# Brown Dirt .... Help



## alljass (Jul 17, 2011)

Hi all, 

I need your help in the following; I have set up my marine tank one year ago I introduced some fishes last year before the cycle, as the pet shop guy told me ( yes I learnt it the hard way , waste of money and some poor fishes had to suffer) . After suffering all that I stopped introducing any fishes in my tank and left it for almost a year as I had to travel. Two months ago I introduced new fishes to the tank everything went great; fishes are alive and moving normally. Yet, am suffering from one thing, the brown dirt. This brown dirt shows on the glass of my tank and the sand every few days. Every time I clean the glass by whipping it with a sponge it shows again after 2 - 3 days. It’s annoying I can’t get rid of it especially when it is all over the sand. I t can also be removed by whipping it with my finger.

The lighting in my tanks works for approximatly 8 hours 

Could someone please help me with that? What is this and how can i get rid of it? Cleaning it won’t work as it re appears every few days. I tried changing 20% of the water, yet the same. 

Please help me with that anyone 

I have uploaded few pictures that might help








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## alljass (Jul 17, 2011)

ohh sorry all i think i have posted this in the wrong place


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## Levi (Mar 20, 2011)

What size tank, protein skimmer, phosphate control do you have/use? What are your water perams? Do you have enough live rock? Do you over feed? It really justy looks like a mini cycle and will eventually pass but knowing where your nitrites, nitrates, phosphates, salinity are can help figure out the issue.


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## alljass (Jul 17, 2011)

its 120 gallons, feeding is normal i dont over feed , i dont have live rock , nitrites, nitrates are normal


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## alljass (Jul 17, 2011)

so do i have to do anything now ? will it go alone eventually ? shall i just ignore it and keep whipping it with a sponge ?


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## DocPoppi (Mar 4, 2011)

That is brown algae, and can be a problem if your parameters are off. What are your test results?
I'm guessing your tank is mostly decorative bleach coral. This type of "old school" set up is just fine, and is very nice. But can create this kind of problem.
Among several causes one is lighting, to much with all of the white in the tank allows the algae to grow rapidly. (photosynthesis)
A UV filter can be benificial, but may not wipe it out.
This kind of set up is the reason folks used to say there was so much maintenance in salt water. So you can clean clean and clean... Or there are some newer ways of keeping salt water that can help.
But until anyone knows parameters and what your filters are ???


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## alljass (Jul 17, 2011)

Hi , and thanks for the reply . I hope these information helps 


pH 8.1 
Ammonia Undetectable 
Nitrite Undetectable 
Nitrate - < 1.0 ppm 

and am using 3-stage Canister Filter


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## Levi (Mar 20, 2011)

tap water can do this also. ro/di only


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## csingh07 (Sep 20, 2010)

What you have is a diatom algae issue. Don't worry too much about it, give it time and it will eventually go away. Once it exhausts the silica present in you tank, it will reach its carrying capacity and then all die off. It happens on every new tank, and may pop up once in a while when you have excess nutrients in the tank o the sand bed is stirred up (which causes more silica to be exposed)


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