Cyano or dinos?

Kzguns · Feb 23, 2018

What am I dealing with here. Recedes in the evening.

GoVols · Feb 23, 2018

If you have a fairly new setup and it recedes after lights off and comes back strong during lights on.
Could be diatoms.

Pelagic One · Feb 23, 2018

Looks like you and I both are going through our typical diatom phase in the cycle according to this sticky thread in Algae Forum:

Steven R said:
DIATOMS:

Diatoms are just a natural things that happens in a new aquarium and will normally will subside with in a few weeks to a couple months.

ID: This Algae normally forms on the sand, glass and rock work of a new tank. It has a variety of colors from a dark reddish color to tan, brown and green. On a lot of occasions there will be oxygen bubble's trapped in the algae from photosynthesis.

HOW TO CONTROL IT:
Medium to strong flow across the sand bed and rock, and watch the amounts of Silicate being added to the system ( top off water and water change purity is the main cause for silicate being introduced to the system )

NATURAL HERBIVORES:
Astrea snail, Turbo snail, Tangs, Trochus snail, Almost all blennies.

Kzguns · Feb 23, 2018

GoVols said:
If you have a fairly new setup and it recedes after lights off and comes back strong during lights on.
Could be diatoms.

Do diatoms have that stringy stuff? I thought that was more of a dusty coating. I’m at about 6 months so I expect some algae from time to time.

nfrench2100 · Feb 23, 2018

Looks like cyano to me

Kzguns · Feb 23, 2018

nfrench2100 said:
Looks like cyano to me

That was my thought as well. But now I’m not convinced. I had cyano and dinos in my other tank years ago and remember dinos being more brown. In 2-3 weeks I’m transferring to a bigger tank so I’ll be sorta starting this all over lol sand isn’t going to tge new tank tho.

reeferfoxx · Feb 23, 2018

Looks like cyano to me as well. Though it recedes, it should still be present during lights out. If it completely recedes, could be something else.

Kzguns · Feb 23, 2018

reeferfoxx said:
Looks like cyano to me as well. Though it recedes, it should still be present during lights out. If it completely recedes, could be something else.

I left lights off today and it was still there. Although in the morning it seemed less prevalent

GoVols · Feb 23, 2018

Kzguns said:
I left lights off today and it was still there. Although in the morning it seemed less prevalent

If it completely recedes during lights off, my first thought is diatoms. If not then cyano comes to mind and the Dino's that I've dealt with were snotty looking with a lot of bubbles within it, but I've only dealt with Dino's one time and could be many strains.

Sometimes you need to microscope it to find out what it truly is.

Kzguns · Feb 23, 2018

GoVols said:
If it completely recedes during lights off, my first thought is diatoms. If not then cyano comes to mind and the Dino's that I've dealt with were snotty looking with a lot of bubbles within it, but I've only dealt with Dino's one time and could be many strains.

Sometimes you need to microscope it to find out what it truly is.

Ya it’s not snotty like I remember dinos. It’s very thin strings. Last wc I sucked it off the sand and it came back. Maybe I’ll run chemiclean and see if it clears it up

nfrench2100 · Feb 24, 2018

Have you tried upping your flow?? When I had cyano, it looked very similar to what you have. A little purplish in color. I upped my flow 10% on my Gyre, and pulled my return nozzles down a tad. Followed by siphoning out the remaining cyano. And it never returned. At any rate, good luck with it. I hope you get it all figured out!

Kzguns · Feb 24, 2018

nfrench2100 said:
Have you tried upping your flow?? When I had cyano, it looked very similar to what you have. A little purplish in color. I upped my flow 10% on my Gyre, and pulled my return nozzles down a tad. Followed by siphoning out the remaining cyano. And it never returned. At any rate, good luck with it. I hope you get it all figured out!

Last night I adjusted my wave maker and this morning it looks better. I’ll siphon it off during today’s wc.