What to do????

[engwife36]

Hello eveyone. My name is Leean and I was told I could come here to learn about the hobby and get some help if I ever need it. So here I go....

I have a 110 gallon tank that has been running for a little over two weeks. I have put 85lbs of CaribSea Aragonite Seaflor Special Grade Reef Sand and a 20lbs bag of live sand. There is only about 16lbs of LR in there right now. I have 88lbs more curing in the garage. My lights are 2 IceCap 660 ballast w/6 80W T5 Flourescents. I also have a Euro-Reef CS 6-2+ Protein Skimmer. There is of course no live stock in the tank yet. I have started getting I guess a typr of algae. It looks like a buch of tiny worms stuck on everything. Brown in color. Very tiny. You cannot tell that from the pics. Does anyone know what I am trying to describe and what can I do to fix it.

When I initially filled the tank up I used regular water with the prime stuff. Since then I have done one water change of about 25 gallons with RO/DI water. I have a 6 stage system that I will be using from now on. Thanks for all, L

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[Ed]

Looks like diatoms (an algae). A very natural part of cycling a new tank. After your rock has cured and been added to the tank I would look at adding a clean up crew. Patience is the key. ;)

[Ping]

What you describe is normal. Sounds like diatoms. They will run their course and go away without intervention. This is the beginning of several stages your tank will go through during its first year. The only thing I would do at this point is invest in a magnetic glass cleaner, this is so you can still look into the tank. I used to clean my glass with these every day. I still should but I dont because I get busy (lazy). Once your live rock is ready to put into the tank, I would again do nothing for at least another month. Patience in our hobby will save you money and premature deaths of life forms you introduce. After the live rock has been in for a month, test for Ammonia, Nitrites, and Nitrates. When the first 2 are at zero and the Nitrate is below 25 I would add some snails. I like a mix of atrea's ceriths and nassarius snails. Now wait another month before adding anything else. I know this all sounds like a long time, but it is worth it and it will give you more time to read the boards to learn more before making costly mistakes. It will be fun watching the life forms grow in the sand and live rock. Just be patient before purchasing higher life forms.

Oh and still do regular water changes and I gusess I started writing this the same time as Ed.

[Ed]

Almost forgot :blush

Welcome to MAAST!

[urban79]

Do you have any kinda cleaning crew? Plus like some one told me. right now that are water is low are water is nasty.. even with r/o water..

[engwife36]

Sounds good then, I just wait it out. Thanks everyone....

[so-smrt]

welcome abord... i am still a bit new myself but the best peice of advice i could offer is dont trust it the 1st time your water checks out normal... i did and spent a lot of $$$ buying things 2x ...and when your tank looks like it got slimed dont freak...everyone here is really helpful and full of advice and experience. ---congrats and let me bbe the first to say wave good buy to all your sare time and money, it is not so much a hobby as it is an addiction, but i love it :P

[jroescher]

Watching your rock cure can be just as entertaining as as a full blown reef. Get a small flashlight and start watching for a lot of things to start appearing in your tank that you had no idea you had, especially at night.

Since you don't have any livestock in your tank, then you could just cure your rock in the tank. It will seed the sand also.

[Ping]

Since you don't have any livestock in your tank, then you could just cure your rock in the tank. It will seed the sand also.[/quote]

I would not do this. It will add "a lot" of detritus to the bottom of your tank. Even when the outside of the rock looks clean, all of the the pores will give off detritus as they become exposed.

[matt]

I posted on your duplicate thread, as did Instar.

[auSS/Tin]

Your post says that when you initially filled the tank you used "regular water with the Prime stuff." That is where a some of your problem is coming from. The diatoms need silicates to make thier shells, and regular tap water is rich in silicates. Once the diatoms use the available silicates they will die off, however if you replenish your tank with tap water that has not been filtered through an RO/DI you will get another bloom.

Welcome and it sounds like you are well on your way to having a nice saltwater tank.

Bill

[safeuerwehr]

wow, a 110g tank wish i had had the forsight to start big in this addiction...lol....welcome to MAAST your source for everything Salt water related and then some....like everyone is stating your going through "new tank syndorm" well at least that what i call it when i come home from work and my tank is brown or green...just keep up with the water changes and read, read, read, this site is full of information and what you don't find just post your questions and within no time you will have several responses with help or tips.....good luck and good reefing

alfred

[JeremyGlen]

I have found that if you leave the brown diatoms alone and don't even clean the glass, it actually goes away faster. It seems to be biologically preparing your glass, rock, sand, etc. for other algaes to grow. You'll know its done when you wake up one day and it is turning green.