DIATOMS. Please help determine the source.

[Lavey29]

Hmm... so I guess i should test after I feed my tank with pellets to see where the phos levels are...
Frozen doesnt always mean there will be less phosphates correct? based on your observation?

When I leave for a few days, I set up a pellet auto feeder to feed 2x per day. When I return, my phosphates will be up due to the food source. When I'm home I only feed frozen.

 

[Lavey29]

I think im gonna start doing that... makes sense. the water they use is pretty cloudy . I guess i gotta stay away from using the rest of my brine shrimp. my strainer def will not work for those. but mysis will be perfect!

I just use a small fish net to strain. I drop 2 cubes in a plastic cup with little tank water. Thaw them and strain into fish net then add to the tank.

 

[TopClamSkoo]

so since it's strongly assumed that what I have is dinos or even cyano... Im gonna try the following based on my research:

1. use frozen more. strain of course before dosing food.
2. use vibrant or dr tims waste away. (would this be a good idea? I read the suggestions on dr tims and it says to use a skimmer in conjunction with dosing.)
*I actually never run skimmers on my nanos. I have a UNS 10 gallon tank and there is no skimmer that I like that will fit properly. Plus I dont bother running one considering I had much success in the past with my 12 and 25 gallon nanos. BUT THIS TIME... I AM HAVING ISSUES WITH ALGAE. No tanks are the same is so true...

I do run filter pads and chemipure elite as stated in my initial post

 

[woodyarmadillo]

Okay so I’m far from an expert, but to me this looks like the diatoms I saw in my tank shortly after cycle. I think it’s tricky distinguishing them. I also believe that diatoms sometimes disappear at night and come back the next day. I looked around a bit and I’m reading that if you disturb the sandbed, diatoms will separate and Dino’s will clump together. I also read you can test by pulling a sample out of the tank and running it through a paper towel. Maybe give this article a read. I believe correctly identifying the issue is the most important thing here. You don’t want to treat the wrong thing and cause more issues.

Diatoms vs Dinos

 

[vetteguy53081]

Well as promised. Here are the pics.
Sorry this is the best my phone can do.

here's a toss-up- Looks to me like cyano bacteria

 

[woodyarmadillo]

Lol well I’m following. Interested in seeing what you figure out.

 

[TopClamSkoo]

Okay so I’m far from an expert, but to me this looks like the diatoms I saw in my tank shortly after cycle. I think it’s tricky distinguishing them. I also believe that diatoms sometimes disappear at night and come back the next day. I looked around a bit and I’m reading that if you disturb the sandbed, diatoms will separate and Dino’s will clump together. I also read you can test by pulling a sample out of the tank and running it through a paper towel. Maybe give this article a read. I believe correctly identifying the issue is the most important thing here. You don’t want to treat the wrong thing and cause more issues.

Diatoms vs Dinos

Hey thanks so much! Im gonna try this tomorrow when i do a water change! maybe even tonight lol!
seriously though. Before i can ask my lfs or get a microscope myself. im gonna do this test to determine if I should get vibrant to battle this mess

 

[Troylee]

If you really wanted you could just put everything in a tub and take your sand out… put the sand in a 5gal bucket and rinse it very well with the tap water hose till the water is clear and put it back in the the tank with your rocks and corals and most likely be done with them! It’s called a rip clean and easy on your small tank. If it didn’t get rid of them they would be severely weakened where low lights would prolly take them out…

 

[mjw011689]

Do you thaw your food with tank water and strain it prior to adding to the tank?

I sure don’t, but I needed all the help I can get as far as adding phosphate, which is the main reason. If I get to a point where they don’t drop anymore, I might start at that point.

I would also guess that a solid majority who feed frozen do not strain/rinse it first. The few that do, I can see why that wouldn’t add any phosphate, but I’ll bet most don’t

 

[woodyarmadillo]

If you really wanted you could just put everything in a tub and take your sand out… put the sand in a 5gal bucket and rinse it very well with the tap water hose till the water is clear and put it back in the the tank with your rocks and corals and most likely be done with them! It’s called a rip clean and easy on your small tank. If it didn’t get rid of them they would be severely weakened where low lights would prolly take them out…

I’m saving this knowledge for later use. Thanks!

 

[Troylee]

I sure don’t, but I needed all the help I can get as far as adding phosphate, which is the main reason. If I get to a point where they don’t drop anymore, I might start at that point.

I would also guess that a solid majority who feed frozen do not strain/rinse it first. The few that do, I can see why that wouldn’t add any phosphate, but I’ll bet most don’t

Correct! Numerous threads on here about just that topic and consensus was no need to strain.. some people do and that’s fine but it’s not a necessity at all.. I don’t rinse as the majority don’t.

 

[woodyarmadillo]

I sure don’t, but I needed all the help I can get as far as adding phosphate, which is the main reason. If I get to a point where they don’t drop anymore, I might start at that point.

I would also guess that a solid majority who feed frozen do not strain/rinse it first. The few that do, I can see why that wouldn’t add any phosphate, but I’ll bet most don’t

I certainly don’t either. I use Reef Frenzy and I’ll either stick a chunk in a defroster in the tank or I’ll stick it in a cup with tank water and shake and then add to the tank. If I had to rinse and strain it everytime, I don’t think I’d ever feed frozen.

 

[Troylee]

I’m saving this knowledge for later use. Thanks!

There’s numerous threads about this and @brandon429 is the master of them knowledge wise.. I did it with my 275 gallon I just set up and had zero issues.. within 7 hours I drained that tank, moved it, washed all the sand and set it back up at my house and it’s ran flawless and didn’t lose a single coral… I have mostly Sps which everyone knows are temperamental… I don’t normally push these rip cleans but I can tell you it’s simple and effective on a small tank after doing my 275 I wouldn’t hesitate on a small one… wish I did my 60gal cube when I was battling them..

 

[woodyarmadillo]

There’s numerous threads about this and @brandon429 is the master of them knowledge wise.. I did it with my 275 gallon I just set up and had zero issues.. within 7 hours I drained that tank, moved it, washed all the sand and set it back up at my house and it’s ran flawless and didn’t lose a single coral… I have mostly Sps which everyone knows are temperamental… I don’t normally push these rip cleans but I can tell you it’s simple and effective on a small tank after doing my 275 I wouldn’t hesitate on a small one… wish I did my 60gal cube when I was battling them..

Fantastic knowledge to have in the back of my mind for when I need it. I can see this as being a safer route then playing chemical roulette and crashing a tank. Lots of horror stories on here about people having a small parameter fluctuation or a small amount of algae and then dosing too much, then trying to dose to bring a parameter back up and then the whole tank crashes.

to be clear, in my mind you should try to treat the problem but if the problem becomes overwhelming, it sounds like this “rip clean” could be a safer option than getting really aggressive with treatment.

 

[TopClamSkoo]

There’s numerous threads about this and @brandon429 is the master of them knowledge wise.. I did it with my 275 gallon I just set up and had zero issues.. within 7 hours I drained that tank, moved it, washed all the sand and set it back up at my house and it’s ran flawless and didn’t lose a single coral… I have mostly Sps which everyone knows are temperamental… I don’t normally push these rip cleans but I can tell you it’s simple and effective on a small tank after doing my 275 I wouldn’t hesitate on a small one… wish I did my 60gal cube when I was battling them..

tap water used to wash out the sand didnt affect anything in your tank afterwords? that is the only thing that is stopping me from trying this... From your experience it doesnt seem so.

 

[TopClamSkoo]

Fantastic knowledge to have in the back of my mind for when I need it. I can see this as being a safer route then playing chemical roulette and crashing a tank. Lots of horror stories on here about people having a small parameter fluctuation or a small amount of algae and then dosing too much, then trying to dose to bring a parameter back up and then the whole tank crashes.

I was actually thinking this too while i was reading all the threads about vibrant.. cyano happening after they rid of a problem.... sps dying off because they didnt test and found out the phosphate level was already 0 before vibrant was dosed.... sheesh...
i just hope that if i go this route and wash out my sand... diatoms or dinos wont come back....

 

[Troylee]

tap water used to wash out the sand didnt affect anything in your tank afterwords? that is the only thing that is stopping me from trying this... From your experience it doesnt seem so.

Nope! It’s fine! Drain it the best you can and just put it back together… prolly take you 2 hours max and save you a couple months of frustration lol… I can’t promise they won’t come back in time but you’ll have the upper hand in the battle. I even used all brand salt water… live rock and corals were the only thing used without washing from the previous move.

 

[woodyarmadillo]

tap water used to wash out the sand didnt affect anything in your tank afterwords? that is the only thing that is stopping me from trying this... From your experience it doesnt seem so.

I know some people are die hard about not using tap water so I’m not sure. One option would be to rinse well with tap water and then do a final rinse with RODI water. I just don’t have 50 gallons of RODI water sitting around to rinse sand with and then dump out personally.

 

[Troylee]

I know some people are die hard about not using tap water so I’m not sure. One option would be to rinse well with tap water and then do a final rinse with RODI water. I just don’t have 50 gallons of RODI water sitting around to rinse sand with and then dump out personally.

I used my hose.. lol.. even good ole melves reef back in the day has YouTube videos using a hose and tap water.

 

[woodyarmadillo]

I used my hose.. lol.. even good ole melves reef back in the day has YouTube videos using a hose and tap water.

I’m still new so I’m still learning how to work outside the box lol but a lot of the beginner sources tell us if it isn’t 0 TDS don’t let it anywhere near your tank. So far, I think that may be a little too over the top. Heck some people on here are using unfiltered tap water in their display all the time. Sure, a problem is more likely to arise eventually doing it that way, but I just can’t see a few remnants of unfiltered tap water killing off a tank.