Brown dust

[zibnata]

My tank is 4 mos old ,55 gallon, I had 50 lbs LR.I just added 15 more lbs cured LR. Is that the reason why my glass,rock,substrate is covered with brown dust ?If thats the case,what is it and when will it clear up ? Another possibility is that one of my actinic bulbs broke and all I had to replace it with is a 4100 k pc bulb. I now have 1-55w actginic,2-55w 10000k and 1-4100k. Could the 4100k light be causing this ?The actinic replacement is on its way. My readings are
ammonia-0
nitrites-0
ph-8.2
nitrates-20
salinity- 1.024
temp-80

I have snails,crabs,2 cleaner shrimp,yellow tang,hippo tang,clown,scotter blennie,and 2 damsels.Mushroom and bubble coral.

fluval 304 filter,protien skimmer,2 power heads.THANKS

 

[Mikef1]

It sounds to me you have a diatom bloom in your tank. From what you described it could be a few things. First the new live rock bringing phospates to your tank. Second your nitrate is a bit high and sometimes can cause an algae bloom, which was probly cause by the new LR in the first place. I dont know if the lighting could have effected it. I would do a big water change with RO/DI water and run a phosphate remover like RowaPhos or kent phosphate sponge. The water change should bring your nitrates down. Hope this helps.

 

[zibnata]

I will do it tommarrow, Thanks

 

[aquarist=broke]

May I recommend putting a powerfilter (with the blue filter) on your tank. It will filter out the floating diatoms which will reduce the problem. Diatoms are definately a normal part of starting a tank. Check out this thread for some info: http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=22837&highlight=brown+algea

or do a search for brown algae or diatoms.

HTH

 

[insomniak79]

It's possible that the addition of live rock started a mini-cycle. How often have you been doing water changes? I'd suggest 15-20% weekly or so, until your nitrates go down to <10. Make sure you also clean any debris off your LR & substrate during water changes. Also, what is your substrate (live sand, crushed coral)? Most reefers I know would suggest a sand bed of at least 3" or so with a fine grain sand. Good luck! -BT

 

[aquarist=broke]

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Make sure that you rinse the blue filter cartrige out daily to prevent any blockage (which it will definately have).

 

[zibnata]

Unfortunatly I have crushed coral.I do weekly 10% water changes.Maybe I should increase to 15%.
What is a power filter ? Thanks

 

[aquarist=broke]

it looks something like this:

 

[Anonymous]

High silica content in water is the main contributor. Test your make up water and run it through a DI cartridge to remove it. Until I could afford a RO/DI unit I did this for a year. My tap water has a high silica content and this was a must. Astrea snails really love this algae as well. Also it will help to have more circulation, keeping it suspended for a mechanical filter as suggested. Before you know it, it'll be gone!

Regards, Eric

 

[zibnata]

thanks everyone