Brown stuff?

[jbax]

I have this brown stuff forming on my live rock and lace rock and on my substrate. I 'm pretty sure it's algae of some sort but I was just wondering if anyone could tell me for sure. My tank is newly cycled and I'm hesitant on putting new fish in untill I'm sure what this stuff is. Everything tests at zero....so any ideas? Thanks

 

[nm reef]

Jbax...sounds like a diatom bloom...common with newly cycled systems...do a search for "diatoms" and you'll find tons of info...basically its a normal progression and will fade away with time...clean-up crew...and system stability

 

[jbax]

Hey..thanks for the info!

 

[osakamy]

the most effective way to fight this is to change the water often and if this doesn't help you need to change the whole system again. hope this help.

 

[beecher]

My guess is diatoms also....just be patient and it goes away. Get a SWF cleanup crew with turbo snails and it will go away even faster. I would not recommend a 100% waterchange to get rid of diatoms.

 

[mlm]

Turbo Snails definatly work. I put 13 in a 55 gallon and overnight it looked like I had all new liverock.

 

[ebeckels]

well... i am actually taking a course on oceanography right now...diatoms are at the bottom of the food chain for 'pods. They are what 'pods mainly eat. It is not a bad thing to have diatoms in ur tank. I especially would not try to rid ur tank of them. They will go away naturally because things will eat them.