brown rust phase?

[dshel1217]

Simple question, my tank has just finish cycling and i have some diatoms (brown rust looking stuff) that came up over night and has been there for about a week. Its not bad just ugly. I have heard that this is common in not yet mature tanks. How long will this last and is there anything I should do to speed it up. I also do 5 gal water changes everyweek.

40 gal tank w/15 gal sump

protien skimmer

NH3 0

NO2 0

NO3 around 5

PH 8.3

SG 1.023

Thanks

[RotaryGeek]

It really depends. It doesn't last long though. Most likely a month or two tops. You will keep getting it on your glass forever though, that's a pain in the ***.

[+etannert]

What shows up on glass is biofilm, not diatoms. Diatoms are a form of algae that eats silicates, which is present in new sand; they'll persist for as long as there's a food source, which is why you shouldn't stir up your sand to get rid of them - it just brings new food to the surface. A good clean-up crew can help, as can sufficient flow in affected areas. If your source water is high in silicates, it can stick around for awhile, but otherwise should only last a few weeks.

[DaJMasta]

+1 to flow and CUC if you want it gone. It won't be a problem in the long term.

[Juiceman]

All of mine just dissapeared after about 3 months, I got a large CUC from Reef Cleaners, and was running carbon, and doing frequent small water changes, I had that problem for about two and a half months, then it cleared up in 2 weeks after I made those changes.

[afgun]

A large cleanup crew keeps ours in check

[dshel1217]

Thanks for everyones help. I will tell everyone about this site, that has a saltwater tank and maybe a few that don't.