Algae in New to me tank.

[Matt Miller]

I transfered all the inhabitants and some sand from a running 90g 1 week ago. About half the water was kept, got rid of 3 fish. All params have been good and the hair algae is almost all gone.

I noticed the brown algae? Started to show up on the sand and some of the rocks a couple days ago, and my goby/blenny doesn't seem to be sifting the sand like I was told it would. It just started showing itself so hopefully that will start soon.

I am planning a little scaping and 20ish% water change tomorrow. Should I be worried about the brown or will it go away as the cuc keeps working I keep up with water changes?

I did move some stuff around in my refugium and noticed the top of the water had stopped moving. I did adjust so it didn't get gross. Could that have anything to do with it?

Everything else seems happy, the snails, hermits and urchin have been very busy. I'm probably just being overly cautious again...

 

[Oscar47f]

Those are diatoms they feed off of silicates from new sand or any plastics, they will go away soon, do water changes with RO water and a pink spot goby or diamond goby can keep your sand nice and clean ...

 

[Matt Miller]

Thx, hoping something like that. Water change tomorrow and hopefully my goby or whatever will start sifting soon...lol

 

[smpolyp]

I am sorry to debunk the guy above. Silicates do not just come the above statement. They are one of the hardest things to remove from R.O. And or salt water . So just think what food would do. Diatom algae feed on silicate like we feed on calcium to build our building blocks. If you have organics green algae will eventually show up. If you have silicates brown algae will show up . Keep it clean and these things will balance out in a short time.

 

[Matt Miller]

I do have New live sand and a new RO/DI system. Also the system I transfered to my tank had been maintained with tap water I was told. No skimmer and small water changes.

It's possible I didn't flush my RO/DI enough, and add in all the other factors. I will do some more reading but this won't harm any fish or inverts will it? Everything seems to be happy and acting normal, except the goby thing isn't touching the sand yet.

 

[jenreefer]

I would not get too worried at this point. It may just be a mini cycle from the new sand and new tank. If it continues long term, then you will need to start determining what is driving it.

 

[scoopsthedog]

Make sure your CUC is large enough. About mid day I have a light brush of "rust" on my sand and by morning it's all white.

 

[Matt Miller]

Make sure your CUC is large enough. About mid day I have a light brush of "rust" on my sand and by morning it's all white.

How do I do that? All I know is I have a bunch of snails, hermits, a handful of mini brittle stars, and a big urchin.

 

[twilliard]

You can take a microscope shot of most anyones tank and find diatoms.
The population will balance itself out

 

[scoopsthedog]

How do I do that? All I know is I have a bunch of snails, hermits, a handful of mini brittle stars, and a big urchin.

My tank took about 4 months to stabilize as far as creating enough food (algae) to feed the CUC and having enough to eat all of it. Time is your friend.

 

[Subinay70]

My tank went though diatoms after about 2-3 months. For me what helped was 10g water changes weekly, a diamond goby, and 2 fighting conches. It's been 8 months I will get diatoms here and there, but the goby and conches take care of that really well.

 

[Matt Miller]

My tank went though diatoms after about 2-3 months. For me what helped was 10g water changes weekly, a diamond goby, and 2 fighting conches. It's been 8 months I will get diatoms here and there, but the goby and conches take care of that really well.

I thought I had a diamond goby, but it doesn't look like one, and it hasn't gotten comfortable after the move still. I plan on extra water changes till everything settles in.

 

[Subinay70]

I thought I had a diamond goby, but it doesn't look like one, and it hasn't gotten comfortable after the move still. I plan on extra water changes till everything settles in.

What does your goby look like? Mine is white with orangish spots.

 

[Matt Miller]

What does your goby look like? Mine is white with orangish spots.

I posted in another forum and think it might be red spot blenny? Was given to me called yellow diamond goby.

 

[Subinay70]

I posted in another forum and think it might be red spot blenny? Was given to me called yellow diamond goby.

That's doesn't look like the diamond goby I have. It might be a yellow watchman goby. A buddy of mine had one before that changed its colors on him

 

[Oscar47f]

I posted in another forum and think it might be red spot blenny? Was given to me called yellow diamond goby.

it could be a pink spot goby very similar to the orange spot diamond goby...

 

[Matt Miller]

it could be a pink spot goby very similar to the orange spot diamond goby...

Not seeing much on them being sand sifters, should I look into something else for cleaning sand?

 

[Oscar47f]

Pink spots do pretty well my friend hand a large 4'' one in his 80 bow front and its doing well, i would wait and see

 

[Oscar47f]

if you don't like the pink spot and want a diamond get only one and it wouldn't hurt to try and get a small one i had a small one and now its like 3 inches long and my sand bed in my 120 is amazingly clean... so much so that i over feed a lot just to make sure no one starves lol

 

[Matt Miller]

if you don't like the pink spot and want a diamond get only one and it wouldn't hurt to try and get a small one i had a small one and now its like 3 inches long and my sand bed in my 120 is amazingly clean... so much so that i over feed a lot just to make sure no one starves lol

I don't know how I could get it out now, I think I'm stuck with it I just don't know if it's feeding. I kept it because the guy told me it sifted the sand and it's interesting looking.