Archie Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 Hey guys, I am 2 weeks in to my tank and the past few days I have noticed some orange stuff building up on some of my live rock and sand. I also spotted a few small worms and tonight i turned off the light in the tank for about 15 min and when i turned it back on there were some small creatures at the bottom of the tank. The biggest one was about 1/4 inch long and looked like a small clear shrimp. I could not get any pictures to show this though. Any thoughts? I attached some pictures for you guys to look at. Right now I just have a filter some live rock and one clown fish in the tank. I was planning on adding coral and more fish maybe this week. I know I need to get some better lighting and was planning on picking up a powerhead for circulation in the tank tomorrow. Does everything look alright in the pictures and is there anything I need to be looking for? Thanks for the help. This was day 3, I added live rock and a clown fish to the tank. PH level is stable. These pictures were taking 4 days ago and some today. The worm is pictured on this first picture of this set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshman1204 Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 The orange stuff is just a diatom bloom and is completely normal for a new tank. It will go away over the next few weeks. The creatures you see are pods and they are a very good part of any healthy tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starsprinkle Rainbowsmile Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 If you are two weeks into a new tank cycle, then: Orangeish-brownish stuff is a diatom bloom. This is a normal part of the cycle. Google up on it. The worm is a bristle worm. Almost every tank has these. One of your pics looks to have some tube worms, also a sign your tank is maturing. The shrimp like creature is probably a copepod; a sign that your tank is maturing. Do not add corals or fish until your tank is finished cycling. Read up on cycling a new marine tank, and don't be in too much of a hurry. Also, what kind of lights do you have and how big is the tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medi Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 If you haven't already you need to get at the very least one powerhead to get that water moving. One of the most important things in a saltwater tank is water flow. Nothing will survive without at least a little water movement. +1 on waiting. Three days is way too soon to be adding fish. There are a lot of good ways to cycle a tank, and there are a ton of articles on the internet going over every detail of how to do it properly. The one thing I will recommend is pick up a product call seachem stability. It is a bacterial starter that will get your tank cycling quick. They sell it as Aquatek and I think RCA has it as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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