can consume nitrates and phosphates causing them to seat at zero.

 

[lowtek]

Looks like what I'm currently dealing with...Diatoms. My tank is quite new at 6 months. What am I doing to combat this? First is patience. Then watching my feeding, little higher water flow, reduce photoperiod, trochus and astria snails and 2 conchs for now. It will get a bit worse before it starts getting better so hang in there. Also there are probably better methods than what Im doing as Im new to SW so I apologize if I gave any bs advice.

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[reefling]

Do not stress too much. It is probably just a phase.

Test results of zero do not mean too much. That just means it is consumed as made. If you have a good skimmer, try bio pellets. Just be sure to not starve your system of nitrates and phosphates like I did. I have almost no algae outside of my sump and my ulr Hanna checker reads zero ppb. Billion....

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[mcgyvr]

Thats expected when you start vacuuming/disturbing a sandbed..
Its a diatom growth fueled by excess silicates likely..
It will pass as those are consumed by the diatoms..

The phosbond should help there too as that can also remove silicates but I recommend removing it after as your phosphate levels don't indicate a need run it..

sand bed vacuuming is a "do it all the time or never do it" kind of thing..
Personally I recommend people never disturb the sandbed and instead put some critters into the tank to keep it healthy.. nassarius snails/bristleworms/cucumbers/sand sifting fish,etc...

 

[mcgyvr]

Thats expected when you start vacuuming/disturbing a sandbed..
Its a diatom growth fueled by excess silicates likely..
It will pass as those are consumed by the diatoms.. Give it a few weeks or so and see how it goes..

The phosbond should help there too as that can also remove silicates but I recommend removing it after as your phosphate levels don't indicate a need run it..

sand bed vacuuming is a "do it all the time or never do it" kind of thing..
Personally I recommend people never disturb the sandbed and instead put some critters into the tank to keep it healthy.. nassarius snails/bristleworms/cucumbers/sand sifting fish,etc...

 

[Ab129]

Thanks for the replies!
I do have a CUC in there.
I will leave the sandbed alone for a while.
How about blowing some of this stuff off my rockwork with a turkey baster?
Would that be ok or is that better left alone?

 

[mal7887]

You can absolutely safely blow it off the rockwork.

 

[reefling]

I would just leave it be unless it's on coral. I just wait for that part of the cycle to complete.

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[Icewing726]

I fought this for about a month or two. Started with 4 days of phosguard (vacuuming didn't help at all) and bought an RO/DI unit (Spectrapure with silica buster). My sand is clearing up again... I couldn't even remember what color I had bought but it's returning finally. (My set up is new so if yours isn't you may have a different issue)

 

[Ab129]

It doesn't seem like I'll ever see white sand again!

 

[mcgyvr]

It doesn't seem like I'll ever see white sand again!

Patience grasshopper

 

[Ab129]

Lol!

Little drama.....

 

[lapin]

I like my red cyano sand. Waves every time I walk by

 

[MTF7]

Just diatoms mate no need to be worried, It will clear up in time with regular WC's. If you want to speed up the phase buy a bag of media that will aid in the removal of silicates ( I recommend phosguard or Seagel from seachem) Also, if you don't already have a billion snails add a few more, I have a 15g mixed reef and when going through my "phases of a new reef" ( completely eliminating algae, I was a rare case and did not get diatoms) I had about 9 snails, 4 hermits, an emerald crab and one turbo snail.