fungai

Question
I recently started a new salt water aquarium up and I'm having trouble with a brown fungi that is building up on the sand surface and rocks. It appears to "grow" when I have the light on (about 6-8 hrs. per day).
PH=8.2
Ammonia=1.0
Nitrate=10
Temp.=78

Thanks,
Bob

Answer
Hey Bob,

You use the term/word FUNGI   are you saying something is growing like 'fungi'  as in mushroom??

also, how long has your aquarium been setup and running?  You have ammonia which is REAL BAD

This is indicating that your 'biological filtration' is not established enough to support the fish and critters you have in the tank, and the fish and critters are basically swimming in thier own pee and poo... and will suffer and possibly die off.

You need to do some water changes... not sure how big your tank is but, at least 20% of new salt water...AT LEAST

Maybe do two water changes...  with 1 hour inbetween.

Then an hour after the last water change, do another ammonia test to see if it dropped and by how much...

Not sure if you read up on setting up a saltwater tank / 'cycling' or not, but it sounds like your tank is not completely cycled, or at least not cycled enough to handle what you got going on.

this may or may not be part of the issue with teh stuff you have growing on the rock...

But, the ammonia issue is more important at this point.

Please tell me a bit about your system.. how big, what type of filter do you have, (hang on tank, cannister, or sump?)  what type of lighting, what type of power heads  how many pounds of rock and sand, how many fish and critters..



Let me know the information and we can continue this discussion better... thanks

bill