Rusty colour on live rock????

[paulbeau]

Hi all! My tank is 3 weeks into cycle, My live rock is starting to turn a rusty brown colour in places???

Ammonia=0, Nitrite=0, Nitrate= 5-10ppm, PH=8.3, phos=0.

Lights are not yet on untill introduce corals.
Do you think i need a higher flow rate in tank?

Any help??
Thanks

 

[reefnetworth]

thats a good thing! theyre called diatom algae. do you have a clean-up crew yet?

 

[reefnetworth]

diatom starts before the coralline. you can take a powerhead to remove some but your snails should be eating it, encouraging coralline growth. let it float into the intake of filter, any on sand can cause an algae outbreak. start lights @ 10 hrs daily, how much flow? what size tank? what lights. do you have sand? how much rock?

 

[paulbeau]

Hi nano4brains, I have introduced clean up crew today! 5 turbo snails and 3 hermit crabs! I have macro algea in hob refugium which i am cutting back every week! Thanks for your help, i will now put lights on.
How long do you think it will be until diatom disapear?
Thanks

 

[paulbeau]

Nano4brains!
I have 22g tank, Live sand, 2x hydor 120g/hr, 4x t5's 24w each, 2x blue 2x white, 11kg live rock.

 

[reefnetworth]

it depends. your snails and crabs should be eating now. some cerrith snails would be exellent theyre also sand sifters. 3-5 of them max. they love diatom!

 

[reefnetworth]

you need more flow, reef is usually 10x's the gallon. one powerhead on each side of tank hitting each other with flow can cause a wave type effect. placement is critical for the sandstorm issue. most are placed towards the front/angled. also remove the carbon filter so the bacteria can eat any ammonia that starts to rise. test daily!

 

[reefnetworth]

are you going for fish only with LR? if not you need at least 1.5 lbs of LR for biofilter