tank gets brown stuff

Pictures help, but a few questions: How old is the tank? If it's recently set up, this is probably normal. I have had my BC29 for nearly a year now and it has only completely cleared up over the last four months or so. A sand-sifting cucumber helped, although for the first two months I had him I never EVER saw him out. Now I see him sifting around ever other day or so. How reasonable are your expectations? You are never going to get that sterile white look that you had when first setting up your tank. And you don't want that, because you want diversity. It will get close, but it's not going to look a bleached white if it's healthy. More of an off white IME.

 

It is probably just diatoms. It is normal new tank syndrome to see this and will go away on its own. Nothing too worry about.

 

If you don't push your siphon too deep in the sand, just the skim the top layer, you can pull off the brown layer without removing much sand. You will see it go up into the lower portion of the siphon (the fat part) but most of it will churn there and not go into the bucket. The lighter brown waste will go up the little tube. Hope that helps.

 

Just your rock cycling. Should quit after a month or two. Half dozen Astrea snails would help, the coned ones.