brown crap in tank

[scott89wing]

ive just started my 125 about 2 months ago and thes some brown stuff all over everything rock and sand and glass what is it what will get rid of it what can i do ? please help

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

Got a pic? Do an image search on diatoms. If that's what you got. Give it time and it will work itself out.

[Original Fin]

ive just started my 125 about 2 months ago and thes some brown stuff all over everything rock and sand and glass what is it what will get rid of it what can i do ? please help

I agree with diatoms if it's dry and powdery looking. Very common in new tanks, and can be quite prevalent for 4-9 months. Normal stuff, not harmful, just a bit more work at first to keep the glass clean. If it stays really excessive, coils be an indication of high silicates in source water.

[scott89wing]

so will this just goaway or will i have to vac or filter it out somehow its plain makes the tank ugly

[Original Fin]

so will this just goaway or will i have to vac or filter it out somehow its plain makes the tank ugly

Depends on a couple things. If you have a sand substrate, you can't vacuum it without vacuuming the sand too. You can rake the top 1/8" of the sand bed if the look of t bothers you, but you'll be doing this every day. Don't rake any deeper than that, it has the potential to release nutrients and toxins into the water column.

If you have a crushed coral substrate, you can vacuum to your hearts content, but you should only be using that in a fish only system. Reef substrate should be sand, or none at all, or else detritus will get trapped in the pockets and give you nitrate problems.

Diatoms never completely go away, but will eventually be more or less unnoticeable as the tank matures.

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

Depends on a couple things. If you have a sand substrate, you can't vacuum it without vacuuming the sand too. You can rake the top 1/8" of the sand bed if the look of t bothers you, but you'll be doing this every day. Don't rake any deeper than that, it has the potential to release nutrients and toxins into the water column.

If you have a crushed coral substrate, you can vacuum to your hearts content, but you should only be using that in a fish only system. Reef substrate should be sand, or none at all, or else detritus will get trapped in the pockets and give you nitrate problems.

Diatoms never completely go away, but will eventually be more or less unnoticeable as the tank matures.

[scott89wing]

yes i have sand and the sand bed is about 4 inches thick i wiped it all down yesterday and then racked glass and cleaned my sock filter and then this morning its back just as bad as before sure hope this crap goes away soon

[Original Fin]

It can take a while. Just know that it's normal.

High amounts of silicates in your source water (especially tap) are known to worsen this condition. This is just one of the reasons most experienced reefers opt for buying RODI water filters. What kind of water are you using for changes/top off?