victoly Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Seriously, what is in the water ? I haven't changed my routine at all, and all of a sudden, dinos pop up. Nitrates are 1.5 ppm and po4 is 0.06 ppm. What the heck ? Check the picture to make sure I didn't misidentify. Wtf? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Is it slimy? Or just brown? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted October 26, 2012 Author Share Posted October 26, 2012 Ill have to check tomorrow, I siphoned it out tonight. It appears to be slimy. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demodiki Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Hard to tell from the picture but could be. Mine is like snot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bige Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Man I think it's Robb in Austin that says its seasonal. I tend to agree. Although so far I'm clear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Hard to tell from the picture. Maybe just a diatom bloom if they aren't getting super thick and slimy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubasteve92 Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 I say diatoms, I have some popping up in my tank at the moment.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Capt. Obvious Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 I 3rd the diatom bloom, I too have some that appeared overnight Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerrickH Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 I hope its diatoms....does it dissapear or get better when the lights are off? If so then sorry to hear.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted October 26, 2012 Author Share Posted October 26, 2012 it's been 2 days in a row where I either turn the substrate or siphon off the top layer, so I can't really say how they behave at night. It's just weird because my NO3/PO4 levels are pretty dang low...Maybe i need to jack my pH up a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Do you run your own RO water. Excess silicates will often lead to diatoms. This can happen with old filters. Also, I used to see recurrent issues in my FW tank that I could attribute to seasonal changes in the tap water. It's possible that there is just a ton of silica compounds in the current Austin tap, and more is getting into tanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Diatoms just run their course... silicates in the water will eventually be used up. I think the theory was it was fluctuating in nature due to drought conditions, the water is more concentrated, ending up with a higher concentration of silicates in the city water. Our RO/DI systems remove silicates initially but allow them to pass through the membrane within a couple days of putting in new filters... so essentially meaning our setups are not really effective at removing silicates. Diatoms are usually harmless and will go away in time. Now if it's dinoflagellates.... you got a bigger problem. Can't really tell by the pic but my guess is unfortunately, it may be dinos, not diatoms. Looks like it has a little more mass to it then diatoms... though it doesn't look snotty yet. -Ty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+brian.srock Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Very good point JeeperTy and thanks for the reminder to check my TDS meter. I don't want what you guys got in my tank ever again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 I got dinos when I removed my cyanobacteria. It just took the role of consuming excess nitrates and phosphates that my reactors didn't take care of. I would much prefer cyano... it doesn't affect the corals, inverts, and fish like dinos do. At one point in the dino battle, I thought about reintroducing cyano back into my system... that shows you my desperation at that point... someone please give me a hit of cyano in my tank!!! -Ty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted October 26, 2012 Author Share Posted October 26, 2012 I've got a call in to a colleague at the city water department about seasonal water quality (silicates specifically). I'm just at a loss for how i can have dinos when my nutrients are so low. They definitely look more substantial than the dusting of diatoms that I've seen before. ugh, do not want to deal with this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted October 26, 2012 Author Share Posted October 26, 2012 Do you run your own RO water. Excess silicates will often lead to diatoms. This can happen with old filters. Also, I used to see recurrent issues in my FW tank that I could attribute to seasonal changes in the tap water. It's possible that there is just a ton of silica compounds in the current Austin tap, and more is getting into tanks. yeah, i just changed my sed/carbon filters about a month ago, also. TDS out is zero. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(Bio)³ Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 I've got soe sort of a red slimey bloom in the sump but it doesnt come into the dt since the sump light is so old it favors that spetrum. I've had it happen before and just pulled out what I coud, changed GFO and GAC and it was gone within a week, also only fed the fish from tweezers individual bites making sure no extra food got in the water.(tip when do that is to feed the bottom dweller fish first the the water column fish, while you take food down to the bottom the water column guys will grab the ones that get away.) another thing that seemed to help was dosng the rotifers/pods in live. They did tend to eat up a lot of any extra waste taking away the food source for the algae. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted October 26, 2012 Author Share Posted October 26, 2012 my gac is new, but no GFO. do any of the LFS carry GFO? I've been meaning to get some in a GB, but I've never had an ideal place to put it (no real estate in the back or sump area for a reactor). Maybe it's the PO4.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 I've got some extra GFO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted October 26, 2012 Author Share Posted October 26, 2012 I'll trade you a C4 banner in my sig for it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerrickH Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 I think its seasonal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted October 27, 2012 Author Share Posted October 27, 2012 And they didn't reappear today... Must have been diatoms. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 My vote is diatoms or brown cyno. If it was my tank I would syphon off the top layer of sand and rinse it out in freash water then spread it out in the sun for a couple of days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted November 27, 2012 Author Share Posted November 27, 2012 So I'm having difficulties with the stuff :/ It never comes off the sandbed, and reappears in 24-48 hours after i siphon off the sandbed or mix it up. I'm running GFO in a bag to pull phosphates, as my nitrates haven't been measurable in some time. ugh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(Bio)³ Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 tried running purigen? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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