new mystery stuff in tank.

[skienlzer]

We have a 90 gallon tank and are changing the h20 every 2 weeks about 15 gallons. But still we have this brown stuff grow immediately. It covers the floor of the tank and now we also have these little white dots all over everything including the back of the tqank wall. When you look up close they kinds look like a curl like what a shell looks like. any ideas?? How do we get our tank to stop growing this stuff and what are these white things. All our levels are good and i feed the fish every other day. we use purple up every day and give live plankton every other night.

 

[reefkprz]

the brown is probably diatomic algae usually a phase that passes once they have consumed all the silicic acid available in your sand bed, if they dont pass after an extended time I would look to the water you are using as a possible vector for bringing in soluble silica (silicic acid)
the white spirals are spirboid worms hamless filterfeeders, most of them will go away after a while but some may remain in your tank for life.

 

[reefkprz]

how old is this tank?

 

[skienlzer]

Thanks alot. Are the worms bad? ANd how long should I wait on the algee? I use ro water from my tap I have a h20 system called ionics..

 

[skienlzer]

our tank is 6 months.

 

[reefkprz]

time for diatoms to pass can be a couple weeks to several months depending on the amounts of garnet, feldspar and other forms of soluble silica available in the sand and rock. usually sand is the culprit, new sand almost always has pretty high amounts of soluble silica, unfortunatly RO wont remove silicates you need a DI phase, I would get your tap water and RO water tested for silica.

 

[reefkprz]

I would say newer tank with HIGH bioload and low rock weight, is feeding the diatoms. going off your pictures. I'm counting at least seven fish in your tank, thats A LOT of poop for a young tank to handle.

 

[ibew]

how much flow do you have in the tank

 

[reefkprz]

Originally Posted by skienlzer
Are the worms bad?
nope they are harmless, sorry I overlooked this question.

 

[sudc]

I'd say you have 3 major problems contributing:
1)Not enough flow. Cant tell but only seems like 2 majijets. How much turnover do you have?
2)tap water instead of ro/di. If you can't get it from a lfs or elsewhere, see about getting an ro/di unit. They are pretty cheap and cost efficient.
3) Ditch the purple up and plankton immediately. Purple up at best does little and at worst can crash your tank according to some. You dont need it for sure. The Plankton seems unnecessary also. Cant really tell but it seems like you have no coral except 1 xenia stalk i can see. Doesnt seem like you need it. They are just adding nutrients to the tank contributing to the algae blooms probably.
I'll bet of you clear those all up, the diatoms will go away pretty quick.
Goos luck, keep us posted