Orange growth on bottom of tank

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dexterscoral

Member
I have been getting an orange growth on the bottom of my tank. The tank has been established for about a year and a half. Any idea what it is and how to get rid of it?
 
Looks like diatoms but since you don't have sand that shouldn't be it. Looks like a very thin layer. Are there any bubbles on it?
 
Nitrates and Phosphates are close to zero. I can test again when I get home tonight and give you actual numbers. It's only a 30 gallon and we have to power heads. Both are at the top of the tank though, should one be lower?

We have LED lighting.

No, it doesn't have bubbles under it like cyano does, and its not growing on the live rock or coral, strictly on the bottom of the tank.

Thanks for the help!
 
Silica is not something I currently test for. Should I be?

Where would the silica be coming from? I use RO/DI water for water changes (weekly - 5 gallons).

Thanks
 
The silica usually comes in new sand. It looks like you have crushed coral so I wouldn't think it was that. When was the last time you changed the filters on our ro/di unit? You might also want to direct some flow across your substrate to keep things/detritus from settling. I assume you syphon the gravel when you do wc's?
 
It's crushed coral. which kind of brings me to another question, maybe for another thread... should we leave the crushed coral or swap it out for sand?

The RO/DI unit was bought 6 months ago, and we haven't changed them yet. We make about 5 gallons a week on it, just for regular water changes. The gravel is siphoned during water changes, and the orange is cleaned up, but it returns in a day or two.
 
IMO, crushed coral is a detritus trap and probably shouldn't be used in a reef tank. As time goes on you can have issues such as cyano or nitrate problems because it traps waste and is difficult to keep clean. Who knows, your orange stuff might be resultant of this...?
Also, IMO, I'd say your issue is not diatoms since you shouldn't have any silicates because you have no sand and your filters should still be good.

If you were to pick up a piece of the crushed coral with the orange stuff on it does it wipe off easily or is it crusted on like the coraline gowing on it?
 
We bought the set up used, and it already had the crushed coral. We were recently debating if we should swap it out for sand, or maybe just some new crushed coral. We already had the whole cyano problem probably a year or so ago. thankfully it has not been back since.

it siphons off easily with a water change, it definitely isn't crusted on like coraline.

How long do the RO/DI cannisters typically last?

Thanks for all the help!
 
I'm no rodi expert but I believe the silicates are captured in the sediment filter. The filters last different lengths of time based on your tap water param's. I'd think you should still be okay after only 6 months of small wc's. (I make 20G per week and change my filters roughly two or three times/year.) I usually talk to someone at BRS when I have rodi questions and would probably do so in this case to confirm which filter(s) remove silicates.

The sediment filters are very cheap so it might be worth a couple bucks to rule out high silicates.
 
Re. the crushed coral...if you like it, can keep it clean and your nutrients are in check then I wouldn't run out and make any changes. It doesn't take long for the pretty white CC to look exactly the way it does in your tank now. (minus the orange stuff, lol) In fact, you could run into some serious nitrate spikes/issues if are not careful removing it. CC has a lot more surface area than sand and, as such, it maintains a lot of nitrifying bacteria. (think - live rock smashed into tiny pieces). As long as it's kept clean and doesn't turn into a dirty nitrate factory, I'd leave it as-is. Now if you wanted to replace it with sand, that would be another story. Just don't replace cc with more cc....too many risks with nothing gained ;)
 
Thanks for all the advice... based on what the filters look like and what I have read, I don't need new ones quite yet.

I ordered a new power head yesterday to try to increase the flow at the bottom and see if that helps with the "orange stuff"

A sand bed might have to wait until the next tank.
 
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