Diatom bloom

[Shawn_epicurious]

Are you sure you have enough flow in the tank. Is it in high flow spots? Low flow spots?

Awesome question. It does appear to build up worse in lower flow.

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

Seems like diatoms to me but it is very hard to be sure. Have you tried the test I linked? It is a very easy and accurate way to discern whether you are dealing with dino or not.

Not yet. By tomorrow there should be a few places where I can get a good sample for that test : )

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

I think I found the culprit... TDS from RODI is 149

 

[Earthquake]

Just the opposite. I stopped putting livestock in my tank ... oddly enough, about a month ago. I have a mixed reef 200 gal, mostly softies. I have been in a build mode getting ready to go SPS in a few more months after my tank matures. I’ve bought a lot of nice equipment, but none of it is really running right now.

This stuff almost disappears over night but is back by the end of a light cycle. I am not even doing heavy lighting right now. I don’t need it yet.

if you try a 3 day blackout and it comes back its def diatoms. if not may be dino. what are your phosphate levels? how is your feeding regimen? i cut back on the frozen and stopped adding foreign chemicals to the tank and BAM it cleared itself it. blue hermit crabs and 2 conks and torches and turbo snails and you should be straight. if the snails die its dino if they don't its diatoms. hope that helps.

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

if you try a 3 day blackout and it comes back its def diatoms. if not may be dino. what are your phosphate levels? how is your feeding regimen? i cut back on the frozen and stopped adding foreign chemicals to the tank and BAM it cleared itself it. blue hermit crabs and 2 conks and torches and turbo snails and you should be straight. if the snails die its dino if they don't its diatoms. hope that helps.

I have not tried the 3 day blackout... I have a healthy CUC. Everything you listed there and more. None of it is dying. Phosphates are low ( let me look at what I put on another post) I tested that today. Nitrates are low too. I do feed frozen food.. I may be over feeding : ) not to much.

I think I found the problem. I got a TDS meter today.... my RODI is at 149 : (. I just ordered replacement canisters today.

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

if you try a 3 day blackout and it comes back its def diatoms. if not may be dino. what are your phosphate levels? how is your feeding regimen? i cut back on the frozen and stopped adding foreign chemicals to the tank and BAM it cleared itself it. blue hermit crabs and 2 conks and torches and turbo snails and you should be straight. if the snails die its dino if they don't its diatoms. hope that helps.

Here are my numbers...

Water parameters as of this morning

Salinity - Neptune is at 34.6ppt. Evaporation and ATO are swinging between 34.4 x 34.9
Refractometer is just barely below 1.025. My goal has been to stay closer to 1.026. Temperature - Neptune 77.9 right now. I have it set to control the heater between 77.5 - 78.5
ORP - is at 329. It stays between 318 - 333

Everything else is an API test: (I do not like API tests)

Calcium - 21 drops of part 2, so 420
KH - 9 drops, so dKH is 9 or ppm KH is 161.1
PO4 - almost zero. The color is not even close to the 0.25ppm color
NO3 - Best guess based on color is 2.5ppm, definitely less than 5.0 and definitely not zero
PH - 7.9

ammonia - zero
NO2 - 0 ppm

i do not have a test kit for magnesium

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

It might be worth posting a clear picture of the sand so we can have a look at them Shawn?

And what’s your phosphate level reading?

On you light schedule this is what I use on my Red Sea S650 for over 4 years. These are the Red Sea ‘reef spec’ settings. I do go blue in the evenings.

There’s no red/green as Red Sea are concerned it can cause unwanted algae issues so I have always had those at zero

I am going to use this : ) thank you

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

Well it’s looks like diatoms to me from that picture. You could always get something like an orange spot goby to keep it clean as a quick option but you need to find the cause.

Are you using 0 TDS water made by yourself because if there are any silicates in the water it will feed blooms.

What’s your phosphate level, and is that green hair algae on the rock works ? It’s a bit dark to see for sure.

PS get that fancy camera and flash of yours working! Lol

Dude, you called it. I am apparently using more RODI water than I thought I was. My TDS is 149. I ordered a new set of canisters today.

 

[SPR1968]

Dude, you called it. I am apparently using more RODI water than I thought I was. My TDS is 149. I ordered a new set of canisters today.

Thats probably the cause then, your constantly feeding them with your ATO water.

Monitor the RODI and as soon as the TDS goes above around 1-2 (or 0 if your very strict) change the DI resin before you put any more water through it, and 149 is very high.

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

Thats probably the cause then, your constantly feeding them with your ATO water.

Monitor the RODI and as soon as the TDS goes above around 1-2 (or 0 if your very strict) change the DI resin before you put any more water through it, and 149 is very high.

I was shocked at how high it is... I already dumped the water in my barrel and am going to sterilize it today. The new canisters and filters will be here Monday. I am going to have to skip doing a water change this weekend. (I am also installing a flow meter on my RODI. There is way more water going thru my ATO than I guessed.

 

[SPR1968]

I was shocked at how high it is... I already dumped the water in my barrel and am going to sterilize it today. The new canisters and filters will be here Monday. I am going to have to skip doing a water change this weekend. (I am also installing a flow meter on my RODI. There is way more water going thru my ATO than I guessed.

As long as the ATO water is clean 0 TDS, it doesn’t really matter how much goes through it.

Its just one of those maintenance things to keep an eye on. My water systems have an inline TDS meter which I check every time I turn it on to make sure it’s ok

I have a very useful excel spreadsheet for recording maintenance. The weeks fly by and it’s very easy to forget something or the date you last did something

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

I dumped the rest of the water I had in my barrel and sterilized it and everything in it. The barrel is still sitting out in the sun.

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

TDS zero! ...barrel is filling : )

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

Problem solved. As soon as I fixed the TDS issue with my RODI water and started doing water changes it began to get better. I’ve done 2 water changes now and the brown Algea build up really slowed down.

Thank you everyone!