brown on sand

fishfatty

fishfatty

Active Member
my tank has been cycling for 2 weeks now, with just sand. Today i noticed brown stuff that is on the surface of the sand...it seems like its growing. Is this okay? (Im new, and this is probably a stupid question) :notsure:
 
bigarn

bigarn

Active Member
Not a stupid question at all .... it's Diatoms, very normal for a new system. It will pass as the tank matures. Do you use RO water?
 
L

lagger

Guest
How much do you think not using ro/di water contributes to diatoms? Just curious, because I've read cases where people established tankes using ro/di still get diatoms. Does anybody know the biggest contributing factor to diatoms?
 
jerthunter

jerthunter

Active Member
Originally Posted by Lagger
How much do you think not using ro/di water contributes to diatoms? Just curious, because I've read cases where people established tankes using ro/di still get diatoms. Does anybody know the biggest contributing factor to diatoms?
Biggest contributor to diatoms is silica
 
bigarn

bigarn

Active Member
Originally Posted by Jerthunter
Biggest contributor to diatoms is silica
This is true ... once the silica in the water is used up the diatoms should dissapear. I highly suggest you use RO water to avoid more problems down the road though.
 
jerthunter

jerthunter

Active Member
Originally Posted by FishFatty
can someone please just tell me if i should be concerned or not about what I have done???
I wouldn't worry about not having used RO water but in the future to prevent other problems I would recommend you start using RO water from now on
 
jerthunter

jerthunter

Active Member
Originally Posted by FishFatty
what problems might i face??
Phosphate buildup which can cause all kinds of algae including hair algae and cyanobacteria or red slime algae
 
ecoman

ecoman

Member
the water you used likely has at least trace amounts of dissolved metals such as copper, from piping, and other dissolved metals as well. Reverse Osmosis removes 99% of it. You can get it for around $0.30 a gallon. If you continue to use tap water, or poorly filtered water, the dissolved metals do not evaporate with the water and WILL become a concentrate at some point. Most likely your existing fish would adapt to it, but it will bring phosphates, algaes, and other small problems that can lead to bigger problems. I took my cans back today and filled my tank with 60 gallons of ro water. Added salt, and mixed it up and ran filter, added sand, and when the temp is right, I am putting my live rock in! Protein skimmer needlessly running... Just trust everyone when we say use ro water. Since you are still cycling, you could do some hardy water changes, like 5 gallons every couple days using ro water, this will minimize the metals you have in the water now. This will increase your cycle process though, as you should let it cycle longer if you do changes like that. Good luck with whatever you do.
 
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