brown covering everything

[clay]

Well I am very new to marine keeping, and I don't really know where to start to get rid of the brown coating on all my rocks and sand. The tank is a 12gal(if i rembright) bio-cube type tank with no modifications. After reading a bit i figured out that tap water could be part of the problem. It has CC base and no live rock in it yet... Well it had nice live rock and sand b4 we moved and let it sit dry for over 6 months. I am trying to learn on this smaller tank b4 i build a larger one and any suggestions will help. I run the lights about 12 hours a day.

The lights are a antic and a 10k pc. I guess my next step is to get a good test kit, any suggestiions on what i really need to test for?

Flame away if i need it.

BTW there is only a phusochroimis in the tank atm and i wouldn't have put him in there if i had read more on marine keeping b4 i started.

[Europhyllia]

diatoms. common for a new tank during (towards the end) of cycling.
The diatoms will go away and green algea will appear

[justahobby]

^ X2. An astrea or turbo snail would help clean it up a little. It would be very beneficial (and cost very little) to begin using rodi water exclusively. For future reference, biocube is 14 gallons.

[clay]

Thank you guys for your quick responces

are there any other cleaners i could get and a suggested amount of them I personally love snails and hermits and would love alot of them.

[justahobby]

Right now I would worry about a lack of food for very many. Perhaps one astrea and one nassarius snail is what I would do. Any reason you haven't put rock in yet and went with CC substrate?

[clay]

honstly, this was a tank we just dived into last year. At the time it was set up we had some nice xynia and colts in it as well as some mushrooms and snails. Neither of us really did any reasearch b4 we started putting things in it. When we moved we took everything back to the lfs except the rock and sand. I just set it back up about 3 weeks ago. I had the same problem then with the brown stuff. So this time i would like to try to get a lil better grasp on it b4 putting anything else in it. I am afraid the stuff will kill any live rock i put in ther right now.

The CC we put in there for feather dusters, their toobs look great when built with the stuff.

[Europhyllia]

probably more the other way around. the cycle that gets started with new live rock could possibly hurt the fish you got in there. And then start another round of the brown diatom stuff.
That's why it usually works out better to have sand and rock in there first. Let the cycle complete and then add the clean up crew. :)

[Bill S]

OK, first things first:

Find a home for the fish. Otherwise, you will likely lose it. A temporary one is fine.

If the rock isn't in the tank, put it back in. It will become "live rock" soon enough.

If you want to avoid diatoms, you will have better luck with RO/DI water, rather than tap water. Yes, there are those that are successful with tap water, but our goal here is for you to have a successful tank - not to see how far out on the high wire we can get you!

With a nano tank, my advice is to buy a bucket of salt. It will make 150-200 gallons. Instant Ocean is fine - it's cheap. If you change 5 gallons every couple or 3 weeks, you won't have to worry about dosing, alkalinity, etc. A bucket will last you a year.

Get some live rock, if you can afford it. Rubble is fine (small pieces). Then let your tank cycle.

Testing is another matter. Personally, I won't buy any other kits than Salifert. Having had enough problems with "All-in-one" kits, it's just WAY cheaper to buy the best at the start. Ones you will need:

Nitrate
pH
A good hydrometer (NOT a swing arm!) or a refractometer

If you start adding significant stony corals, you will need to re-think the above.

[clay]

Again thank you for your help, i'm sure yall are tired of answering the same questions over and over. I'll probally take the pudo back to the lfs cause i don't really have anywhere else to put him cause i really don't wanna kill him either. I do wanna do it right cause this is a trial for the bigger tank. I am really trying to learn on this b4 investing in a larger tank cause the cost i'm sure will scale very well :) As of yet I don't plan on puttin any SPS in the tank at all.

I'll pick up some rubble today and put it in with the other rock that is already in the tank hopfully it will take well. Should i cut the light while it is cycling?

[Regric25]

The lights should only be on for about 8 or 9 hours a day. At least that how long I run my lights. The diatome need very little light to grow. Just keep doing your water changes each week or 2 with RO/DI water. Keep testing your water. Usually at the end of the cycle you will get a diatom (brown) algae bloom but in time (about 2 weeks or so) it will go away on its own. Letterally it is there one day and gone the next. Because you are using tap water the bloom is much larger that it would be with RO/DI. Driving to the LFS to get rodi can be a pain in the butt so I recommend investing in an RO/DI unit for your home. They are a little pricey but it will pay for its self in no time. You def want to find the fish a new home if you ware adding more live rock. A tank cycle can take anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks depending on the size of the tank. During that time I would neep all inverts and fish out until your params are in check. Then start off by getting a astrea snail for that tank then in a week or 2 is water is good you can add 1 fish and so on.
Reducing light time to reduce algae growth is just covering up the issue because when its gone and you resume the lighting you will get the bloom all over again. Ususally blooms are a sign of excess nutrients in the water. Alot of people including myself used the middle chamber as a "fuge". There might be a small window in the middle of your tank in the back outside, if there is cool! If there is not then you can scrape away the black paint in the middle chamber to make a window. The window is so that you can put a light on the out side shining into the middle chamber. Next you can get Macro algae and put it in the middle chamber in front of the window. Turn on the fuge light when the display lights are off and turn them off when the display lights are on. The purpose of the fuge is so that the macro algae can use up the nutrients in the water so that the bad algae can not survive. You can get this stuff at any LFS. This will help keep your parms in check and your algae and nutrients in check.

Check out nanotuners.com They have some really cool stuff for biocubes. Biocubes are very customizable!

[clay]

So, would yall suggest that i keep the fish and just keep doing water changes or go ahead and get some live rock to restart a cycle. I'm thinking of starting all over basically with massive water change 50% er better and live rock,using r/o water.

[Regric25]

If you have enough liverock already there is no reason to put more in or replace it. The liverock that is in there is fine. If your params are good then you should be able to keep the fish but if you think it can't support a fish at this point then i recommend rehoming it. If you keep the fish don't do a huge water change just a 1 or 2 gallon change weekly would suffice. It will take time for the RODI water to completley replace the tap water thats in there but nothing good in this hobby happens fast. The diatom algae in the water is not bad for the fish its just mainly unsightly. I would say if parms are good keep the fish and start doing weekly 2 gallon water changes a week with RODI water. If parms are not good then rehome the fish and still do weekly water changes of 2 gallons. Keep the rock you have. Tap water is not BAD as in harmful but RODI is ALOT better than TAP. In time the diatom algae will go away. Just keep up water changes, flow, testing and a steady light cycle and you will be fine.

[justahobby]

Look for established rock from someone's tank in the for sale section. Then you won't worry about rock cycling/ releasing ammonia and keep your psuedochromis. I'll even give you a rock from my BC to get you started. But I will do you the favor that wasn't done to me.... warn you that I have asterina starfish LOL.

[Europhyllia]

But I will do you the favor that wasn't done to me.... warn you that I have asterina starfish LOL.

That's why I am going all dry rock this time. Never had asterinas but got plenty of unwanted macro algae on my rock.

[justahobby]

Dry rock is a great option too. But I always wonder how long it will last before a spore is introduce on an incoming coral.....

[clay]

Awsome, and thank you for the offer of the rock, but i live i Rockport and it would be quite a drive to get up there:) but the LFS here(Corpus Christi) is awsome and they have a ton of rubble and rock. Right now i guess i am going to try to do small water changes and reup on my testing supplies. The problem i don't think will just go away on its own so i will just have to watch and documet it alot more. Thank you all for your time and patience with me.

[Europhyllia]

Dry rock is a great option too. But I always wonder how long it will last before a spore is introduce on an incoming coral.....
Yes I'm afraid of that too. Maybe I'll just go with rock -no corals. just kidding

Good Luck Clay! It will all work out :)

[puretexn]

Take it slow. I started with this.....
http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/4812/img0698pf5.jpg

The diatoms will die off and new critters will take over in time.
http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/286/img1086o.jpg

I live down the street from you, if you need a chunk of live rock, stop on by. I have a rock or two to donate.

[kkiel02]

Phosban will help to remove silicates that the diatoms use. Phosban is probably my favorite anti-algae product so I am biased towards it.

[clay]

"Take it slow. I started with this....." How did you get a picture of my tank :)
ya you are not far at all :)

I did a test last night 0 nitrites, 0 ammonia, 20ppm nitrates, and 8.2 PH
so i think the cycle is getting close to being over with. but i need water changes bad
I'm not sure what the PH is supposed to be but it seems a lil high

[Europhyllia]

8.2 seems perfect to me

[clay]

Well i used a turkey baster and blew most of the brown stuff off Saturday. It seems not to be coming back nearly as much:) I also used ro/di saltwater from the lfs for the water changes. My phudochromis looks much better now too. How long should i wait b4 puttin in some xynia and other softie frags?? Also the refigum idea sounds very cool but i really don't know were to start with that, do i just cut the black film off the back of the tank and put a light close to it? I have a nice lil power compact only about 4 in long from a pico 1 gallon if that will work.

[SoLiD]

"Take it slow. I started with this....." How did you get a picture of my tank :)
ya you are not far at all :)

I did a test last night 0 nitrites, 0 ammonia, 20ppm nitrates, and 8.2 PH
so i think the cycle is getting close to being over with. but i need water changes bad
I'm not sure what the PH is supposed to be but it seems a lil high

I'm pretty sure if your Ammonia & Nitrites are 0 then your cycle is over... Unless you add some large live rock pieces...