Brown spots on the crushed coral

cbdrako99

cbdrako99

Member
Hello all. I am still a novice and have a question. My tank at this time is a fish only thank that only has a gobie and a shrimp. I have livesand and my question is: all over the bottom my sand is starting to turn brown. I am not sure if this is the brown algea. My tank is about 3 weeks old. Are there any additions that I can add that will keep the sand white and not allow this brown stuff. Thanks for the info. Chris
 
shawnhardy

shawnhardy

Member
These are diatoms. Once your tank is cycled, you can add a cleaning crew of crabs and snails. These eat diatoms and will keep your tank cleaner.
 
chris17

chris17

Member
cbdrako99, He is right, it is just diatom. If you would want to , you could put maybe 1 or 2 blue leg hermits in your tank untill your cycle is complete. If you add them they will start to get rid of it, it will just take a little while............your choice , JMO
 
fishphreak

fishphreak

Member
I have the same thing in my tank right now.
it isn't harmful. And if you leave it alone (yes I know it is SO ugly!!) it will clear up on it's own. It is better if you don't add anything to get rid of because if you leave it alone you tank will start to produce the beateria need to get rid of it. If you try to use something like chemi-clean (which i did, and it didn't help) chances are it will come back. You tank needs to build up the bacteria needed to keep itself in balance. At leat that is what I was told.
You can try leaving your lights on for only 6-8 hours a day. That will help. That made more of a difference for me that the chemi-clean.
10% water changes once a week may help also.
(haven't noticed any difference when doing the water changes).
Be sure you are not over feeding. (I was)
Get a protein skimmer if you don't already have one. That will make the biggest difference I am told. (waiting for mine to get here).
you can get a SeaClone 100 (supposed to be a good one) for about $70- $115 depending on where you look.
 
shawnhardy

shawnhardy

Member
Agreed. A protein skimmer will help a lot. I turned mine on for the first time and it wasn't long before my collection cup was full of brown diatoms.
 
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