brown stuff on my sand

j&j,s tank

New Member
We have a 75 gallon tank set up for a about a month. water temp. is 80 degrees the water test all are fine except for the nitrite that is at .5. The guy at the pet store said that is why we have the brown alge on the sand because of the nitrite level. Just wondering is this true or could it be something worse. Its little brown spots that are getting bigger in the back of the tank and starting in the front of the tank now. We have 40 pounds of dry sand and 40 pounds of bio-active live aragonite reef sand an 8 pound live rock an a damsal fish in it if that helps. thanks for any info
 

fishieness

Active Member
it is not algae, they are diatoms.... common in a new tank and esspecialy one that is using tap water. treated or filtered. It is probably starting at the back because the flow rate is different there. A clean up crew will take care of it, and as your tank matures, the problem will go away.
 

fishieness

Active Member
it is cycled i would imagine? snails such as astrias or nassarius, turbo snails.... blue legged hermits. pretty much anything
 
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