substrate turning bronish

[crazy bout salt]

I ahve about 2-3 inches of c/c and 12 lbs of live sand as my substarte. and over the last month i have noticed the sub. turing brown. i decided to pick up a lanwmower blenny but he is not doin the job all he does is eat off the glass and rocks which is also fun to watch. but i was wonderign what shoudl i add? a couple of sand siftign stars? or what i need help i think they r diatoms but i am not sure.
Jay

 

[mlm]

Sand sifting stars work very well but your sand may not be deep enough for them.

 

[nosmada]

how long has your tank been set up? sounds like one of the cycling stages. i went from green to brown to nothing
hth,
chris

 

[jonthefb]

yeah without further description it could be anythign from diatoms, to cyanobacteria. I would definately add some sand sifting stars, or perhaps a pair of twin-spot gobies,or anything to get into the sandbed layer and clean it out. a lawnmower blennie is goign to keep to the algae on the rock and glass, but isnt going to do much good in your sandbed.
hope this helps!
jon

 

[adrian]

Sand sifting stars, and gobies, may help your diatom bloom, but they can quickly starve to death in all but the largest most established tanks, that is if they are not eating prepared foods which is possible in the case of the gobie, but not likely to happen with the star. As mentioned above it will eventually pass. Is this a new tank?

 

[crazy bout salt]

Thr tank si newer its onyl beens etup for abotu 4 months now. i think i will add 2 sand siftign stars to clean it up. but not the gobies because they will be to hard to catch once their task is doner ebcause my tank is almost just stocked right now all i am adding is a pair of percs and a very small copperbanded butterfly