Is this the diatom stage??

[tankaholic]

Is this brown stuff on rock and sand diatoms? this is a 40b just finished cycling with new sand and dry rock. Needing to get this tank ready for corals and fish. I have a leaking 20gal with a particle board stand that is a ticking time bomb to crashing.
Just don't want to kill my current livestock.

 

[domination2580]

White light pics? Under just blue its really hard to identify.

 

[tankaholic]

 

[tankaholic]

 

[tankaholic]

There's with whites on...

 

[tankaholic]

Stirred sand up a bit leveling it out...still adjusting power heads blowing sand around

 

[Jakepen]

Looks like diatoms. What are your numbers, how long have you been cycling?

 

[Jakepen]

Oh, never mind. Just finished the cycle.

 

[willthethrill]

Definitely diatoms. Just set up a 120 myself and went through this myself again. Always happens on a new tank. I used GFO in a reactor, some snails and hermits (only about 15 altogether and that's in a 120) and weekly 20% water changes. Day to day I saw the brown stuff go away. Took about 3 weeks for everything to be all cleared up. Nice and white sand again!

 

[domination2580]

Yes that is diatoms. All part of a cycle. Give it time amd should clear up

 

[Bunnee911]

Congrats

 

[Josh jones]

Looks good it's doing what it's supposed to do all down hill from here but take it slow

 

[tankaholic]

my water parameters are
Nitrates...20-40 using api test kit
alk....10dkh
cal....500
phos...0

 

[tankaholic]

So I can add hermits and snails to help clear this up?
As for snails astrea snails...and nassaures....I know I misspelled those
Now what about a pair of clowns and lots of corals. and a conch named pat...lol

 

[willthethrill]

I'd get a few hermits, and maybe 2 types of snails that eat stuff off the rocks and glass. The nassarius snails will go under the sand. Keep up with your weekly 20% water changes until all this clears up and then you can go to biweekly or monthly depending on what you wana do. If you can get your hands in some GFO it helps a lot. Throw some in a bag and leave it in the water if you don't want to buy a reactor just yet. Once those diatoms are gone you can slowly start introducing livestock. SLOWLY. Lol adding fish now would just be adding more of a load to the system and right now your biggest concern is making your tank look clean again!

 

[tankaholic]

What snails would be the best ones to eat the stuff off rocks

 

[KrazieKiKi]

I personally like nerite snails and astrea snails. Nerites are intertidal so keep an eye on them - they may crawl out but they definitely take care of the glass for me. The astreas are good for rocks and glass. I use scarlet reef hermits or blue legs. They are small and if you decide to do corals later you don't have to fish them out of the tank [emoji5] good luck! This ugly phase doesn't last long!

 

[tankaholic]

Actually my main concern is Kyle 20gal long crashing to floor with a lot of corals in it along with a pair of clowns.

 

[tankaholic]

But I don't wanna kill anything but 20gal is sitting on particle board stand that is a ticking time bomb in the worst way. Due to 20 gal long leaking...

 

[tankaholic]

When should I add macro algea to refugium