Diatoms or bacterial bloom?

[Aquaman102]

How do you tell when you have normal old diatoms vs a bacterial bloom?

Back story is, I started with Marco Reef Saver Rock and cycled it in a trashcan via the raw shrimp method. Dumped in some bio-spira and it cycled in about 3 weeks.

Moved the cycled rock to the DT and turned on the lights. Diatoms started showing up, so I loaded up on a CUC from Reef Cleaners.

I'm curious though if I've got more than diatoms as the water is cloudy. I have to clean the glass daily. When I do, the brown "dust" just goes into the water column. I suspect the powerheads are keeping that suspended and maybe that is what is causing the cloudiness?

I do have sump with a skimmer and the overflow is draining into a filter sock.

No ammonia, no nitrites and around 2 ppm nitrates

Any thoughts on if i might have a bacterial bloom?

 

[Ludders]

Sounds like you have a bacteria bloom and diatoms. How long has it been cloudy for?

 

[Aquaman102]

It started out as regular old diatoms on the rocks and sand bed, then boom! cloudy water.

It does get better when the lights are off. I have to clean the brown film off the glass a couple times a day.

 

[AmaleeC]

Hey, just out of curiosity, what every happened to the tank?