brown stuff and sand debris

[emtguy]

My tanks through cycling but i have not put anything in it yet b/c i want it to stabilize as much as possible. Im gona wait 2 weeks before a CUC. I have a 28g HQI with 186w. have filter floss, purigen and phosguard in the media box.
My question is on the LS im starting to see brown spots in a few places. They're about the diam. of a pencil eraser. Would any one know what this is without pics? My cam's not that good.
It's like my sand is changing colors.
Also on another note, how do you clean stuff on the sand such as debris. When i blew off my LR the other day some peices of rock and trash got sturred up and now its just laying on top of the sand bed. It looks bad, i want my tank to be as clean as possible ya know.

 

[salty blues]

Originally Posted by emtguy
My tanks through cycling but i have not put anything in it yet b/c i want it to stabilize as much as possible. Im gona wait 2 weeks before a CUC. I have a 28g HQI with 186w. have filter floss, purigen and phosguard in the media box.
My question is on the LS im starting to see brown spots in a few places. They're about the diam. of a pencil eraser. Would any one know what this is without pics? My cam's not that good.
It's like my sand is changing colors.
Also on another note, how do you clean stuff on the sand such as debris. When i blew off my LR the other day some peices of rock and trash got sturred up and now its just laying on top of the sand bed. It looks bad, i want my tank to be as clean as possible ya know.
Sounds like diatoms or cyano. Do a search. There are a zillion threads about it.

 

[rcoultas]

the brown stuff is probably diatom algae - normal - especially in newer tanks
your clean up crew will help with that when you get them in there - in the mean time you should cut back your light schedule to just a couple of hours a day so as not to encourage more blooms.

 

[emtguy]

ok. I was confused b/c its like the sand is just changing colors is all. I'll look for a pic to see if i can find one to compare what im seeing.

 

[big]

Here are shots of a new tank Diatom outbreak from my tank many moons ago. And lot of money ago too.

Like said , check threads on this issue, lots or them..

 

[t316]

Phosphates Monster.....water changes & continuous testing

 

[emtguy]

yeah, thats what im seeing, best way to control it is WC and lighting being cut down? What about when i start lights to full cycle time again wont it just come back?
What am i " continuous testing" for? I dont have a phos. test kit. I do have phosguard and purigen in the media box though.
Tanks 4 weeks old and i just started seeing this. Im running 186w 8 hours a day trying to get tank used to it and i dont have a CUC yet.