What's this on my sand bed and glass

[Livingjewels]

I've had tanks before but always bought pre owned setups which have never had to cycle..
I have recently started from scratch and I am now learning about the cycle which the tank goes through.

The question I'm asking is my tank has gone full of orange filth, this was all over my sand bed, on my rock even the water clouded up.

The week before last, I noticed some cyano turn up along with progressing green hair algae.

I had done a few water changes in the hope of clearing it up some but found it not to be of any help, the sand retuned to orange and the glass bloomed up too.

I have since left the tank alone and the orange powdery coating on the sand has cleared up, with the exception that it's left a hairy filamentious covering on both my glass, and in the sand..

Just wondering if this is the norm, and what to do with it..

 

[ReeferNoob4ever]

I'm still a novice, but I do think it's par for the course. Try to keep light exposure to a minimum, also try to keep nitrates and phosphates down. I know with cyano bacteria, Red Slime works great and if I remember correctly signals the end of your algae cycle.

 

[mcgyvr]

Normal...
Sounds like diatoms..

A tank post cycling usually goes through what we call the "uglies" as part of its maturing process.. That usually involves diatoms, green algae and then cyano.. many times in that order..

But again its all normal and will pass with time provided you keep up with normal maintenance..
The best thing you can do is limit the light to as little as possible if you don't have corals (and you shouldn't yet... fish don't need light) and ensure you are keeping up with routine water changes (like 20% every 2 weeks or more) to keep nitrate and phosphate levels low..

Algae,etc.. will continue to grow in your tank if you don't.. Diatoms usually pass as excessive silicates are absorbed provided you aren't adding anymore in your water,etc..

Since I said that are you using regular tap water or RO/DI water? The later is far superior and tap water can contain lots of "stuff" that can cause issues like algae,etc...
Most either purchase good water from their local fish store or get a RO/DI filtration system to make their own "0 TDS" water to use and then add salt..

And don't forget you need to be adding more water to the tank to account for what evaporates daily.. BUT.. This "Top off water" needs to be fresh water and not salt water as salt does not evaporate.. If you top off with salt water your salinity would rise and you would have problems there..

If in another month or so the tank has not gotten "prettier" post back with some pictures/water parameters,etc.. and we can tell you what direction you need to take to solve that.. OR just stick around here and read...read..read..learn..learn..learn..
Its a great hobby thats pretty easy once you know what you are doing but can be disastrous if you don't

 

[ReeferNoob4ever]

None the less, it can be frustrating at times either way! Haha the uglies, that's great!

 

[mcgyvr]

yes many are not aware of the totally normal "uglies" and start to freak out..
Its all just a normal part of a tank "maturing" which can take 6-8 months or more..
But those ugly stages usually pass well before that..

Its just nature being nature.. I never like to attempt to stop it in its tracks and feel that its best to just let it happen.. Aka don't $#@ with nature.

But after the tank "matures" life gets much easier..

 

[SALTYwaterDOG]

I sometimes get the uglies in my takes that are well established. No worries mate time is your friend
HAPPY REEFING

 

[Livingjewels]

You might laugh when I tell you that I've been doing marine tanks now for around three years.. not that I ever stop learning about it, I understand what you guys are saying though..

What's happened to me is I've bought preowned tanks which were always set up and mature..I just moved them to my house and I continued to maintain the tank as I found them.
This means I've never really set eyes on the ugly part of cycling a tank, however my last tank really challenged me with over 12 months of Dinoflagelletes..which unfortunately caused a break down in the end.

This tank I have now is a complete fresh start, the rocks were bought dead and I've acid bathed them to remove unwanted organics ( took them back down to the clean white surface you don't normally see).
They was all jetwashed..and I've kind of gone from there..

After the 1st post I made above the tank was in a real state, cyano , orange coatings on the sand and Gha. After leaving it to settle for a few days it appears to have cleared up a little.

I took a bit of time to cleanse some of this up; it took less effort than I thought.. and tonight it's looking quite good.
The Gha seems very limp and under nourished it's colour is like a grey green and some came free by basting it gently.
I cleared a fair bit of orange coloured muck, which in 10 litres of water resembled like a
Oxo cube of gravy..dark brown..

One thing I'm still trying to fathom, is my nutrient readings

Last week I was taking readings of around 2 ppm on nitrate.. this week no reading... 0 nitrate..
Phos has risen from 0.08 to 0.16,
I need to reverse the two around, and get my nitrate higher than phos ideally I'm looking for around 5 ppm no3 and 0.003 - 0.05 if they are to be successfully managed..
Any ideas guys..

 

[A sea K]

Remove any form of nitrate export, heavy skimming,cheato etc to help elevate nitrate naturally. You could also increase your feeding amount if you feel the need. Begin using GFO to bring down phosphate levels until you reach the balance your after. Just start slow on the GFO so as not to shock the system by too rapid a reduction.