Diatoms, cyanosis or dinos?

[Pennywise the Clown]

My reefer 250 is roughly 5 months old. I have always struggled to get any nitrate/phosphate readings and I have been using Rowaphos and Red Sea carbon in the filter cups.
Recently I started dosing Seachem Reef Plus and I think that I dosed too much. I started getting a lot of algae on the glass which would return a couple of hours after cleaning. I also got an outbreak of pineapple sponges in the sump.
A couple of weeks ago I cleaned the sand bed for the first time and this coincided with a rust coloured algae on the sand bed. I assumed that this was diatoms and it was only present at the back of the tank where flow is low. But the outbreak has got worse and there are air bubbles trapped within the algae. It is still only present at the back of the tank and breaks apart easily if I use a turkey baster on it.
These pics are with my Hydras at max white

 

[marlinmon]

From what you describe it sounds like dinos but you'll need a microscope to be certain. Your readings could be undetectable because the stuff is sucking it all out of the system...

Go read up on "dirty method"

 

[Pennywise the Clown]

From what you describe it sounds like dinos but you'll need a microscope to be certain. Your readings could be undetectable because the stuff is sucking it all out of the system...

Go read up on "dirty method"

I was hoping that you weren't going to say dinos
i take it that 'dirty method' is to over feed and stop water changes so that other algae can take over?

 

[marlinmon]

Yes, if it's dinos. I'll typically start overfeeding and dumping in phyto. It's always worked for me. I don't know why people get all up in arms about dinos. Pretty easy to knock out since the dirty method came up

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Those don’t look like a typical dino to me.

The appearance of the pineapple sponges tells me you got or still have a fair amount of silicate in the system.
Silicate is hard to get out of the rodi and many with zero tds still have some.
Be carful with the rowaphos. You don’t want to strip the Po4. Bad things happen.
Gfo , not sure about rowaphos , will Pull silicates from the system.
So will the sponges. I’d leave them.

 

[dwest]

Those don’t look like a typical dino to me.

The appearance of the pineapple sponges tells me you got or still have a fair amount of silicate in the system.
Silicate is hard to get out of the rodi and many with zero tds still have some.
Be carful with the rowaphos. You don’t want to strip the Po4. Bad things happen.
Gfo , not sure about rowaphos , will Pull silicates from the system.
So will the sponges. I’d leave them.

Salty always gives great advice. I agree that rowaphos is tricky. I would remove it. But, I personally suspect the brown stuff might be dinos. It looks like the amphidinium that haunts me.

 

[Pennywise the Clown]

Thanks guys.
The Rowaphos went yesterday. In hindsight it was a mistake but my tank has been pretty algae free up until the last week or so and that is why I left it in. I have moved my powerheads to give more flow to the affected area behind the rock work. I don't know if this will help or not, just experimenting.
Up until I saw some stringy bits attached to an air bubble I was sure it was diatoms caused by me cleaning my sand bed, the color was indentical to the diatoms that I had during the cycle.
As this is a very young tank, is this just part of the maturing process that will eventually go away on its own when the tank balances out or am I going to have to deal with it?

 

[Pennywise the Clown]

Just to add in case it is relevant, I have started sourcing my RO water from a different LFS in the last couple of weeks. Coincidence?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Coincidence?

I’d go with no.

 

[Pennywise the Clown]

100% sure this is a Dino issue. I'm going to try and raise my nitrates and phosphates.
Should I stop skimming and can I feed Seachem Reef Plus? (this seemed to generate a lot of green algae)
Is there anything else I should be doing?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I’d skim dry. Keep the oxygenation.
Try not to make too many changes.
Feed the fish healthfully. Maybe add a different food. Like mysis.