Are these Diatoms?

[Intheflesh]

I've had this problem for the last few weeks. I'm not sure if they are diatoms, cyanobacterial or dinoflagellates. I can never differentiate the damn things.

Quite honestly, I do not not what my nitrate or phosphate levels are. I am running GFO, carbon and Zeomix, and dosing -np pro and pro bio S (aquarforest). This latest bloom seemed to occur a few days after I changed my GFO and carbon.

Any thoughts?

 

[Chris A.]

Does it get bubbles under it?
Does it look better in the morning than in the evening?
Do you have cerith snails or a fighting conch?

 

[Chris A.]

I really want to say it’s a brown cyano but it could be dinos

 

[Nanoreef15]

Is this from the new red sea tank?
From the pix they look like diatom to me. Just do a few frequent water changes and siphon them out.

Dino usually has tiny air bubble heads and long string. Worse of all the algaes. With dino, the more water change you do your tank wound endup getting more.

 

[Intheflesh]

Does it get bubbles under it?
Does it look better in the morning than in the evening?
Do you have cerith snails or a fighting conch?

No bubbles
Actually yes, in the morning I'll turny lights on and it looks like it's not even there.
I have turbos, a couple of ceriths, a cucumber, but no conchs

 

[Intheflesh]

Is this from the new red sea tank?
From the pix they look like diatom to me. Just do a few frequent water changes and siphon them out.

Dino usually has tiny air bubble heads and long string. Worse of all the algaes. With dino, the more water change you do your tank wound endup getting more.

Yes. This is a reefer 350.

Yeah there are tiny bubbles, but doesn't look string-y

That was a crappy cell phone pic above. I'll get my camera out and take a better pic

 

[Intheflesh]

Here's a close up of the nastiness. You can see tiny bubbles. Doesn't have a stringy appearance imo.

 

[Chris A.]

Looks more like diatoms. Get a fighting conch it’ll take care of the diatoms for sure

 

[blasto_master]

How long has the tank been running for?

 

[Intheflesh]

tank has been running 3 months or so. I transferred the rock and live stock from another tank that I had running for about 2 years.

 

[madducks42]

Is the sand new? I believe diatoms need silicates to thrive and if the sand is new that was probably the source. Once they consume all the silicates they'll probably go away, although if your nitrates and phosphates are really high that might keep them going. Frequent water changes would help with that though. If you're not seeing long stringy globs then it's probably not dino which is lucky. We've been battling a dino problem for almost six months now : /

 

[Intheflesh]

Actually yes, the sand is new. Maybe about 3-4 weeks. I did not have this "issue" prior to adding the sand. Hopefully the silicate source is depleted soon. Should I try to vacuum up all this crap, or leave it be?

Good luck with treating your dinos!

 

[madducks42]

I don't think vacuuming it up will help, it might make it look better for a day but it will come back as long as the silicates are still there. It's also possible that by stirring up the sand you would bring up silicates from the bottom that diatoms would then feast on and prolong the bloom. Once the silicates are consumed from the sand though it should go away as long as there is no other source and your nitrates/phosphates aren't crazy high. I think sand is the main source of silicates but it can also be in the water depending on the water quality in your area and if you're using RODI water; if you're using RODI water and all the filters are still working correctly then it should not contain any silicates. Not sure how long it will take for diatoms to burn itself out. I did a ton of research when we first started having algae problems and it seems like diatoms pretty much always go away on their own within 2-6 weeks unless they have a constant supply of silicates and/or a high nitrates and phosphates environment.

 

[Collin]

Looks like diatoms to me LUCKY. I'm dealing with the Dino like madducks and as he said, more water changes = more Dino. UGH