[The_Saltwater_Kid]

I set up a new 55 gallon tank exactly 3 weeks ago. At the moment there is only about 15# LR, 70# Sand, and 4 damsels. There is an EcoSystem sump running on this tank. Right now there are Normal Output fluorescents, but I have already ordered a metal halide system which will arrive next week. Brown algae is starting to grow on the sand. Is this normal? Should I leave it alone and let it go away by itself?

Thanks in advance.

[SPasse]

The_Saltwater_Kid,

You are experiencing a brown diatom bloom.

These blooms can be a bit more of a protracted battle on a no-skimmer, algae filtered system like an EcoSystem.

It will recede with time.

Be careful adding too much of a bio-load until the macro algae gets going.

Visit my WEB site for some more details on my EcoSystem tank.

Regards,

Scott


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The definition of an expert is a washed-up drip under pressure.
You can see my reeftank at http://www.homestead.com/spasse/

Diatoms are common in a cycling system. You could also be experiencing the beginning of a cyanobacteria bloom. In both events, cranking up the water flow can help until they reside naturally.

Scott

[scubadude]

Hi SW Kid [img]/ubb/smile.gif[/img]
Welcome to reefland!

Ditto on above! Use macro algae as a tank scrubber!
Just curious have you got a clean up crew? you might want to try a few snails and hermits (most ppl stay away from crabs) to start eating/stirring the algae a bit? if a few work out then slowly add a few more. whats your water parameters? amm.,nitrite,nitrate,PH, SG, and temp? Welcome to REEFING!

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Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

[pastejohn]

hey, sw kid,

i had this problem too. it took about 5 days to settle down in my 20L. this was with a clean up crew of snails and crabs. my tank is doing fine. i think it also helped having this new sand that i got. i can't find the name of it, but it comes in water... so it is already absorbing all the good nutrients and starting the cycle within the bag. its pretty cool stuff, everyone should check it out... its something like 'ageal growth' or something. i can't remember right now, but its much better than live sand.

i also put in a little phosphate sponge thing that i created with a bag and kent phosphate remover. it was fairly expensive... but you get the use out of it. some of my brown algae grew into hair algae on the unused shells that i have sitting there. some of them have died off but some have become a feeding to all the crabs. [img]/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

well, good luck with your tank, just don't start anything too quick. damsels are a good starter fish. :]

don't try corals for a while. make sure you're lighting is all set up for a while before you start with them (it sucked when i switched mine from a lower light into a stronger light and vise versa... the xenia nearly died... still struggling sometimes)

good luck!

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[The_Saltwater_Kid]

This is not my first tank. I have another 55 reef and 2- 10 gallon reefs. I think the and you are thinking of is Nature's Ocean or something similar. I have 40# of it on top of 30# Aragomax in this tank. I am using marcoalgae to establish an algaescrubber (I AM USING AN ECOSYSTEM SUMP)