brown stuff on glass and rock and sand....???

[kuyales]

i have all this brown stuff on my glass....what is it?? it just keeps growin....is this stuff harmful??

 

[steamboat1569]

I can't say for sure, but under my 12,000K MH Lighting, red slime (diatoms) look brown.

 

[carrie1429]

How long has your tank been setup for? And is this brown stuff on the substrate too or just the glass?

 

[kuyales]

well...my tank has been set up for about 2 and 1/2 months....and there was a major outburst of this brown stuff (diatom i believe) and it kinda went away...but i want it all gone....at first it kinda gave a bit of color to my rocks...but now that i look at it...its really kinda just dirty looking...is this stuff bad?? how do i get rid of it?? and yes it is on everything rocks, sand and glass

 

[carrie1429]

yeah that sounds like diatoms. What is your cleanup crew like?

 

[saltyrich]

Sounds like you need a good cleanup crew (snails, hermits, etc..

 

[kuyales]

as of right now...i have 2 turbo snails....3 scarlet hermits....2 blue legged hermits...and 1 small unidentified snail that hitch-hiked in with some shrooms i bought...i dont think ive ever seen any bristle worms....and i have 2 cleaner shrimp...all this in my 10gal...

 

[carrie1429]

I would maybe get a few more snails. And chocolate chip stars are good at eating diatoms and algea. I have two choc. chip stars that love to eat algea, not good to have if you have any corals or polyps though.