Diatoms, New tank norm or do I fight them.

[vetteguy53081]

I'm really confused about the zero nutrients everyone scares me about. How am I supposed to raise them without encouraging nuisance algae? I went through a bottle of TM Plus-NP and nutrients never budged? Some have cautioned against dosing such a young tank when I really don't know whether I'm feeding the "good guys" or the bad ones.

No scary event.
Corals need nutrients as a nutrition source along with light for zooxanthellae which gives them energy and color. When they (phosphate and nitrate) get high, you will get algae and a red film known as cyano bacteria.
When they get too low whereas the tank is too clean - you can or MAY get dino. Therefore there has to be a balance ( Nitrate at 10-15ppm and Phos .04 - .06)
First battle what you have and to raise it, simply feed your fish as norma;, extend time for water changes and feed coral if any reef roids occasionally. In turn both levels will increase

 

[TWYOUNG]

No scary event.
Corals need nutrients as a nutrition source along with light for zooxanthellae which gives them energy and color. When they (phosphate and nitrate) get high, you will get algae and a red film known as cyano bacteria.
When they get too low whereas the tank is too clean - you can or MAY get dino. Therefore there has to be a balance ( Nitrate at 10-15ppm and Phos .04 - .06)
First battle what you have and to raise it, simply feed your fish as norma;, extend time for water changes and feed coral if any reef roids occasionally. In turn both levels will increase

Tank is 4 months old and I have yet to do a water change. Have no corals as yet and wont be getting any until tank has matured, uglies passed, coraline growing etc. I have been overfeeding but I think it was mostly ending up in socks and theoretically "could" be feeding nuisance algae. Considering smaller more freq feeding but was already feeding three times per day.

 

[TWYOUNG]

Flip the rocks. Blow them off with a turkey baster or long turkey baster. They make a bigger one.
Top crown snails over turbos.
Hths you
D

"flipping rocks" isn't going to happen. Most are cemented together and base rock has been made intentionally with a flat bottom surface.

 

[TWYOUNG]

Im seeing what looks more like early stage dino and would be supported by the low/no nutrient readings.
Prepare by starting with a water change and blow this stuff loose with a turkey baster and siphon up loose particles.
Turn lights off (at least white and run blue at 10-15% IF you have light dependant corals) for 5 days and at night dose 1ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide per 10 gallons for all 5 nights. If you dont have light dependent coral- turn all lights off.
During the day dose 1ml of liquid bacteria (such as bacter 7 or XLM) per 10 gallons.
Clean filters daily and DO NOT FEED CORAL FOODS OR ADD NOPOX as it is food for dinos.
Day 5,, you can start with blue lights - ramping up and work your white lights up slowly

Although I know very little at this point I do believe these are diatoms although I'm not sure why I have so many. Attached are a pic of the back overflow glass, ( which I've now decided to start cleaning until something "good" starts to grow there), and microscopic samples taken from that glass. This stuff is also doing a pretty good job of covering my rock.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Although I know very little at this point I do believe these are diatoms although I'm not sure why I have so many. Attached are a pic of the back overflow glass, ( which I've now decided to start cleaning until something "good" starts to grow there), and microscopic samples taken from that glass. This stuff is also doing a pretty good job of covering my rock.

Thanks for better pic - the power of pictures
This appears to be lyngbya which is an algae either brown or even reddish n color and often grows on back walls of tank and rock very similar to cyano. The warmer the tank temp seems the faster it grows but can be quickly stopped with regular cleanings. For rock, scrubbing with a firm toothbrush will remove it and for glass, simply shave off with an old credit card or similar into a net.
reduce white light intensity a little and assure phosphates are not elevated. Very Few cleaners will have an interest in this mess and you can try astrea, cerith, ninja star and even some pitho crabs

 

[TWYOUNG]

Thanks for better pic - the power of pictures
This appears to be lyngbya which is an algae either brown or even reddish n color and often grows on back walls of tank and rock very similar to cyano. The warmer the tank temp seems the faster it grows but can be quickly stopped with regular cleanings. For rock, scrubbing with a firm toothbrush will remove it and for glass, simply shave off with an old credit card or similar into a net.
reduce white light intensity a little and assure phosphates are not elevated. Very Few cleaners will have an interest in this mess and you can try astrea, cerith, ninja star and even some pitho crabs

I have 0.0 nitrates and phosphates so any idea what I'm doing to encourage it? I really thought with the long rectangular shapes they were diatoms. I'll be googling lyngbya!

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have 0.0 nitrates and phosphates so any idea what I'm doing to encourage it? I really thought with the long rectangular shapes they were diatoms. I'll be googling lyngbya!

Striving to keep the tank clean can lead to too clean. Simply lengthen the time you use to do water changes

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Feed an additional feeding. Extend light time. Are they in fact 0 readings or undetectable?
D

 

[TWYOUNG]

Striving to keep the tank clean can lead to too clean. Simply lengthen the time you use to do water changes

4 months in and I've yet to do a water change other than water replacing what's lost when drip acclimating new fish, spills, skimmer loss etc.

 

[vetteguy53081]

4 months in and I've yet to do a water change other than water replacing what's lost when drip acclimating new fish, spills, skimmer loss etc.

overfeeding ?
Skimmer ?

What is yoiur phosphate level ?

 

[TWYOUNG]

overfeeding ?
Skimmer ?

What is yoiur phosphate level ?

Nitrates and phosphates are 0.0, (Hanna). Overfeeding hasn't helped but extra food may get filtered out. Running a Regal 200 Octo but only recently has it really produced anything appropriately disgusting and much of the 4 months it wasn't skimming at all. Just added some tangs, 2" Biota Yellow and 4 1/2" White Tail Bristletooth and I'm thinking they'll create some filth lol.

 

[Uncle99]

My big issue there is how do I add nutrients without feeding nuisance algae? I used an entire bottle of TM PLUS-NP with no results.

Algae feeds on excessive nutrients and robs the coral from a food source.
Pest stuff can outcompete the good stuff when nutrients zero, either or both.
Solid and stable nutrient levels in the normally accepted ranges don’t feed algaes, but, you’ll need to remove the stuff that’s already there first.
It’s hard to get a consistent 0 in nitrates, so this number seems out of place. I’d get second opinion on both.