brown stuff growing

**Chris24** · 06-06-2007, 07:13 PM

not sure what this is...new 10g tank in the cycling process, ammonia levels are on the rise, and im doing 20% water changes daily or every other day to keep them down. nitrites and nitrates and barely starting to make their first appearance. i wish i could show more detail, but its just a webcam. up close it looks like lots of little brown dots.

im wondering if this is the bacteria making the nitrites/nitrates? im not sure. wondering if it could be something else or something i should be worried about.

**Drumachine09** · 06-06-2007, 07:14 PM

Do you have fish in the aquarium right now?

**hungryhound** · 06-06-2007, 07:17 PM

It looks like Daitoms to me. It is a type of algae that is found commonly in new aquarium. It needs silicates to grow and most new aquarium leach silicates into the water via the silicone seals.

Usually it goes away on its own in a month, just as quickly as it came. You can easily wipe it off the decorations, but you may want to wait a little while as you really shouldn't do any cleaning while your tank is cycling.

Do you have plants in the tank. You can starve if you leave the lights off.

**Drumachine09** · 06-06-2007, 07:18 PM

Wait, i thought it was silicates?

**hungryhound** · 06-06-2007, 07:19 PM

Originally Posted by Drumachine09

Wait, i thought it was silicates?

You are correct. It is silicates that leach from the silicone. I mixed up the wording.I edited my first post as to not confuse anyone.

**Drumachine09** · 06-06-2007, 07:24 PM

Originally Posted by hungryhound

You are correct. It is silicates that leach from the silicone. I mixed up the wording.I edited my first post as to not confuse anyone.

Good thing im here to catch your mistakes......ill be quiet now....lol :28:

**Chris24** · 06-06-2007, 09:01 PM

thanks. it doesnt really bother me as long as it doesnt harm the fish. yes, there is a rainbow shark in there. there was some other stuff growing in there, looked white and fluffy/furry, but that went away after 2-3 days.

**gm72** · 06-07-2007, 02:08 AM

Chris, hate to rain on your parade, but a rainbow shark in a 10 gallon is a bad idea. Even worse idea since you are trying to cycle with it. That rainbow will need a lot more room when he gets older. Are you willing to buy a larger aquarium in a month or two?

Also not sure the rainbow will make a good cycler. Fishless cycling is the way to go. Would you be able to return him to the fish store and instead go with a fishless cycle?

**Chris24** · 06-07-2007, 01:32 PM

Originally Posted by gm72

Are you willing to buy a larger aquarium in a month or two?

yup. no worries, allready planning on it. im gonna build a huge tank for him, move him over, and use this one for some other fish.

Originally Posted by gm72

Would you be able to return him to the fish store and instead go with a fishless cycle?

as far as i can tell the ammonia phase of the cycle process is peaking. im doing frequent water changes (daily if need be) to keep bumping the ammonia down to safe levels. mr. shark seems to be dong ok. he eats and plays (he loves green peas!) and chills out and hides in his plant.

this may sound like heresy around here, but i have heard of alot of people keeping tanks whove never even heard of cycling, didnt lose any fish... just did a water change every 2-3 weeks. *GASP*

anyways, im doing frequent water changes, checking levels, etc...so i think he'll make it.