What is on my sand?

[Sailaway]

Tank has cycled for three weeks. Skimmer is running and I think it’s finally dialed in. All parameters are good and have remained fairly consistent. but… what is this red stuff on my sand? I’m assuming it’s beneficial but just wanted to make sure. Planning to add a fish on Friday but if this is a problem I will hold off.

 

[lost66]

looks like early stage of diatoms. Fairly common for new tanks. It should will go away by itself. Patience

 

[BlueDamselReef]

Sand looks clean to me! I don't see ANYTHING! lol

 

[Sailaway]

looks like early stage of diatoms. Fairly common for new tanks. It should will go away by itself. Patience

Yep, I think you are right! doesn’t that typically mean the tank is finished cycling?

 

[lost66]

Well, I don't know that. But what I know for sure, we are talking about initial cycle and your tank needs around 18 months to mature enough to be considered as "mature" and stable.

I think Diatoms are in most new tanks and this is kind of a part of the process. Some people don't have diatoms but I think most do have. Diatoms can also appear in mature tank if you have a silica in the water. You can have an outbreak if your rodi filters won't filter water any more or if you intentionally add silica to the water to overcome other ugly stuff like dinos.

Your sand looks pretty clean, most probably it will be much worse so don't panic and just keep your parameters as stable as possible.

 

[Sailaway]

Well, I don't know that. But what I know for sure, we are talking about initial cycle and your tank needs around 18 months to mature enough to be considered as "mature" and stable.

I think Diatoms are in most new tanks and this is kind of a part of the process. Some people don't have diatoms but I think most do have. Diatoms can also appear in mature tank if you have a silica in the water. You can have an outbreak if your rodi filters won't filter water any more or if you intentionally add silica to the water to overcome other ugly stuff like dinos.

Your sand looks pretty clean, most probably it will be much worse so don't panic and just keep your parameters as stable as possible.

Ok, I’m gonna keep a close eye on everything. Gonna test again in the AM if possible. Should I wait to add livestock? I really don’t want to kill a fish.

 

[Sailaway]

Ok, I’m gonna keep a close eye on everything. Gonna test again in the AM if possible. Should I wait to add livestock? I really don’t want to kill a fish.

Also..I have a skimmer running, but some have advised me against running it in such a small tank (13.5), what is your two cents on that? I am trying my best not to make any small (or large!) mistakes.

 

[lost66]

You can add fish and corals. Just be sure you don't have ammonia and don't add too much livestock to avoid ammonia spike.

Skimmer is good because it helps to remove phosphates and nitrates. Right now you shouldn't have much of nutrients in the tank since you don't have anything to produce it so it.
New tanks tend to have 0 or very high phosphate. Both sides of the spectrum bring apocalypse such as GHA, cyano or dino. So if you have 0 or near 0 phosphate or nitrate I wouldn't use skimmer.

 

[Sailaway]

You can add fish and corals. Just be sure you don't have ammonia and don't add too much livestock to avoid ammonia spike.

Skimmer is good because it helps to remove phosphates and nitrates. Right now you shouldn't have much of nutrients in the tank since you don't have anything to produce it so it.
New tanks tend to have 0 or very high phosphate. Both sides of the spectrum bring apocalypse such as GHA, cyano or dino. So if you have 0 or near 0 phosphate or nitrate I wouldn't use skimmer.

Sorry to keep bugging you- I added Biospira when I first started the tank, should I add anything else before I add fish?

 

[lost66]

Sorry to keep bugging you

You are not bugging me

Fish are not that picky in terms of parameters. You can kill the more fragile species if you don't acclimate properly so dripping method to slowly introduce your salinity and temperature. What can kill fish is ammonia so that's why new tanks kill fish. So be sure you have 0 ammonia, nothing above 0. The initial cycle of the tank is just to seed tank with necessary bacteria. You don't have much of the bacteria yet and if you add too much fish and their poops release too much ammonia, your bacteria population may not be enough to process such amount.
That being said I think you can add 1 fish if you don't have ammonia in the tank. And taking from there, wait like 2-4 weeks and add more fish but slowly, tank matures very slowly.

The cycle of pool is one thing, the end process is nitrates. When you add too much food, algae die, then you also have phosphate (I am not 100% sure where phosphate come from but they are there). And you have to export them because if you won't do that and they build up you will have apocalypse in your tank. To export nitrates and phosphate there are few methods and people use a combination of few of them. Right of the bat:
- water change once a week by 10% (golden amount, should be enough to not build nitrates/phosphates too fast and you will have some time before apocalypse)
- skimmer
- refugium with macro algae
- algae reactor
- vodka
- roll mat
- bacteria/sponges/algae and other micro creatures I don't even know the names with more mature tanks can help too

Don't hesitate and ask questions, this forum is to exchange experience and enjoy the hobby even more

 

[kevgib67]

Diatoms = cycled tank, I think your good to go. Slow and steady wins the race. Good luck and keep posting pics.

 

[Sailaway]

You are not bugging me

Fish are not that picky in terms of parameters. You can kill the more fragile species if you don't acclimate properly so dripping method to slowly introduce your salinity and temperature. What can kill fish is ammonia so that's why new tanks kill fish. So be sure you have 0 ammonia, nothing above 0. The initial cycle of the tank is just to seed tank with necessary bacteria. You don't have much of the bacteria yet and if you add too much fish and their poops release too much ammonia, your bacteria population may not be enough to process such amount.
That being said I think you can add 1 fish if you don't have ammonia in the tank. And taking from there, wait like 2-4 weeks and add more fish but slowly, tank matures very slowly.

The cycle of pool is one thing, the end process is nitrates. When you add too much food, algae die, then you also have phosphate (I am not 100% sure where phosphate come from but they are there). And you have to export them because if you won't do that and they build up you will have apocalypse in your tank. To export nitrates and phosphate there are few methods and people use a combination of few of them. Right of the bat:
- water change once a week by 10% (golden amount, should be enough to not build nitrates/phosphates too fast and you will have some time before apocalypse)
- skimmer
- refugium with macro algae
- algae reactor
- vodka
- roll mat
- bacteria/sponges/algae and other micro creatures I don't even know the names with more mature tanks can help too

Don't hesitate and ask questions, this forum is to exchange experience and enjoy the hobby even more

Thank you so much! You’ve been so helpful. I put a small clown on hold in my LFS last weekend and I think I’m picking it up tomorrow evening. I’ll post pics once I bring a fish home. I’m also thinking of starting a build thread to keep track of my tank’s progress.

 

[Sailaway]

Diatoms = cycled tank, I think your good to go. Slow and steady wins the race. Good luck and keep posting pics.

Awesome! Will do.

 

[Sailaway]

Thank you so much! You’ve been so helpful. I put a small clown on hold in my LFS last weekend and I think I’m picking it up tomorrow evening. I’ll post pics once I bring a fish home. I’m also thinking of starting a build thread to keep track of my tank’s progress.

 

[lost66]

You may want to use something like this seachem ammonia alert
I think you don't need 3 pack, single piece should be enough. After few month you shouldn't have any ammonia spikes unless something is wrong with your ecosystem.