What is this on my sand

[KingSpade]

why is my sand turning brown?? just set up tank wednesday, with all the water and live rock from my other tank, both are 125 gallons, the sand is new, it is the carib sea arag-alive bahama oolite.

 

[CyanoMagnet]

Possibly cyano or diatoms?

 

[alten78]

my vote goes to diatoms, perfectly normal for a new tank...

 

[Paintbug]

diatoms. all new tanks get it, it should go away in the next few weeks.

 

[gobygoby]

from the looks of if I would say little red numbers...possibly a time stamp?

seriously, its diatoms. Very common in a new tank. will go away soon. dont be worried. if you want you can reduce you photoperiod and/or stir up the sand bed to keep it away if its unsightly....but I would just leave it alone, it will go away by itself.

 

[KingSpade]

but i used all my old water and live rock from my old tank, wouldnt that have prevented this from happening? i am also getting some on my rocks, that already happened in my other tank, but is happening again in this one

 

[Zaphod]

It is just the normal cycle of a new tank. even though you used mostly stuff from the old one.

 

[Anemonebuff]

No avoiding it.