RedPhotog
New Member
Hello, I am sorry for not providing any pics, but just want a quick roll call from the community about the difference between cyano and diatoms. I put a new piece of caribsea liferock in the tank recently, and that coupled with having to use LFS RODI instead of my usual store bought jugged distilled from walmart (covid caused), I have been battling some really annoying algae. Its brown, dusty but a little stringy in areas. It doesnt come off in mats or carpets but just kind of disintegrates and disappears when turkey baste it off rocks and corals. My kenya tree hasnt fully opened since this outbreak started, its been more than a month, and now my zoas are getting annoyed. This stuff will literally reappear an hour or two after blowing it off.
My tank is 40 gallons AIO waterbox, I had to use about 10-15 gallons of LFS RODI that tested terribly, like 89 tds...I dont have an RODI machine so I was kind of screwed, people went bezerk on the water products in the stores when the pandemic first started. Now I can get my water back whenever I want, the distilled jugged water from walmart always tests at 0 tds. It is the best water anyone can use without making their own, I dont trust LFS water, I dont know when they change their filters, etc. The livestock has been with me for almost 2 years, but this specific system started labor day weekend 2019, so I am coming up to a year maturity with the liferock and extra water I upgraded to from a 12g.
Does this sound like a diatoms silicates issue with the added piece of rock, perhaps the LFS tap water that I was sold during the pandemic? I feed once a day, I have a light fish bio load, one clownfish and a cleaner shrimp in a 40...they live like kings. But I have to get this under control because my tank looks totally different now. How many diatoms outbreaks do new tanks typically go thru? And it was my understanding that cyano comes off like blankets, and is more silky looking. This stuff looks like brown hair. lol BHA? Sorry for the fragmented post. Thank you in advance. Stay healthy!
My tank is 40 gallons AIO waterbox, I had to use about 10-15 gallons of LFS RODI that tested terribly, like 89 tds...I dont have an RODI machine so I was kind of screwed, people went bezerk on the water products in the stores when the pandemic first started. Now I can get my water back whenever I want, the distilled jugged water from walmart always tests at 0 tds. It is the best water anyone can use without making their own, I dont trust LFS water, I dont know when they change their filters, etc. The livestock has been with me for almost 2 years, but this specific system started labor day weekend 2019, so I am coming up to a year maturity with the liferock and extra water I upgraded to from a 12g.
Does this sound like a diatoms silicates issue with the added piece of rock, perhaps the LFS tap water that I was sold during the pandemic? I feed once a day, I have a light fish bio load, one clownfish and a cleaner shrimp in a 40...they live like kings. But I have to get this under control because my tank looks totally different now. How many diatoms outbreaks do new tanks typically go thru? And it was my understanding that cyano comes off like blankets, and is more silky looking. This stuff looks like brown hair. lol BHA? Sorry for the fragmented post. Thank you in advance. Stay healthy!
