jadams

I am not new to the freshwater world but i am new to world of saltwater tanks. I have set up a new 55gal. salt tank with the wonderful help of my fellow LFS owner. It has been set up for 5 weeks and is still cycling. I have 5 damsels in it . I just noticed today that there are brown spots all over inside the tank. Not on the fish but on the sand substrate and the insides of the glass. I have no idea what it is or how to deal with it. If you have any ideas I would love to hear them. Also a side comment about the talk of Bio-Spira that i have been seeing around. My local fish store sells it (it is supposed to work wonders and save the fish the long cycle process) and when i set this tank up i was supposed to be getting it that week but unfortunately it has been on back order for 5 weeks. I have used Seachem-Stability to cycle it and it is taking it's sweet old time. Anyone have any other ideas on how to get this tank to cycle any quicker?

Thanks!
Jess

sirdarksol

The brown stuff sounds like the same as it would be in a freshwater tank, an algae bloom. In fact, there are marine diatoms, and as nearly every freshwater tank goes through a period where diatoms bloom in the tank, I wouldn't doubt that marine tanks go through the same.

Have no idea about cycling, sorry.