Brown stuff on my sand

[masonicman]

Question? What is this brown stuff that constantly appears on my sand after all the lights have been on for atleast 2 to 3 hours? I can swirl the sand around and it goes away. My parameters are within range, My flow is great. 2 Karallia 2s, one 4 with the maxijet mod and 2 aquaclear 30s in the lower rear corners. small water changes once a week or two weeks. I don't use carbon at all. RO/DI water used. Dose B-ionic 2 part daily. I'm just trying to answer some question before they are asked.

 

[allsps40]

Sounds like diatom algae to me. Start running carbon and GFO. Vac your sand to keep it clean when you do water changes. Check your no3 and po4 levels. Feeding any kind of phytoplankton will also cause blooms.

 

[THE ROOK]

Try a fighting conch. Just picked one up for my 29. Looks like a large snail but does a great job on keeping the sand clean. I have a cave goby in my 75. Also keeps the sand white but does make a mess. Digs caves, etc. May replace him with 1 or 2 conchs in the near future.

 

[MaineReef22]

Question? What is this brown stuff that constantly appears on my sand after all the lights have been on for atleast 2 to 3 hours? I can swirl the sand around and it goes away. My parameters are within range, My flow is great. 2 Karallia 2s, one 4 with the maxijet mod and 2 aquaclear 30s in the lower rear corners. small water changes once a week or two weeks. I don't use carbon at all. RO/DI water used. Dose B-ionic 2 part daily. I'm just trying to answer some question before they are asked.

What you have is called cyano or cyanobacteria not an algae but actually a fast growing bacteria. What you need to do first is figure out what caused it insufficient water changes, excess feeding, exc. Then siphon your top sand bed get as much of it as you can (do it during water change time) replace with your new water, then leave your lights out for 3 days this will starve the remaining cyano and kill it. i noticed that you dont run carbon which most people dont, but it is a good idea to run it occasionally that will prevent the cyano from forming. I use Kent reef carbon the best stuff in my opinion out there. Its important to run the carbon in the days when the lights are out.

 

[JTL]

My guess is diatoms, I have the same problem and my tank is over a year old. Cyno is usually more of carpet, more red in color and slimy. Diatoms is like a dusting of brown stuff that can easily be blown around. In any event you have water quality issues.

 

[RegalAngel]

....AlgaeFix....thread in Reef Chemistry.
I use it in my 300g FO system and dose every 3 days...no algae!

 

[joeychitwood]

How old is the tank? It sounds like diatoms. Cyanobacter is slimey, stringy and maroon or burgundy in color. Diatoms are a normal occurrence in new tanks and will eventually disappear with good water management.