Yellow Sand

[kparton]

I have posted a lot lately about my second try at setting up my 50G tank. I have had an interesting phenomenon in the past day that I didn't see the last time I set up the tank. My skimmer has been running and working quite well and I have been running my lights about 8 hours per day to try and retain some of the beneficial algae that came with the rock. I have about 5-6" of sand, mostly Southdown with a 1" layer of live sand on top. The live sand has slowly been turning a yellow color, almost like dijon mustard or something. At first I thought it was just the beginnings of a slime algae phase, but now I'm not so sure. Has anyone else seen anything like this?

 

[fungia]

i had yellow sand before but it ended up being diatoms growing on the sand. i vacuum it and did some water changes and started using ro water and it was fine afterwards. maybe yours is diatom algae?

 

[LauraH]

It sounds like diatoms to me and they are normal in a fairly new system. They will usually go away on their own as the system matures.

 

[monkeyboy]

Is that like yellow snow?

If the top of the sand is turning a golden color, it's likely diatoms, the first algae to get settled in new aquariums. Not a big deal, and usually unavoidable, provided you don't have an overabundance of nutrients. Time for the herbivores; hermits and a sea cuc will help.

 

[kparton]

Sounds right. I am using RO/DI water and I have only been cycling for a few days. I plan to do a large water change on Monday and hope for the best. I actually didn't have this type of bloom the first time I set my tank up, but I'll do my best to keep it to a minimum. I think I have done all I can to keep my organics down.

 

[handyman]

my 2 cents take it or leave it.
I wouldn't use southdown its to fine.
I wouldn't go above 3" sand beds work fine at that level with the right sand
and I wouldn't run a skimmer while cycling a new tank unless it had a ton of live rock dumped in at one time and even then I wouldn't