Brown algae??

I had run my tank for around 2 1/2 weeks with stable parameters, I put a damsel in on friday 21st, so four days later I have brown algae all over everything. its on my sand, my rocks. It hasnt taken over yet, but its definately growing. what is it and how do I make it go away??

over the past three days ( i havnt checked today yet) I havnt had any kind of spike. no ammonia. no nitrite. 20 nitrate. the nitrate has been there for a couple weeks.I did a small water change two days ago. and the prameters stayed stable

 

this just means the cycle is begining, i remember when this first happened to me i freaked. just leave it. and in the future wait a few more months before introducing anything to cycle with

 

+1 on it being part of the cycle & it will go away. It is diatoms.

You mean wait a few months after the cycle is over to add anything?

Katherine, how did you cycle your tank? Or was that what the damsel was for?

 

yeah brown stuff is diatoms; they go away eventually, and i have some too.

 

yeah i meant after the cycle for introduction

 

If its a brown dusting it is diatoms
If it is brown and stringy and has bubbles in it and pulls apart real easily it is dinoflagellates
If it is brown and rooted to the rocks really well then it is nutrient deprived GHA

 

Its part of the cycle if diatoms. Two weeks after mine cycled I added turbo snails and red tipped hermit crabs. Snails went to town on it ;D