HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[rane]

HELP i am in like my third week of cycling my tank...i did it with three pieces of shrimp and now the shrimp have completly disappeared..i get home today and i notice that my live rock and some parts of my live sand have brown on them like if somone spray painted them also there is alot of little white critters it almost looks like dust in the tank except when you look closely in the tanks you can see that they move on the glass like live dust particles anyone tell me what the hell this is and should i be worry? my tanks looks like if its full of dust because these things are swimming around the whole place. <img src="graemlins//confused.gif" border="0" alt="[confused]" />

 

[broomer5]

Congratulations RANE
You tank is cycling.
Brown dust is most likely diatoms - a small single celled algae - that most always happens in new tanks at this stage in the game.
It most often goes away in a couple weeks.
The white bugs are most likely copepods - a small crustacean - born from your live rock - little jerky movements - hang around near the bottom glass/substrate, and also normally appear about this time.
Again - a very good sign all is doing well.
Fear not - it's all good.
What are your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings ??? These values will help tell the story as well.

 

[trebor126]

Sounds like everything is going as it should be. The brown stuff that is dusty looking are called Diatoms. The brown stuff you see are actually their dead skeletons. This means your tank will be don cycling in about a week. The brown stuff with slowly disappear. If you want you can blow the stuff off your LR with a turkey baster and turn your sand a litte. A clean up crew at this point would not be a bad idea also.
The white things are Pods. Good sign all is going well... Congrats

 

[rane]

Oh man thanks alot i was really getting worried and almost did a water change...i also have a firefish and 2 stars a chocolate chip and a red one (dont know the name) will they be harmed..so far they seem happy i have had them since day one.how long do you think before my cycle is through i really want to add a shark and a stingray it isnt going to be a reef tank but will also like some colorfull fish in there also and also how long should i leave my tank lights on for? I usually turn them on at 4am since thats when i got to work and off at like 9pm is this too much light?
Thanks You guys have been very helpfull in my new hobby
RANE