Cycle question

[delta lady]

My tank is going on 3 weeks old. The Damsel that I had died, but the two clowns are still living. They seem to be okay. However, yesterday I noticed brown stuff all over the sand in the tank. I checked the levels and they are:
Amonia - 1.5
PH - 8.5
Nitrite - 0.3
Why is the sand brown? Should I be worried? If so, what should I do?

 

[djian]

Sounds like Diatoms. I just started my tank about 4 weeks ago and about a week and a half ago diatoms started growing. Now they are throughout the tank. They are perfectly normal for a new tank. Your ammonia is too high, you might want to look at ways of reducing that.

 

[delta lady]

So would you recommend that I use buffer to bring the ammonia down? If not, then what?

 

[rvdfn420]

I would probably pull the clowns out, and let the tank cycle on whats in there. Dont use ammo lock if you have thought about it. You could also try a water change, which also extends the length of the time to cycle.

 

[malounsbury]

Not sure if you posted this before, but is this a FO tank? Or is it FOWLR?

 

[delta lady]

FOWLR. I have about 5 lbs of live rock in the tank already along with two hermit crabs, 1 turbo snail, and a coral shrimp.

 

[malounsbury]

How long after you put the LR in did you put the fish in?