Why do I have brown scum growing on the walls of my tank?

[kiwi]

It's literally brown scrum. It was also growing on my substrate and live rock. Is there something I could add to my tank that would eat it? I do not add any chemicals.

 

[Russellaqua]

Sounds like diatoms. What's your cleanup crew and params?

 

[Bradsreeeftank]

Im guessing your new to reef tanks? When you cycle your tank, you get what your seeing called diatoms. These will dissapear when cycles finished. Your cycling your tank right?

 

[kiwi]

I'm new to saltwater in general but I've had a cichlid freshwater tank for over 3 years. My SW tank has been established for about 5 months now. I've been dealing with this problem for a while now and it's kinda weird because it started AFTER my tank cycled. I'm embarrassed to say I have no cleanup crew. What could I add to a 10gal tank that is eventually going to be moved to a 75gal? My parameters are listed below, I did a water change 3 days ago.

Ammonia: 0.25ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 40ppm
pH: 8.0
KH: 179ppm
Specific Gravity: 1.021

 

[DSP]

Using tap water is the reason you have the brown scum in your tank and it wont get better until you start using rodi water,You can either buy water at your local fish store or buy your own rodi filter and make your own,Rodi water is one of the most important part of a saltwater tank.

 

[DSP]

Checkout spectapure.com they have refurbished units for $130 bucks or something like that and they make the best filters.

 

[kiwi]

Is there a way I can treat tap water if I absolutely have to use it?

 

[Eienna]

Seachem Prime will remove chlorine and chloramine and bind some heavy metals, and water softener resins can remove some of the "hardness," but nothing short of an RODI or distilling will do what you need, which is to remove all contaminants. There's all manner of yucky stuff that is allowed in city water before it is considered unsafe, and it can be toxic to marine creatures waaay before then (or, at the very least, encourage the growth of things you don't want, such as excessive algae and "red slime" bacteria.)

I personally experienced a horrible die-off due to contaminated tap water (and this was with hardy freshwater fish AND the best water conditioner I know of!!) which has made me vow NEVER, EVER, EVER to use tap water again. My beloved fishies started dropping like flies sprayed with Raid by the time the water change was complete.