brown on sandbed

[mitchwelt]

i always have this brown looking stuff on my sandbed i can stirr it up and it always comes back, any idea what this is and how to make it go away?

 

[ko0ki3z]

if anything its diatomic algae. An employee at big als told me to cut my hours of light to 6 hours and it all went away in a few weeks

 

[coralfragger101]

Sounds like a diatom bloom but diatom blooms generally don't last all that long. Once the nutrients that they are feeding on are gone, they will then die.

The key is generally cleaner water and better flow.

 

[mitchwelt]

i have had this problem for a long time now, my water parameters are nearly perfect..

 

[ReefWreak]

Dinoflagellates (the brown stringy stuff, frequently with bubbles in them, looks like snot) is usually related to high silicates, if it's redder or blue/green, it's cyanobacteria, which is usually related to higher nutrient levels.

Do you have a protein skimmer? If so, I would recommend using Brightwell Microbacter7 to outcompete the cyano for nutrients. Generally I would recommend this only when dosing vodka as well, but vodka is a bit more of a long-term investment, but it does improve nutrient control significantly over time.

For a short term solution, you could try the lights out for 3 days trick. Basically lights out, and preferably cover the tank to keep it as dark as physically possible, for 3 days, then a good water change. Be sure to keep aeration and dissolved oxygen levels up while the tank is covered since they'll lose oxygen exchange to a degree with the display being covered.

 

[mitchwelt]

turned lights out for almost 3 days and its all gone now...

 

[AquamanE]

As chuck said..cleaner water more flow.

Also dont discard "new tank progression". If its a new tank, it will happen.

 

[ECFENCING]

Glad your diatoms are gone. I have the same problem and my tank is up and running for a year now.

Going to try lights out for 3 days.

Have no idea why I have it in the first place other than adding some new live rock from another reefer to my tank and changing salt mixes to Reef Crystals. I also use RO and have a good skimmer...

 

[Magga Pie]

I put a diamond goby in and my sand couldn't be cleaner! Great little fish with lots of personality.

 

[traymitch1]

Sounds like your feeding the tank to much. Stop feeding and do some water changes. Also how's your circulation?

 

[ReefWreak]

Only problem with gobies is that some of them get crazy and take moutfulls of sand to the top of your tank and then sift through the sand from the top of the water column, spraying sand all over EVERYTHING in the tank.

 

[bllfish]

Only problem with gobies is that some of them get crazy and take moutfulls of sand to the top of your tank and then sift through the sand from the top of the water column, spraying sand all over EVERYTHING in the tank.

The yellow head gobies do this. Daimonds usually stay on the bottom and sift away.

 

[SLane15]

yea my diamond goby is a pimp. love it when he picks up hermits and carries them across the tank. have had others that moved sand way too much burying all my low corals and rocks. but my current DG has his tunnels and holes made and just sifts now doesnt reconstruct entire sand bed.

 

[matt21ocean]

How do SPS corals do with lights out for 3 days?