White Sandbed turns Brownish

[ckwhon]

Hi i have been cycling my tank with new sandbed for about 3 weeks...

can see that the white sandbed starts turning brownish... what could be the problem???

[BarraCudaTM]

That is normal for the cycling period, the diatom (brown algae) will die off after their food source (silicates) were used up.

[SBS_Transit]

try not to on the light too long, and have a powerhead or something to move the water

[xiggie]

think the sand is rotten

[ivanlaw]

Me got the same problem.

I clean up the tank..stir the sand and change 20 % water.

Is that ok??

[Weapon_Master]

You dont need to turn on lights during cycling. Given that you do not have any corals that are dependent of lights for survival.

Off your lights for now until you really need to turn them on.

I think this is new tank syndrome and I am facing it as well. I have pretty high PO4 at 0.5 and I am trying to control it using Rowaphos.

Some reefers have commented that Biophos is good as well and slightly cheaper.

In the meantime if you are still cycling, i think you should off your lights and save some $$$ on electricity bill.

[Aerohigh]

After cycling

Adding Sea Cucumber really helps to clean up the sand .

Didn't believe it till my friend shows me his 5 ft tank with 4 sea cucumber added and result shown when u see the sea cucumber start eating the brown algea.....

[ckwhon]

well my sandbed has turned almost brownish on the surface since i started this thread.... could it be the high PO4.... seems like the algae wont stop... even the glass wall starts to have a bit of brownish stain....