Hey all, please see the pics of a growth that has been accumulating on my sand bed and now on my rocks.
What is it? I tried searching the forum and couldn’t find much. Maybe I need to search better.
I started my 55 gallon, fish only tank on 6/22 cycled with Fritz turbo start and added two clowns on 6/28 when my ammonia was down to .25 and nitrates were 10. I’ve been told that there may be some false positives with the API SW master test kit so I recently ordered Salifert test kits for nitrate and phosphate.
Note that I’m using tap water conditioned with Prime. I hear that tap water is likely the culprit for unwanted algae and plan on switching to RODI water in the near future. My city water report is below:
Total Hardness: 10-12 mg/l
Nitrate: .064 mg/l
Flouride: .68 mg/l
Copper: .03 ppm
Lead: .005 ppm
Haloacetic Acids Five: .00099 ppm
Chlorine: 2.6 ppm
Total Trihalomethanes: .0003
Sulfate: They do not test
Calcium: They only test for calcium hardness
Magnesium: They do not test
I did a 20% water change on 7/8 and added a 3.5 sergeant major that I’m feeding frozen squid (not sure if this matters, but it is something different that I’m doing) along with New Life Spectrum Marine Fish. I make sure to remove uneaten food.
I’ve noticed small brown spots on the sand but now it looks like it’s accelerating. My parameters measured this morning are:
pH: 7.8
Ammonia: .5
NO2: 2
NO3: 10
Tank temperature: 77.4 F
Salinity: 30 PPT
The last picture is some dark substance that I’ve seen in my sand before. I’m using CaribSea Super Naturals substrate.
I appreciate any help and guidance.
What is it? I tried searching the forum and couldn’t find much. Maybe I need to search better.
I started my 55 gallon, fish only tank on 6/22 cycled with Fritz turbo start and added two clowns on 6/28 when my ammonia was down to .25 and nitrates were 10. I’ve been told that there may be some false positives with the API SW master test kit so I recently ordered Salifert test kits for nitrate and phosphate.
Note that I’m using tap water conditioned with Prime. I hear that tap water is likely the culprit for unwanted algae and plan on switching to RODI water in the near future. My city water report is below:
Total Hardness: 10-12 mg/l
Nitrate: .064 mg/l
Flouride: .68 mg/l
Copper: .03 ppm
Lead: .005 ppm
Haloacetic Acids Five: .00099 ppm
Chlorine: 2.6 ppm
Total Trihalomethanes: .0003
Sulfate: They do not test
Calcium: They only test for calcium hardness
Magnesium: They do not test
I did a 20% water change on 7/8 and added a 3.5 sergeant major that I’m feeding frozen squid (not sure if this matters, but it is something different that I’m doing) along with New Life Spectrum Marine Fish. I make sure to remove uneaten food.
I’ve noticed small brown spots on the sand but now it looks like it’s accelerating. My parameters measured this morning are:
pH: 7.8
Ammonia: .5
NO2: 2
NO3: 10
Tank temperature: 77.4 F
Salinity: 30 PPT
The last picture is some dark substance that I’ve seen in my sand before. I’m using CaribSea Super Naturals substrate.
I appreciate any help and guidance.