Brown SB

emtguy

emtguy

Member
My SB in the front part of my 28g HQI is turning brown. Only place its changing colors. I thought it was diatoms but im not sure b/c the only place in the tank this is happening is in front. Not on sides or back and it really looks like the sand is just changing colors. I can sift the sand a little and its real white like it spoze to be.
I am running 150w halide and 36w actinic for 8 hrs a day and using DI wtr and levels are good.
No slime or algea "looking" stuff on SB, it looks like my lights are burning the sand or something. Its just changing colors. What could it be.
Cant get pic. it will not show up good enough for you to see diffrence.
 
michaeltx

michaeltx

Moderator
deffinately diatoms its a natural part of a new tank it will get worse before it gets better but it will go away. do you use RO/DI water for top offs and water changes?
Mike
 
michaeltx

michaeltx

Moderator
cool it will get worse as I said sometimes it will cover everything in the tank and look horrible for a short time till the food source for them is gone then they will go away.
and they are perfectly normal part of a tank stabilizing its water parameters.
Mike
 
johnnyd

johnnyd

Member
my tank is only 3 weeks old and i have the brown algea everywhere. it not too bad so i quess this is normal. will overfedding cause this prob?
 
big

big

Active Member
Originally Posted by johnnyd
http:///forum/post/2460905
my tank is only 3 weeks old and i have the brown algea everywhere. it not too bad so i quess this is normal. will overfedding cause this prob?
Welcome to your new obsession!
The Brown Diatoms,( not algea) like someone else said are a part of the new tank. The diatoms though, are very interesting but very tiny creatures. Try and Google the term. As to overfeeding at this early point in the tank maybe so maybe not, but I would not think the food has silica in it. The basic foods for them are silica based. They use the dissolved Biogenic silica to make their little skeletons out of. ( there are bigger terms but biogenic suffices) So no dissolved silica, no Diatoms. But most any new tank will have dissolved silica, just from the substrate etc. One of the reasons too use RO-DI water, so we do not keep feeding the little buggers.. My well water here has a lot of silica in it, I live next to a sand mind. Heck before I started this obsession, I did not even realize that silica would dissolve!!!
Hope that explains what and why that brown stuff, is in your tank.......... Warren
 
johnnyd

johnnyd

Member
Originally Posted by big
http:///forum/post/2460923
Welcome to your new obsession!
The Brown Diatoms,( not algea) like someone else said are a part of the new tank. The diatoms though, are very interesting but very tiny creatures. Try and Google the term. As to overfeeding at this early point in the tank maybe so maybe not, but I would not think the food has silica in it. The basic foods for them are silica based. They use the dissolved Biogenic silica to make their little skeletons out of. ( there are bigger terms but biogenic suffices) So no dissolved silica, no Diatoms. But most any new tank will have dissolved silica, just from the substrate etc. One of the reasons too use RO-DI water, so we do not keep feeding the little buggers.. My well water here has a lot of silica in it, I live next to a sand mind. Heck before I started this obsession, I did not even realize that silica would dissolve!!!
Hope that explains what and why that brown stuff, is in your tank.......... Warren
thanks for the help warren, it sure does look like brown algea and almost like a brown hair algea. i see if it gets worse and if it does ill post a pic.
 
big

big

Active Member
Originally Posted by johnnyd
http:///forum/post/2460936
thanks for the help warren, it sure does look like brown algea and almost like a brown hair algea. i see if it gets worse and if it does ill post a pic.

It could be Algae too in there. A green Hair Algae, will most likely develop in your tank soon in addition to the Diatoms. Here is a direct quote from another on-line resource on this issue. It may explain it better. Are we having fun yet?

" Referred to as a microalgae, brown or golden algae is actually not an algae at all, but diatoms. What you are actually seeing in your tank are diatom skeletons, all linked together. It can appear as a simple dusting on the tank walls and substrate surfaces, or it can turn into a massive growth that covers just about everything in the tank. This type of algae outbreak typically occurs when a tank is just completing or has finished the nitrogen cycling process, new live rock is introduced, as the curing process can add nutrients when some organisms on the rock dies off, or tank maintenance has been neglected. It is a normal occurrence, as diatoms are one of the first to appear in the chain when the tank conditions are conducive for algae growth, and is usually a precursor to other forms of desirable and undesirable nuisance type green macroalgae."
 
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