Brown sand and rocks

[Brandon2741]

Hello reef community
I started my aquarium on march 8th first day of cycle, since then its went through a ton of changes ad ons ect...
About 2 days ago I added a DIY gfo reactor in the sump just to help with algae blooms and whatever may come,
This morning I awoke to a lot of brown stuff on sand and rocks appear to have it as well. My system is fairly new I know but I am no expert by any means and wanted to check with the pros on opinions as far as should I just continue with everything as normal or should I try to combat this ASAP, im doing weekly 20gal water changes, dripping kalk from 10gal ato resorvoir, I also have been dosing phytoplankton every 2 to 3 days around 6ml from seachem. When I started the phyto I noticed a huge bloom of copepods so thats why fyi.
My setup is a 90 dt with a 30 bashsea smart sump, 200int reef octo skimmer, jebao 5000 DC return, jebao sw-8 wavemaker, 2 jebao sow-8, and 2 cheapies in back blowing against back glass, theres a ton of flow in tank! Maybe too much?? Opinion welcome
Been using reef crystals and so far happy with it besides amazon sending me one batch that had my ph at 7.8 from 8.4 salinity at 1.027 ph 8.4 ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate always at 0, calcium from what I know using old test kit 420-460. Havent tested alk or silicates or phosphate since I dont currently have a kit for those, but I am running a 5 stage ro/di out of my garage also need a tds meter lol Geeze list never ends. Let me know what you guys think and if im doing anything wrong or could be doing something different im hope to ideas! Thanks again for your time and knowledge!

 

[LIreefguy]

Diatoms totally normal in a new tank. It will go away over time

 

[anemoneanatomy]

First of all, that's a really pretty set up and a beautiful hardscape.

That looks like brown diatomaceous algae. It should bloom and then die off without too much issue, but if you want to help it along, you can fold the substrate so that it ends up under the sand (where it will be devoid of light and starve to death) / gently brush the live rock it has settled on.

Also, who's on your cleanup crew?

 

[Brandon2741]

Im doing another WC tomorrow morning is it ok to vacuum it out you think? I have well had 12 nerites, 6 ceriths, 3 turbo's, 3 olive, 6 scarlet leg hermits, and now moved to the fuge 2 emerald green crabs which may be making their way back to lfs lol they were chomping on my Xenia my only coral so far and now theyve plowed through my calurpa that was doing amazing in the fuge so idk whether to ditch them completely or not I do like the a lot lol not as much as coral though! Im sure i need to add more cuc soon my hermits are sporting some of my snails shells so idk what happened to the snails, possible the crabs?? Had a orchid dottyback that turned up missing as well another reason I moved the crabs

 

[anemoneanatomy]

Im doing another WC tomorrow morning is it ok to vacuum it out you think? I have well had 12 nerites, 6 ceriths, 3 turbo's, 3 olive, 6 scarlet leg hermits, and now moved to the fuge 2 emerald green crabs which may be making their way back to lfs lol they were chomping on my Xenia my only coral so far and now theyve plowed through my calurpa that was doing amazing in the fuge so idk whether to ditch them completely or not I do like the a lot lol not as much as coral though! Im sure i need to add more cuc soon my hermits are sporting some of my snails shells so idk what happened to the snails, possible the crabs?? Had a orchid dottyback that turned up missing as well another reason I moved the crabs

Emerald crabs are the likely culprit if you had a whole fish go missing or end up dead. They are content with detritus if there's enough of it, but will absolutely prey on fish if they are hungry. They tend to ambush fish that like to explore rockwork or hang out in caves (like your poor dottyback). You can probably keep them in the sump. You can also probably take them back to the store and give one a try several months from now when your aquarium is more established and there's more muck for them to eat.

And while your cleanup crew is extensive, I think you could use more sand-sifting than that, as your snails are not going to help you in that regard. I'd recommend more marine hermits, since that's what they'll do if they can't just snack on stuff that settles atop the sand.

Oh, and to your original question, yes, it is absolutely okay to vacuum up the diatoms when you do a WC.

 

[Brandon2741]

Emerald crabs are the likely culprit if you had a whole fish go missing or end up dead. They are content with detritus if there's enough of it, but will absolutely prey on fish if they are hungry. They tend to ambush fish that like to explore rockwork or hang out in caves (like your poor dottyback). You can probably keep them in the sump. You can also probably take them back to the store and give one a try several months from now when your aquarium is more established and there's more muck for them to eat.

And while your cleanup crew is extensive, I think you could use more sand-sifting than that, as your snails are not going to help you in that regard. I'd recommend more marine hermits, since that's what they'll do if they can't just snack on stuff that settles atop the sand.

Oh, and to your original question, yes, it is absolutely okay to vacuum up the diatoms when you do a WC.

Thanks for the reply ill get out sometime this week and pick some up, are there any that are better than others or just plain ol hermits fine? Also any thoughts for/against sand sifting stars?

 

[Brandon2741]

Diatoms totally normal in a new tank. It will go away over time

Thank you for the reply, just kinda had me pondering and a little scared lol seeing bubbles in with the brown, so now just the waiting game im assuming

 

[PR_nano]

That first picture looks like dino and you also mentioned Nitrates always been at 0 which some attribute the nutrient deficiency to it. You might want to get detectable Nitrates level and confirm if that's dino or diatoms. Gl I been battling Amphidinium for a few months now.