Brown Dust on Glass

[ilott]

Hello,

I have to clean my glass everyday due to this brown dust that builds up, is this normal? I've seen people saying they clean their glass once a month or every week or even every couple of days so I imagine it's not too much of an issue. I notice this brown dust is 10 x worse when the lights are out, are they diatoms? My sand bed has little spots of brown throughout the day but when the lights are out these seem to venture towards to glass, kinda makes me worried that it might be dinos.

 

[Reef.]

Sounds like diatoms, very normal, especially in new tanks, they will go.

 

[CMMorgan]

Snails - nitrite snails - they love to climb my glass and clean it. I run the mag cleaner about once a week or two to get the spots they miss.

 

[Rmckoy]

Agree with diatoms .

only assuming the tank is fairly new ?
As for cleaning glass ... I use a magnet scrubber every day to every other day .
apparently no matter what the nutrients are , one thing that never changes is the need to clean the glass

 

[ZoWhat]

Some sort of algae growing

That is a good thing bc your corals won't reach their full potential in an ultra-low nutrient tank where some sort of algae is not growing.

I've snorkeled many times and the amt of algae I've seen would cause the hobbyist to faint

You need to clean your glass 2x a week... that means everything is growing!


.

 

[Paul B]

I have to clean my glass at least every two days. After four days I won't be able to see if I have fish or Pelicans in there.

I have algae, you have diatoms, just clean the glass and don't worry about it. All these things come and go in cycles and a new tank they happen more often.

 

[ilott]

Sounds like diatoms, very normal, especially in new tanks, they will go.

The tank has been up since September, still fairly new but does this make a difference?

 

[SPR1968]

The tank has been up since September, still fairly new but does this make a difference?

I would probably check your nitrate and phosphate levels to see if there raised as that often causes the glass and/or tank to look a little ‘dirty’

I clean my glass every 2-3 days to keep it clean so you will generally always get some build up.

 

[Crustaceon]

The tank has been up since September, still fairly new but does this make a difference?

A lot of it has to do with the maturity of your tank, mainly the establishment of beneficial bacteria and especially coralline algae on your rocks. Right now diatoms have a favorable environment to live in, but over time it becomes less favorable to them as your sand becomes propagated with beneficial bacteria and your rocks turn purple, so long as you have enough nutrients in your system to support both.

 

[ilott]

I would probably check your nitrate and phosphate levels to see if there raised as that often causes the glass and/or tank to look a little ‘dirty’

I clean my glass every 2-3 days to keep it clean so you will generally always get some build up.

Phosphate is 0.01 and nitrate is 0.63

 

[Uncle99]

Those look like good low nutrients numbers.

 

[ilott]

Those look like good low nutrients numbers.

So for soft corals they need increasing? What would you aim for, for softies?

 

[Uncle99]

I don’t chase numbers.
I’d keep them as low as possible for the first year.
Sometimes hobby grade tests are not so accurate.
My sweet spot for a mix of all types is
2-5ppm nitrate
0.03-.1 phosphate
8.0 dkh
CA 420
MG 1360
Salinity 1.026
The MOST important factor is stability.
The more you can keep your numbers on-point, the more you will be successful.

 

[Timfish]

It's normal and from my experience will trend down over time but disruptions can cause various nuisance algae issues or recurences. For the lagae on glass keep in mind algae magnets remove very little and mostly leave algae floating in the water to redeposit and start growing agian. I use paper towels (blue shop towels are my favorite) to carefully wipe off and remove the algae. depending on how thick the algae is I may grab a clean one after just one swipe and it may take occasional use over several weeks to reduce growth to the point just weekly use of an algae magnet is all that's needed.

 

[tnewell]

It's normal and from my experience will trend down over time but disruptions can cause various nuisance algae issues or recurences. For the lagae on glass keep in mind algae magnets remove very little and mostly leave algae floating in the water to redeposit and start growing agian. I use paper towels (blue shop towels are my favorite) to carefully wipe off and remove the algae. depending on how thick the algae is I may grab a clean one after just one swipe and it may take occasional use over several weeks to reduce growth to the point just weekly use of an algae magnet is all that's needed.

I agree with everyone above, but I started a nano about 6 months ago, I’m in the last part of the ugly stage. All the “brown dust” on my glass was ate after I bought a bigger cuc.

 

[msavoy]

It's normal and from my experience will trend down over time but disruptions can cause various nuisance algae issues or recurences. For the lagae on glass keep in mind algae magnets remove very little and mostly leave algae floating in the water to redeposit and start growing agian. I use paper towels (blue shop towels are my favorite) to carefully wipe off and remove the algae. depending on how thick the algae is I may grab a clean one after just one swipe and it may take occasional use over several weeks to reduce growth to the point just weekly use of an algae magnet is all that's needed.

I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why ever since I bought a razor algae remover for the glass that the algae issues have been way worse in my tank. Before I was using a magic eraser to remove the algae and it would stay clean for days. Now literally 3 hours after I scrape it with the razor the glass is getting the brown haze again. It because like you said you’re just taking it off the glass but it’s still floating around and then just redeposits on the glass. With the magic eraser you’re physically removing the algae. I’m going back to my magic eraser method tomorrow and see how things go. Thanks for the info!

 

[Aldrinlights]

My tank was doing great on a 4 year old tank but my par was very low. I just upgraded to 4 NicoBARs and now the brown algae is everywhere on the glass and sand all day.

 

[Timfish]

My tank was doing great on a 4 year old tank but my par was very low. I just upgraded to 4 NicoBARs and now the brown algae is everywhere on the glass and sand all day.

I'm not at all surprised. When light is increased the single cell algae will be the quickest to react. Your entire ecosystem will need to adapt and adjust to the new lighting conditions which means seeing new algae cycles. I would just used manual removal to help with it until your corals and sponges (and probably fungii too) catch up.

 

[Aldrinlights]

I'm not at all surprised. When light is increased the single cell algae will be the quickest to react. Your entire ecosystem will need to adapt and adjust to the new lighting conditions which means seeing new algae cycles. I would just used manual removal to help with it until your corals and sponges (and probably fungii too) catch up.

Manual removal worked like a charm. Thank you so much. Those blue shop towels worked perfectly also.

 

[Timfish]

You're welcome!