Brown stuff everywhere..

[Michelle50]

I could use some help, any help. About a month ago my husband and I changed our substrate from c coral to sand. I notied about a week later that there was a brown layer of stuff growing on the sand and on the sand that had landed on our LR. At first, I thought it might be diatoms. But I was told that it was probably cyanobacteria. Since then we have added two more power heads, one rotates, and we have them down low. And we have started using carbon filter. Both of these have done very little to improve the situation. We have done 10-15% water changes in the past three weeks, with the Ro, pre-mixed water from the lfs. We suck out the brown stuff but in a day or so it comes back. I have noticed that the stuff lessens at night, when the lights are off. I am planning on cutting back the lighting time from 12 to 10 hours. This stuff is even on the glass and has managed to tinge everything (with exception of the fish) in our tank an ugly brown color. Even the snails are brown! What else can I do? Please help. Any input would be helpfull. Also, my pH, nitrates and nitrites are a bit high. Could the cyano or whatever it is be the cause?
Thanks,
Michelle
Just thought I would add this stuff just in case you need it.
55 gal.
3 to 4 inch sand bed
two fish..yellow tang..tomato clown..a few snails and hermits
hang on wet/dry with bio-balls (im slowly changing these to lr)
the wet/dry has a built in protein skimmer
22 lbs lr..adding more soon when finishes curing
also, the lighting on the tank is old..im getting new bulbs when they come off back order

 

[Scrooge2]

There seem to be many possible reasons for your problems. Changing the sandbed could have caused some temporary problems that should settle down soon. Bad lights could be it. Nitrates are definitely in there. Nitrites will soon be nitrates, hopefully very soon so your fish don't suffer too much. IMHO, the cyano isn't causing your water quality problems, but your water quality is causing the cyano. I would change the lights, do a decent size water change, be sure to use RO/DI and then wait. Don't add more LR or remove more bioballs just yet, wait until your trites are zero.

 

[pez]

There are a number of things that cause cyno, but it almost always relates to poor water quality. You didn't say, but what are your pH, calcium, alkalinity, and salinity values? Also, how often do you feed and are you dosing anything? Also, give this a read:

http://www.cyberreefguru.com/fish/ref/cyno.html

Best of luck.

-Tom

 

[AnotherGoldenTeapot]

Cyano tolerates clean water too. It's very easy to get rid of it in clean water (since it only "tolerates" those conditions).

You can get a cyano outbreak by introducing it to a clean tank with a piece of new live rock etc.

Since there are two fundimentally opposed schools of thought on treatment it's best you read lots of the past threads on this subject to then form your own balanced view of how to treat it (assuming you have it).

Nitrite is not toxic to saltwater fish. If you're measuring this your tank has lost too much of it's bio-material and is doing a bit of a recycle.

If you have nitrite then you will measure high nitrates with most tests (because of the way most nitrate tests work - generally they are very inaccurate (read too high) if there is measurable nitrite in the tank).

Diatoms are easily recognised as they invariably form gas bubbles that rise to the surface on strands of goo. Cyano on the other hand mostly just smears over surfaces.

Lighting is irrelivant imo.

If the sand you added was of the silicate variety (generic brown colored stuff - not the white stuff) then maybe it's releasing silicate into the water (to be honest I don't know whether the sand is sufficently soluble to be causing a problem - someone else will be able to comment). If this is the case then my money is on you having a diatom problem.

Removing all phospahte / silicate from the tank will make get rid of diatoms and make life tough for cyano. Getting rid of cyano then either requires a lot of patience or medication (read this as the six-month cure versus the one-day cure).

 

[Michelle50]

Thanks alot for the advice and the link to the page. I think alot of it maybe my old lighting. Cause when the lights go out it gets alot less dense. And the lighting I have now is very old. Being new to this hobby, (i've had a fish only tank for a while)im trying to get everything right for a reef system. I've never measured my calcium. I have asked advice before on this at another board. And they mentioned something about silicates too. Is there a kit to measure silicates? Sorry, like I said im new. But, here are the readings on the other stuff.
pH 8.2
Nitrate 10-15ppm
Nitrite .25
Ammonia 0
SG 1.025
temp 75
I am running three powerheads two are the 175g/hour and one is a power sweep 270g/hour
I also am running a regular old hang on Whisper filter with filter in and my hang on wet/dry with the bio-balls ( I was told I should take out these balls and add LR in their place) and the wet/dry has a built in protein skimmer.

Any more ideas and help would be great. I am still trying to decide if it is truely cyano. I can't find a picture on the web to clue me in. If anyone has pics of the stuff I would be greatful.

Thanks again,
Michelle

 

[Michelle50]

I forgot to add that I feed only once a day sometimes I skip a day and no I'm not treating with anything at all.

 

[Michelle50]

Ok got the test kits and my Alk is 3.2
My Ca test kit has a Medium CA and a High CA
Med Ca 400
High Ca 460

My book says these are ok parameters. I did ask the guy at the lfs and he said it was just cycling. Everything else still measures the same. Any more ideas?

Michelle