+TxSkyGuy Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 Is it Dino, or Diatoms? Maybe cyano? I can't get a conclusive answer looking online. Its been popping up since day one. Any advice on how to kill it? Ive vaccumed it up and scrubbed it off of the rocks, its like a fuzz covering the sand, wont grow in shade. Then two days later, its back. wont grow in the sump. Grows in high flow and low flow. It started to smother my zoas so I blew it off with a baster. I havent tried going black out yet, should I start with that? It seemed not as bad in our old tank with lawnmower blenny, he would eat it in the old tank. 125 gallon DT 29 gallon sump with poor looking chaeto, DSB, and 10lbs live rock Protein skimmer BRS Dual Reactor w/ HC GFO and Carbon, just changed two days ago. ~150lbs of live rock in DT 1.023 salinity 8.1 ph 79 deg ave temp Ammonia 0 Nitrates 0 Phosphate 0 Nitrite 0 Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reburn Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 Looks like diatoms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+TxSkyGuy Posted May 27, 2016 Author Share Posted May 27, 2016 Lights out will help? Or should I just keep siphoning through a filter sock? Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gig 'em @ NDstructible Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 How old is this tank? You'll get blooms in the early stages of the tank cycle. It's usually a natural phenomenon to get them early in a tank and if everything is kept stable without high levels of nutrients, should eventually fade out. Siphoning it off the rocks and trying to reduce the population helps keep them in check and a little less ugly to look at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reburn Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 ^ +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 +1 Algae and corals conduct pretty complex biological and chemical warfare competing for the nutrients in a system. I would be adding easy, fast growing corals and inverts as well as religiously siphoning and removing nuisance algae. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 Looks like diatoms to me as well which is common in new tanks. This would be the one that I would not siphon out as it generally is just feeding on silicates in the water from your new sand. Once it uses up all the silicates in your system, it'll go away. A water change or two wouldn't hurt as long as you are using RO/DI water for the new water as you could be adding more silicates if just using tap water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+TxSkyGuy Posted May 27, 2016 Author Share Posted May 27, 2016 Ok, thanks for the help guys, ive done a little research and heres what I've found: Diatoms are both heterotrophs, and autotrophs, that require either light, or silicate and phosphate to grow. Seeing as i am currently running a phosphate reactor and reading 0ppm on phosphate, i need to remove the silicate from the water column. So heres my plan: 1.lights out for 24 hours to stop growth via light, moonlights on the next evening a small feeding, vacuuming out the remainder, then lights out for 2 days, no feeding. 2. My chaeto is brittle and i beleive it to be leaching nutrients back into the system, i am going to remove and replace with better established chaeto. 3. When lights come back on, i will add a substantial CUC to the tank to keep new growth in check. Thoughts? Sent from my SM-G386T1 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 You really don't need to do anything but just let it use up the silicates in the system and it'll just go away. If you desire a proactive approach, I see no issues with your plan though I think it a bit extreme for diatoms. Your chaeto is dying probably from either a lack of nutrients in the system or improper lighting requirements and it is leaching nutrients back in the system. I'd either rectify the chaeto issue or remove it for now and get more later on when you have enough nutrients to support its growth. I've found conchs to be great consumers of diatoms in the sand. They'll mow that stuff down but I haven't observed many other CUC that touch it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbyb3 Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 careful going lights out can hurt new frags mainly the acro. it may just be new tank syndrome and just have to ride it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 +1 diatoms always bloom until the excess silicates are consumed. This is a big reason that you should never use play sand in an aquarium. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reburn Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 You should just ride it out. It will go away on it own. You need to be patient. You shouldn't even be running Cheato yet. There probably isn't enough nutrients to sustain it yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+TxSkyGuy Posted May 27, 2016 Author Share Posted May 27, 2016 Tank is 84 days since first water and rock have cycled. Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+TxSkyGuy Posted May 27, 2016 Author Share Posted May 27, 2016 Interesting, I guess ill vaccume for appearance, and switch to a better water supply. Maybe being a little too dramatic with the algea killing. Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+TxSkyGuy Posted May 27, 2016 Author Share Posted May 27, 2016 Thanks for the help guys! Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+FluxCapacitor Posted May 31, 2016 Share Posted May 31, 2016 I had that stuff all over my tank too.... and it's a new tank. I added 5 small hermit crabs, 2 striped turbo snails, and a conch.... all of which made my 2 nessarius snails look like lazy bums. There are no more brown colored patches in the sand or on the walls of the tank. I'm on 12g btw so you probably need quite a few more than I listed above. Also, I'm not an expert so my advice should be taken with a grain of salt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted May 31, 2016 Share Posted May 31, 2016 Tank is 84 days since first water and rock have cycled. Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk I'm not sure if this will help or not, but I started a new tank in January and didn't add my first fish until March. After that I didn't add anything else until May. Starting slowly was important to me and now the tank is doing great. Someone once told me that it has to find it's balance and trying to control it just delays that process. Here are a few pictures that demonstrate how my tank matured after the cycle. This tank doesn't have a refugium and I didn't attempt to control the algae. There was only one tang and three turbo snails in the tank during the time period in between pictures. If you're interested in seeing what another young tank looks like then you can click the banner in my signature. It's a build in process, but might be worth it to you. April 2016 May 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliff Posted June 1, 2016 Share Posted June 1, 2016 Thanks for the pics. This give me hope! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted June 1, 2016 Share Posted June 1, 2016 New Tank Syndrome is a roller coaster and it's hard to tell when it's over. Don't fight nature, stick to your plan and adjust as necessary. It gets better with time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+TxSkyGuy Posted June 7, 2016 Author Share Posted June 7, 2016 Figured I'd post an update, I blacked out the tank for a day, then vaccumed as much as I could see out of the tank, I added about 5 snails, as well as a conch, and a few crabs. Slowly started stepping my 10ks back up to 8hrs a day, removed the nasty chaeto from my sump, and most importantly, I swapped my ATO supply to a higher quality source. Now, there is NO trace of Dino or any algea anywhere. Happy happy paul now. Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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