Diatoms/Ugly stage

[Dustinryan2010]

New setup, 3 weeks old. 30 gallon nuvo, refugium and skimmer, Carbon and purigen. Water is a little cloudy, filter pads are turning brown within hours of changing them out. Nitrates are at 5ish, Phosphates keep going to 0, been dosing flourish phosphorous to keep them around .015. Not sure if these are diatoms, but there seems to be fine brown strands throughout the sand. No bubbles though. But there is bubbles gathering at the the water surface in the back chambers/sump area and they seem to be stuck together, when I grab them they feel slightly slimy. No bubbles or slime in the display tank though. Any idea what this could be? I had a slime outbreak in my last tank, and I’ve been extra careful this go around to not use sprays, lotions, candles etc. Hoping I’m not going to have to battle white slime again. Would sooner tear this tank down and sell it than go through that battle again.

 

[Dustinryan2010]

I’ve just checked my nitrates and they’ve gone down to 2 since yesterday. Whatever it is, is consuming Phosphates and nitrates. Should I unplug my skimmer and refugium light?

 

[LilElroyJetson]

Does not look like diatoms to me but this may be a better question for the algae/bacteria pros on here. I would stop using carbon and purigen. Any particular reason you're using those? Your nitrate will come down as your beneficial bacteria continues to reproduce and then you might not need to be dosing phosphate. I think running those so soon and on such a new tank runs a higher risk of causing bacterial blooms and worse issues than the ones you may be trying to control.

 

[Dustinryan2010]

Does not look like diatoms to me but this may be a better question for the algae/bacteria pros on here. I would stop using carbon and purigen. Any particular reason you're using those? Your nitrate will come down as your beneficial bacteria continues to reproduce and then you might not need to be dosing phosphate. I think running those so soon and on such a new tank runs a higher risk of causing bacterial blooms and worse issues than the ones you may be trying to control.

It was looking more like diatoms a few days ago. Then I noticed my filter pads getting brown and smelt fishier than usual, so I added a bag of carbon thinking it would help. I didn’t know using purigen so early would cause issue either. I’m starting to wonder if this could be Dino’s..

 

[ruskimax]

Fish/Coral stocking list would help in regards to how to approach nutrient level manipulation.

 

[Dustinryan2010]

Fish/Coral stocking list would help in regards to how to approach nutrient level manipulation.

I’ve got 2 clowns, 1 watchman and pistol Shrimp, 3 hermits, 3 astreas, 2 ceriths, small leather frag, small hammer frag, and a small ricordea. I’ve got a pretty small bioload for now

 

[cojo8888]

Don't sweat. I have an exact same tank as you and for 2 weeks I had a diatom just like your pics exact same looking. I kept my nutrients low by doing wc once in a week after I see diatom. And 16hrs refugium light pr day. Also did full light schedule on dt. Except water is still cloudy, diatom disappear completely. I do see little gha but not crazy

 

[Hemmdog]

@brandon429 dinos ?

 

[ScottR]

I’ve never seen hair-like diatoms. Could be dinos. Could be anything.

Diatoms are a natural part of cycling and disappear as the silicates leave your system.

 

[Westoncase]

I’m seeing similar stuff in my tank that’s about 5 months old. Some days I thinks it’s dinos other days It looks like diatoms. Water quality is fine. I’ve used a turkey baster, water changes, blackouts and a uv sterilizer and nothings worked yet. Hoping it just runs its course quickly

 

[K7BMG]

I am in the same spot.
I had brown algae or diatoms that lasted for about two weeks, not bad, and the nine Trochus snails, two peppermint shrimp, and a healthy Potters Angel have been doing a great job. Tank is a 150 with a 40G sump fuge.
Had the T5's going now for a month, and five days ago started the two 250w metal halide's for 3.5 hours a day.
Yesterday saw GHA for the first time in the DT so the halides will stay off until the fuge takes over again.
Have a Kessel 380 for the fuge and on about 14 hours. I am thinking on kicking the time up a bit as the chaeto seems to have stalled growth. The sea lettuce and red ogo, slowly died off and was removed. My fuge has a good amount of algae growing on the bottom and sides, GHA and others. So the Kessel is doing its thing. The halides obviously kicked the light realm butt of the Kessels and the reason the GHA started in the DT. IMO.

Started my tank on February 4th so just over three months old.

 

[ScottR]

If you have diatoms, it’s best to let them run their course with normal lighting. They’ll consume all the silicates in the water then go away once their supply is gone. If you try to restrict them too much, you’ll just end up having them for longer. I think mine in my tank with sand went away at around month 4 with 12 hours of lighting a day. In my BB tank, I never had any because of absence of sand.

 

[saltyhog]

Does it go away at night/as the lights dim? If you have access to a microscope a picture would confirm diatoms vs. dinos. I would stop the Purigen but not the carbon just in case it is dinos and a kind that produces toxins.

 

[K7BMG]

If you have diatoms, it’s best to let them run their course with normal lighting. They’ll consume all the silicates in the water then go away once their supply is gone. If you try to restrict them too much, you’ll just end up having them for longer. I think mine in my tank with sand went away at around month 4 with 12 hours of lighting a day. In my BB tank, I never had any because of absence of sand.

My tank is bare bottom as well.
But I have a lot of rock

 

[Dustinryan2010]

Does it go away at night/as the lights dim? If you have access to a microscope a picture would confirm diatoms vs. dinos. I would stop the Purigen but not the carbon just in case it is dinos and a kind that produces toxins.

Yes it definitely clears up quite a bit at lights out. I turned the lights off around noon today. The tiny hints of slime and bubbles in the rear chambers disappeared, and the filter floss pads turned light grey as well. Everything’s being fueled by light. Should I continue dosing nitrates and Phosphates to keep them above 0? I turned my skimmer off, thinking about removing my chaeto and reintroducing it down the line when I’m ready.. currently trying to find a reasonably priced microscope on amazon that will do the trick.

 

[Dustinryan2010]

If you have diatoms, it’s best to let them run their course with normal lighting. They’ll consume all the silicates in the water then go away once their supply is gone. If you try to restrict them too much, you’ll just end up having them for longer. I think mine in my tank with sand went away at around month 4 with 12 hours of lighting a day. In my BB tank, I never had any because of absence of sand.

Thinking these are definitely dino’s unfortunately.. I noticed a few small areas with slime clinging to the rocks. Definitely not normal for diatoms. Gonna try to get a microscope and see what I can do from here.

 

[ScottR]

Thinking these are definitely dino’s unfortunately.. I noticed a few small areas with slime clinging to the rocks. Definitely not normal for diatoms. Gonna try to get a microscope and see what I can do from here.

Microscope is the way to go. From the diatoms I’ve seen in my tank and others - they look like tubular shaped worms. They’re actually a clear or a light tan color. Dinos look nothing like that.

 

[Dustinryan2010]

Microscope is the way to go. From the diatoms I’ve seen in my tank and others - they look like tubular shaped worms. They’re actually a clear or a light tan color. Dinos look nothing like that.

If this is dino’s, would you recommend I throw out my chaeto for now? Or will it help to outcompete?

 

[ScottR]

If this is dino’s, would you recommend I throw out my chaeto for now? Or will it help to outcompete?

Dinos are interesting. They prefer a clean tank which means not many nutrients. It kind of gives them the green light because their predators are lower in numbers. Here’s something that may sound wild but stick with me. Adding phytoplankton to a tank will help to feed copepods and increase population (assuming and hopefully you have them). Copepods will actually eat dinos. Some dinos do eat pods but I’m sure dinos will be outcompeted.

 

[saltyhog]

If it is dinos, microscopic ID is really helpful since different species require different treatments. Going away at night suggest a species that goes in to the water column at night making them susceptable to UV. Keep your NO3 and PO4 up and consider getting a cheap UV unit like a Jaebo.