Dirt algae?!?!

[Tri0 #3]

My tank has been doing fine. It seems their is a new algae growing on the sand. It looks like dirt. I saw my friend has a similar algae and it soon took ove rhis tank his water got cloudy, all his corals died as well. A small portion of the sand has it but it seemes it is spreading? HAs anyone faced this problem? PLz let me know what I should do

 

[JohnS_323]

What you're seeing is a natural part of the cycle process. It's diatom algae and if you're seeing this, you are not completely through cycling your tank.

Just ride it out. It lasts about two weeks and really makes the tank look lousy. But then all of sudden it starts to go away and everything looks good again.

 

[Tri0 #3]

Well I thoght cycling only does its process within a month or 2. It's the 3rd month. I know theres a part of the cycle where the sand lookls like toast but this is literally brown like a dark brown. Its been 3 months since my tank hhas been up. Before the sand looked somewhat toasy, now it looks like dirt.

 

[Brian]

The cycling process can take months and months... The faster you try to do anything, the longer it is going to take...

Have you done any water testing? I would post the results here this way we can better diagnose your problem.

FWIW I had a tank that looked like total garbage for about 6 months....after I stopped adding all the miracle cures and doing pointless water changes, everything leveled off and the tank looked great.

 

[Erich]

I also agree take a water check. Or take a sample to your local pet shop to see what you may be missing.

 

[Tri0 #3]

here are my test results
phosphate- 0.25
Ammonia- 0.3
pH- 8.5
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate- 0

 

[Brian]

Your Phosphates are high and you shouldn't be showing ANY ammonia. Sounds like your tank is still cycling to me.. You must have some kind of die off in the tank if it's been 3 months and you still have an ammo reading. Your PH is a bit on the high side as well. Should be around 8.2

HTH