brown/green stuff growing in tank

Kate098 · Oct 31, 2020

I bought some corals from my LFS and this brown/green stuff started growing and attaching to the sand, glass, and the rock. I do regular water changes and my perimeters are great. Is it algae? if so, is it harmful or is it fine? Should I be worried?

imchuco · Oct 31, 2020

looks like it could be diatoms, how old is the tank?

Kate098 · Oct 31, 2020

imchuco said:
looks like it could be diatoms, how old is the tank?

6-7 months

Susan Edwards · Oct 31, 2020

I use a turkey baster to blow it off sand every few days. I replaced all my sand with new sand, so am getting a bit of this.

Kate098 · Oct 31, 2020

Susan Edwards said:
I use a turkey baster to blow it off sand every few days. I replaced all my sand with new sand, so am getting a bit of this.

will blowing the sand off every couple of days fix this? Also, do you know what this is exactly/

daybreaksky · Oct 31, 2020

looks like normal algae, do you vacuum the sand or have a sand clean up crew? if you don't stir it, it cakes and becomes just another surface with a lot of light exposure for algae

Susan Edwards · Oct 31, 2020

Kate098 said:
will blowing the sand off every couple of days fix this? Also, do you know what this is exactly/

hard to tell if algae or diatoms for me. I'd think your tank should be beyond diatoms, but not sure. I' try blowing it and see if it is matted. If matted, prob. algae. If it blows off, prob. diatoms. But I'm no expert

Kate098 · Nov 1, 2020

Susan Edwards said:
hard to tell if algae or diatoms for me. I'd think your tank should be beyond diatoms, but not sure. I' try blowing it and see if it is matted. If matted, prob. algae. If it blows off, prob. diatoms. But I'm no expert

if its algae do I just leave it alone? I'm not gonna lie. It kinda looks ugly and make my tank look dirty

daybreaksky · Nov 1, 2020

Vacume it out , it's part of your weekly maintnance if you want sand in the tank

daybreaksky · Nov 1, 2020

this isn't too bad of a video. important no to do it all at once if you don't normally do it, about 1/4 a week. the reason algae is showing is because nutrient are building up in the sand and feeding it.

JGT · Nov 1, 2020

Kate098 said:
I bought some corals from my LFS and this brown/green stuff started growing and attaching to the sand, glass, and the rock. I do regular water changes and my perimeters are great. Is it algae? if so, is it harmful or is it fine? Should I be worried?

Could be diatoms.
Manually remove/siphon out, check NO3 and PO4 are in range, lessen feeding, shorten light intervals, add CUC if you don’t have and a tang or 2 depending on tank size and lawnmower blenny. Be patient. Will take time to eradicate.

xxkenny90xx · Nov 1, 2020

Those rocks have been in your tank for 6 months??? They look brand new. In any case this is just part of the ugly stage. Patience will win this battle

Saltyreef · Nov 1, 2020

100% diatoms. 7 months is still a very new tank especially if started with dry rock.
Your diatom population will increase and decrease based on available nutrients that feed it. i.e. silica.

Vacuuming sand unfortunately will only help temporarily as they will likely grow back overnight due to low or no other competing cells.

Now is the perfect time to add more biodiversity and micro fauna to help your tank mature and stabilize.
You can start with dosing some microbacter7 in small amounts.
A couple pieces of established live rock would really speed up the process of your rocks maturing too.

Good luck!

Susan Edwards · Nov 1, 2020

If algae, you do want to remove. As said above, vacuum it out a bit at a time. Try using a turkey baster. That will tell you if diatoms or algae. First step is to see what you have. Looking at your pic, I might be leaning toward algae as it is pretty thick in some areas, and also on your glass. Use a scrapper to remove from glass. I use both a flipper and a scrapper (with a real blade, not metal or plastic). Care of the sand bed is part of your weekly or bi-weekly tank chores. I also blow off rocks to keep detritus off.

Adding a live rock with coraline on it might help get your tank going too. Just get from a reliable source!

Kate098 · Nov 2, 2020

JGT said:
Could be diatoms.
Manually remove/siphon out, check NO3 and PO4 are in range, lessen feeding, shorten light intervals, add CUC if you don’t have and a tang or 2 depending on tank size and lawnmower blenny. Be patient. Will take time to eradicate.

are the cuc in https://www.reefcleaners.org/store/quick-crews-3/rimless-crew-20-gallon-detail
a good way to fix this? my local LFS doesn't have anything

Susan Edwards · Nov 2, 2020

that is where I order my cuc. Either way, you should remove by syphoning or seeing if it will blow off. Even using your hands if it is in a chunk or solid piece. Get some narsarius snails--larger ones as they stir the sand. And maybe some hermits--but you have to have extra shells for them or they kill snails for shells. I make sure I don't get super large hermits.

You can't rely just on your cuc. they help but you have to do your maintenance as well.