Re: Brown Brown and Brown

[Andrew Dillard]

have you seeded your tank with infauna or detritvore kits of any kind? Probably not since youve only been cycling a week.  As soon as ammonia and nitrite are at 0 then you should add some sort of live sand or kit as well as nutrient export.  Not doing this will allow the diatoms to get ahead of whatever consumers or export system you add.  I would suggest some of the strombus maculatus snails available at www.ipsf.com, these are the best diatom eaters IME and they reproduce readily in aquariums.  Even if you dont have a DSB it is important to establish some type of nutrient export, skimmer, refugium, etc.  Adding some macroalgae can help you skip or only slightly experience the dreaded cyano phase.  Also, depending on the type of hermits, you might want to get rid of them.  Certain species will not hesitate to kill snails for their shells even if other shells are added by you.     IME Andrew   Andrew ----- Original Message ----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2001 5:17 PM Subject: Brown Brown and Brown My tank has been cycling a little over a week. I have live rock, sand and 3 hermits. Everything is turning brown - sand, rock, glass. Algae? Is this normal?????? What about the purple coraline algae on the rock? Will it turn brown also. I like the purple color. Please help, Thanks, [EMAIL PROTECTED]