Can I just scrub ugly brown diatoms off my dry rock

[Shane808262]

Sorry hear

 

[Shane808262]

Does this help ammonia 0.50 Nitrate 0 Nitrite 0

 

[road_runner]

Ok I get it.
Am gonna assume your system is still going through the cycle.
Here is what you need to do.

1- weekly water changes with good quality rodi
2- keep using carbon and change it monthly. Use good activated carbon...one that is for marine systems
4- you need to test nitrate and phosphate weekly. If your phosphate is above 0.5ppm I recommend you start using gfo.
You will see your no3 po4 start going down and the diatom will reduce and turn from brown to green. This is also normal and the 2nd phase of the cycle.
Add urchins and cleaner crew but do not do much now. Mayne 2 urchins and 4 turbo snails. Once you reach the green algae phase add more snails and nassarius.

If you want to increase the speed of the cycle you can add some bacteria strains like dr. Tim or other products. Just let me know before you do so.
Or, if you can borrow couple of actual live rocks from a friend. And add it to your system to speed up the cycle.

Either way it's just a matter of time, things will stabilize.

 

[Katrina71]

Wait it out. Add snails. No biggie. It's normal.