[sgarron]

This is growing all over my sand, I had a little before, but soon after I added garfs grunge it really took off.

[glampka]

Diatoms for sure!

[sgarron]

Thanks Gary. I cut back on feeding and it cleared up in 2 days.

[Dredneck]

I have that same yellow looking stuff on my sand. I am just into 5 days of having the tank set up so there is nothing in it but sand and live rock. I woke up this morning and one rock turned yellowish gold and the sand had the yellow stuff like in the picture above. Is it something I need to worry about for now?

Thanks

[sgarron]

No worries. It will go away.

[Bamaguy]

Probably a silly question but what exactly are Diatoms? I keep hearing it mentioned and have some in my sand as well. I thought it was brown algae? Is that the same thing?

[thelastmucci]

Diatom Blooms are a part of the cycling process...and as we see above can happen if you add a signifigent booster (like GARF grundge) It's nothing to serious to worry about and will eventually (and this is up for debate how long) it will go away. Your best bet though is test..see where your levels are and then proceed to add a clean up crew and you should be in good shape..just my two cents of course...please feel free to rip me a new one if I"m wrong and I mess up your tank

[sgarron]

This article should tell you all you need to know about diatoms.

About Brown or Golden Diatom Algae - What Makes Brown Algae Grow and Solutions for Eliminating This Problem in Saltwater Aquariums