HELP! Brown stuff on my sand!

[mikelam]

I bought a used BioCube 29 and the previous owner left some of the sand. When I was looking at the tank , before I bought it, there were dark brown streaks on the sand. I didn't think much about it then, but now it's back (2 months). I don't think it's diatoms. It's rust brown, kind of stringy, sticks together and gets darker in the afternoon. What is it? Does it need to go? How? I have muddled as best I could through this forum and couldn't find it. Help and Thanks!

 

[sambrinar]

suck it out with your siphon hose sounds like cyano or slime to me. are you over feeding your tank and what kind of water are you using?

 

[joewell]

Check your water source

 

[mikelam]

I need to join over-feeders anon, and am trying to reform. I just got a Spectra-Pure RODI filter and will use that water today, before that, it was supermarket RO water. I will test the new H2O before I use it. I don't have a skimmer and am trying to get rid of the bioballs (there are about 1/4 left). Could that be contributing to the problem? I have had diatom blooms and they were light brown, scummy and everywhere. This is really dark brown and stringy and only on the sand.
I should have been more careful when I bought this tank, hindsight is 20/20 right? It's been very frustrating as I didn't have these problems in my old tank.

 

[staresatrocks]

I think Brenda's right that your brown stuff is cyano, and getting rid of the rest of your bioballs will help, as well as kicking the over-feeding habit. (It's so hard not to reward the fish for the cute begging behavior!)

 

[mikelam]

Thanks, my water was okay and I siphoned a lot of the brown stuff out (including some sand). Now, I will read up on cyano. My fish don't much like their "cuteness" going unrewarded but I will be strong.

 

[johnmaloney]

dinoflagellates?

 

[yvr]

Algae problems are usually caused by aquarium water with excess nutrients like phosphate, nitrates etc. You can try and siphon out what you can to remove the algae in the short term. In the long term you may have to examine how you care for your tank. There are some commercial dry foods also contain excess nutrients and other undesirable things like nitrates, phosphates etc so I strain/rinse my fresh/frozen foods before feeding my tank. You can add a phosphate remover and increasing flow in your tank You may want to consider feeding your fish less often. Also using RO/DI water and a high quality salt with minimal NO3, phosphates etc like Tropic Marin will really help too. Having better waterflow around the problem areas on your substrate may be another helpful tip.