Brown On My Dsb

[mbu man]

ive had my tank set up for over a year now.
i have 2 blue moon t5s
and 4 white t5s.
ive noticed recentyl that in the morning when the 2 blue moons come on first that the sand is completly white,then my 4 whites come on later in the day,over a period of time my sand goes brown and so does parts of my live rock.
ive turned my skimmer up a bit so that its doing more of a wet skim.
but the next morning after the light s have been off over night that the sand is white again,then the same thing happens again
why is this

 

[Truck]

it will be diatoms. a bacteria that grows on rocks substrare, and plants. reduce your light time by a few hours each day.

 

[mbu man]

it will be diatoms. a bacteria that grows on rocks substrare, and plants. reduce your light time by a few hours each day.

my lights are only on from 3pm to 10pm is t hat to long?
would it be that my bulbs need replacing?

 

[Truck]

i used to have this problem i woul reduce it to 5 hours and see how it goes. is your tank in direct sunlight? and also if neither of them work you could lower the intensity of the lights by putting them on a dimmer switch. one for the electrician. your bulbs shouldnt need replacing

 

[mbu man]

i used to have this problem i woul reduce it to 5 hours and see how it goes. is your tank in direct sunlight? and also if neither of them work you could lower the intensity of the lights by putting them on a dimmer switch. one for the electrician. your bulbs shouldnt need replacing

yes ill give that a try,only thing is,is that the lights come on at 3pm and when i come home from work at 5pm the sand is already brown,so within 2 hours the sand is brown??
1 thing that ive done different is i had a massive out break of hair algae so i put some roaphos in my filters,the hair algae is going,it wouldnt have anything to do with the hair algae breaking down?
and no tank is not in direct sunlight.

 

[mbu man]

i used to have this problem i woul reduce it to 5 hours and see how it goes. is your tank in direct sunlight? and also if neither of them work you could lower the intensity of the lights by putting them on a dimmer switch. one for the electrician. your bulbs shouldnt need replacing

yes ill give that a try,only thing is,is that the lights come on at 3pm and when i come home from work at 5pm the sand is already brown,so within 2 hours the sand is brown??
1 thing that ive done different is i had a massive out break of hair algae so i put some roaphos in my filters,the hair algae is going,it wouldnt have anything to do with the hair algae breaking down?
and no tank is not in direct sunlight.

anyone?

 

[BracKeeper75]

In my opionon...

There are a few different things that could be causing this. They are in fact diatoms, smal lillte animals that live in your aquarium. This is not a bacteria or an algae! They are not " bad for your aquarium, however they are not visually appealing!

The first time we usually see them is at the end of your original cycle, sometimes referrred to as "new tank syndrome". Once the tank is established they go away on thier own. I don't think this is your issue, however have you tested everything recently, maybe a mini cycle could have prompted this?

The second possible cause is silicates in the water! This can be from a number of varius things. These little things thrive off of silicates. So the questions to ask yourself here are the following...
What kind of substrate do you use, and are you sure it is silicate free?
Is there anything not approved for use in an aquarium? If so could that be leaking silicates into the water.
Where do you get your water for the tank from, and is there a silicate source there?

The third possible cause could be just poor water quality..
do you test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ,alkalinity, ph, calcium, phosphate?
Are you using ro/di water to fill/top off?
Bad water quality = ugly things growing in tank.

Last but not least...

Light can be a culprit as well, however too much light is not usually the case. Usually it is bulbs that are being use past their time. Most of the lights that we put on our aquarium need to be changed every 6-8 moths if you are using old lamps its time to change them I would have a photo period of 10 hour actinic with 8 hours of daylight overlapping.

Hope this helps!