Brown Sand

[Rick Winans]

Every couple of days my sand bed gets a brown hough to is. I stir it up then it comes back. Do I need a stronger water flow over the sand?

 

[jsiker]

How old is the tank? It sounds like you are getting diatoms but without a picture it is difficult to know.

 

[Nick92515]

Pics please. And water params wpuld be good.

 

[Highgrade]

Diatoms most likely. Possibly Cyano but it should be red not brown.

 

[Rick Winans]

75 gal. 4mos.old. lighting aquaticlife reef edge led, I use test srtips. parameters are good. calcium high at about 520. On cyan. Had a 200 gal. 5 yrs. ago, did not have this problem. Missed the tank but not the labor. so downsized.

 

[Highgrade]

75 gal. 4mos.old. lighting aquaticlife reef edge led, I use test srtips. parameters are good. calcium high at about 520. On cyan. Had a 200 gal. 5 yrs. ago, did not have this problem. Missed the tank but not the labor. so downsized.

Is any of it stringy or clumps together? Is your lighting fixture mainly whites? What is your lighting cycle? Tank is still fairly new and most likely is just one of the phases it will go through. More flow may help.

 

[Bluefish9]

Pretty normal for a 4month old tank. Increased flow and reduced lighting helps and I'll tell you what... once I started that diatom phase, I tossed some fighting conchs in the tank... had white sand the next morning. They are no joke lol

 

[Rob Lion]

Welcome to the "ugly" stage in your tank! It won't last long, maybe a month, its just diatoms.

Diatoms love silicates, so make sure you are using 0 TDS RODI with a good silicate removing DI resin. Check your salt make for what silicates (if any) it contains.

Once they have consumed all the silicates in your tank, and that you are not adding too much more, they will die off quick.

If your sandbed is not too deep, i.e. less than 2" then giving it a daily stir will help, as would reducing the lighting and increasing water flow over the bed.

 

[Rick Winans]

Lighting is 71w , 27-9k white, 69-blue 454nm, 6-blue 440nm, 3-violet 420nm, 3- violet 400nm, 6-red.sunrise starts at 8am until 10am then full on until 5pm, then back to sunset until 8pm them blue only til midnight. also have not used rod like I did in big tank, declorinated city water. sand is clumpy not stringy.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

also have not used rod like I did in big tank, declorinated city water. sand is clumpy not stringy.

its that.

 

[Rob Lion]

yep, basically, your city water will have a high amount of Total Dissolved Solids, basically heavy metals, none of which are generally good for a reef tank. It will also be high in ions, like silicates and nitrates and phosphates... all of which will definitely come back to haunt you.

If you are really stuck with having to use de-chlorinated tap water, make sure you;

1. have a good quality Granulated Active Carbon, preferably in a reactor, gentle moving the carbon so as not to grind it away, thus releasing what it has captured back into the tank.
2. You may want to get a large sponge coral to help filter the water and consume some of the silicates.
3. be prepared for algae....!! you will get it, a refugium / algae reactor / Algae Turf Scrubber may be something to look into.

At the moment, it;s just diatoms..... don't panic.... see how it goes.... but if you are still battling them in more than 4-6 weeks, consider the above, but price wise... an RODI unit will be the more cost effective, especially if you invest in one ASAP, rather than letting your rocks get loaded with nasties that will come out later.

 

[Kellye]

Welcome to the "ugly" stage in your tank! It won't last long, maybe a month, its just diatoms.

Diatoms love silicates, so make sure you are using 0 TDS RODI with a good silicate removing DI resin. Check your salt make for what silicates (if any) it contains.

Once they have consumed all the silicates in your tank, and that you are not adding too much more, they will die off quick.

If your sandbed is not too deep, i.e. less than 2" then giving it a daily stir will help, as would reducing the lighting and increasing water flow over the bed.

What do you mean “daily stir” my sand is so fine it will cloud up the tank. I have brown on the sand also. I have a Tideline AIO 11.3g parameters are perfect (reef store tests and maintains tank right now) I use RO and they’re salt water. I don’t know what they use. I’m a newbie. I’ve had the tank for 8 weeks. So what I hear is you say it’s cycling and to leave it just ensure water flow. Or stir the tank.

 

[Dan_P]

Every couple of days my sand bed gets a brown hough to is. I stir it up then it comes back. Do I need a stronger water flow over the sand?

Normal for a new system.

 

[sergifed91]

i have the same issue since i moved the tank when I bought a new house. I lost a wave maker now the sand is brown and my cabbage coral is a little brown.