River Reef Yellow Sand Is This A Problem?

[h2ads]

hi i have had a river reef tank for a few weeks and two days ago i put my first fish in. my fish shop suggested three fish to put in to help the tank murture. they are small but i not to sure on the name's at this point in time. I have live rock and live sand but now i seem to be getting a yellow coating starting to form over the sand. It has come in the last few days since i put the fish in, i do not have a so called clean up crew yet as my shop told me to wait for it to marture some more with the fish. I would just like to no if this is normal and wot i should do about it.

thanks for ur time
adam

 

[rabbut]

OK, this is a marine tank right? If so, this post is in the wrong section, as this section is occupied by freshwater fishkeepers Not to worry though, a mod will move it for you shortly if this is the case

First off, to TFF.

Can you give us a run-down of water stats for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and phosphate please. Being a marine keeper, it is important, probibly more so than with freshwater tropicals, to have a good liquid regent based test kit at home. Marines don't tolerate any ammonia or nitrite in their water, but unlike freshwater fish, any detectable reading puts the fish in imediate danger Any issues arrising, new fish or after maintanance you should idealy test the water to ensure no levels are up, so that you can correct them if they are before they stress or kill the fish, coral and clean-up crew

What water source are you using? (RO, salted tap or salted well water)

Is this tank bought new?

If so, it is probibly Diatom algea. Do you have any pictures? These will help greatly If not, can you describe the yellow coating a bit more, i.e. hairly, slimy, dark or light yellow, where it is etc?

I'm not yet a marine keeper, but will be in the comming months, so am researching ATM. If this is a marine tank, click the "report" botton under your own post, and in the comment box, ask for the thread to be moved, stating that you accidentally put it in the wrong section. This will get you a better responce to the question more quickly as this will be moved into the other section

All the best
Rabbut