re-cycled with live sand??

E

Evangrant12

Sooo I had the seahorse tank cycled for about 2 months, then I decided to add sand which is now diatoms infested -just about completely brown...
was it possible to set another cycle off..
its a 10 gallon
I added one bag of the Caribbean sea live sand.---it's been in the tank for approximately 2 weeks
The seahorses are fine just the sand look like poop!
should I remove it in danger of the horses or just give it time to cure...
 
Excessive diatoms can be an indicator of high nutrients and does happen when a tank cycles, but you need to test your water ASAP for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and phosphates to determine if it is safe. In a 10 gallon tank, adding that much live sand can have a large impact on water parameters. A tank can look dirty and still have perfectly safe water and on the other hand, it can also look clean and have deadly amounts of nutrients. A water test will clear up your concerns. I would also keep a close eye and watch for any change in behavior from your livestock.
 
I would highly recommend your own basic test kit. Your nutrient levels may be high. Please post your water test results. Do you use a protein skimmer or any macro alage on your 10 gallon sytem?
 
well my water is perfectly fine... the brown diatoms on the sand was just freaking me out
nitrites-0ppm
nitrates->.25ppm
ammonia-0ppm
salinity-1.025
 
yes, you basically kicked off a small standard cycle. A cycle will occur when ever the biomass of the tank changes - it did substantially with the addition of billions of bacteria and will grow over the next couple of weeks as well.

Diatoms are a normal part of it and will go away when the green algae starts - don't panic about that and don't do anything to try to get rid of it or add chemicals to speed it up. Be patient and wait it out. Keep up on your water changes as normal and keep it clean. Watch your water parameters and don't overfeed. The test results you listed above are good - keep them there.
 
yes, adding sand will cuase that. Just keep up with your water changes and keep checking your water parameters. Soon it will go away....also make sure flow is sufficient.
 
Yea, I didn't mention anything on flow because of this being a seahorse tank - they like it slow and steady where as normally I'd say to make flow more violent.
 
yeah they're really delicate and sometimes I even think the hang on the back filter that fits this tank can some time push them around if they are in direct flow of it..but I noticed today that it almost completely off!
Sooo I'm going to do a water change today and see where it goes from there!
 
oh good! Get ready for some other red, brown, and green algaes to pop up. Just wait it out.
 
hahah yeah I figure that will be here soon!
There is some sight of green algae, but not nothing too terribly bad, but I'm sure it'll be here soon!
Thanks for the support!
 
Diatoms consume silicates. Once they use them up, they go away. When you add anything new with silicates in it (sand, new powerhead or other plastic items), you'll get a new outbreak until those silicates are consumed.
 
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