rocks changed to rust color overnight?? pic

[newtanksynd]

well over night my base rock went from white to this???? does anyone know what this is? good bad
thanks much

 

[alf1096]

do a seach on diatoms

 

[keith burn]

well over night my base rock went from white to this???? does anyone know what this is? good bad
thanks much
Diatoms good it is the start of cycleing.
How long has the tank run(one night)?

 

[snakeblitz33]

diatoms. It's just a sign of a good start of the cycle. Be sure to check your parameters and wait for it to complete a cycle before adding livestock.

 

[sepulatian]

As everyone has said, it is Diatoms. You will see a bit of them. How far are you in the cycle? What is your source water?

 

[vampofvegas]

Are you using tap water? If so think about going to Ro/Di eventually because Diatoms might be a problem down the road if you water has silicates in it. I switched over to Ro/Di and ended looong diatom problem.

 

[newtanksynd]

Originally Posted by newtanksynd
http:///forum/post/2511524
well over night my base rock went from white to this???? does anyone know what this is? good bad
thanks much
Diatoms good it is the start of cycleing.
How long has the tank run(one night)?
tank has cycled its been going about 5 weeks now. just added my fish last week. it cycled for lil over 4 weeks and then i added my fish . i cant get any foam in my collection cup on my skimmer. i dont think im over feeding them . they are just messy eaters and are leaving little bits of food in the tank. and the skimmer is not working properly creating the waste for the nitrite to build on.
water source is tap water. in wi very very hard stuff... i do have a uv sterilizer i just turned on . it wasnt on yet when the Diatoms started. do i need to worry about my livestock in the tank now?? i did test the water nitrite is almost to .5 up from .25 yesterday. can this just be a mini cycle? . my tank is a 75 fowlr and base rock

 

[newtanksynd]

bump.

 

[newtanksynd]

heres my test results
temp 80.2
gravity 1.022
ammonia 0
nitrite .25
nitrate 15ppm
ph 8.2

 

[scsinet]

If you are still reading any detectable nitrites, then your tank has NOT finished cycling.
Your nitrate is acceptable and your ammonia is fine. As long as ammonia stays at 0.0, I'd advise very light feedings until the nitrites drop down to 0 on their own. Do not add any more fish or other livestock until they bottom out.
With ammonia at 0.0, your fish shouldn't suffer any major harm. The nitrite levels aren't good, but they probably won't hurt anything. Just slow down and let things finish.
I'd refrain from water changes as long as nitrates stay below about 50 or so. Doing water changes at this point will only slow down the cycle.

 

[scsinet]

BTW... I think I see a feather duster in the background of your pic. Your SG should be at 1.024-1.026 if you have invertebrates in the system.

 

[newtanksynd]

fish only... porc puffer and a humu humu trigger = no inverts here. its just a colored back ground . the nitrite were at .25 on 3/10 then yesterday 3/11 almost .5 and now today they are back to .25 and i needed to add about 2 gal of water from evap. so i think it will be fine . im just trying to get my skimmer all set up as previously posted . i want to have a lot of very fine bubbles correct? i had it maxxed with no air bubbles in the intake tube at all. when i believe it should have only been the main air pocket i need to get rid of.

 

[newtanksynd]

is there a clean up crew that will help me clean this up??? can i get a few snails ?? im sure will get ate later but for now would they help ?

 

[scsinet]

Don't try to battle diatoms. Diatoms are fed by a unique nutrient generally only found in new system (because of the high amount of "new water") - Silicates.
They will grow until the silicates are consumed, then will go away on their own.
Attempts to battle them only serve to lengthen the time they are present, and annoy/discourage the hobbyist.