brown poo on new sand

[mr pink floyd]

i just replaced my crushed coral wiht southdown, nad i have brown stuff growing on it kinda bad, i heard it was diatoms

i just bought 24 snails, 12 cerinth, and 12 nassarious, they ate some, but not all, and it keeps on growing, how can i get rid of it?

i just stir up the bed a little where the stuffis, but its startign to grow and cover more and more...


thanks in advance


~mike

 

[mr pink floyd]

bump

 

[jay24k]

Time. Diatoms will go away after awhile. Just keep continuing to do water changes.

 

[tcarola154]

What I did as a temporary fix until that part of the new tank cycle ended, which probably isnt the best idea but ended up working out... was I bought a diamond watchman goby (hes a sandsifter) I wanted one anyway, so I put him in and he sifts through the whole tank, and keeps the top of my substrate lookin good. Soooo, if you were considering getting one/ever wanted one anyway, and you have the room... it might not be a bad idea. They are really fun to watch too

 

[mr pink floyd]

its not a new tank, its been up for over 1.5 years, the sand is new, but i dont use RODI water...

my tap water is realyl good in west hartforsd, though, i guess not good enough, iom goign to go to a LFS wiht 4 buckets and see itf i can get liek 20 gallons of water, that will be my monthly water change water.. if not at least one water change a month, i do need a new fish though, i only haev 3 fish, how much room does he need, i have a lot of sand space open as my rocks are stacked up along the walls

 

[jay24k]

IMO, I've seen new sand do that even in an established tank. Did you rinse it very well?

Just give it a few weeks. Get a few ceriths. They tear up a sandbed very well on the top.

 

[wife no likey]

I just had the same thing happen when switching over to our new tank.
I don't have any factual proof for this, but I think that when you introduce something that is completely void of any biological material in/on it, it takes time for the bacteria to build up, and thus it is common to see diatom and cyano-type buildup.

I commonly see this when putting new eggcrate in the sump for example.

 

[tcarola154]

, how much room does he need, i have a lot of sand space open as my rocks are stacked up along the walls [/B]

Yea I forgot to check what size your tank was, I dont think a diamond watchman would be too good for a 29 gallon, they get to be up to 6" there are other sandsifters if you really wanted to go that route, just do some research, maybe check out this site: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?pCatId=1851 to get an idea of what they need.

One thing to be careful of, stirring up the sand like you are now is not a good idea in the long run, once your sandbed gets established you can cause small spikes in ammonia from this practice.

Best thing to do for now would probably be to wait it out for a few weeks, see if the problem persists and if your snails help or not. If it keeps going, then you may want to get some sort of sandsifting fish, or more snails.

 

[The Reefer91]

of topic, but will a sand-sifter goby eat neccesary life in a SSB for a reef?

 

[Bluesking]

I too took out established substrate and went with Arragonite then the brown diatoms/silicates took over, finally hundreds of air bubbles latched onto the diatoms then sheets of this stuff floated to the top and I netted it out. Once again I have white substrate. I also bought a goby but he kept jumping out of the tank

 

[SDguy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6882424#post6882424 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by The Reefer91
of topic, but will a sand-sifter goby eat neccesary life in a SSB for a reef?

Yes, but I don't think your going for diverse fauna with a SSB, just aesthetics.