Dino’s? Tweak my Parameters and Lighting, Please.

[Cari]

I feel like a newbie, although I’ve been in this Rewarding/Frustrating hobby for years!

I believe I’m dealing with Dino’s...

I changed out my t5 bulbs first of the year. Sand bed is pretty white as long as the lights are off. I have an Aquatic Life Hybrid with 2 Kessil AP700 and 4 ATI bulbs B+ C+ C+ B+, Kessils come on at 8am ramp up to 40% @ noon. Run 40% til 4pm, then ramp down to off at 9pm. I have the t5’s running for 3 hours, 11am-2pm

Here are my parameters: 90 gallon + approx 25 gal sump .
Sg 1.028 (I’ve added top off water, I usually run at 1.026)
Alk. 9.8
Mag 1200
Ph. 8.34
Ca 550+ (If I’ve calculated correctly, according to test kit about 625) May have to re-test with Hanna Checker!
Nitrate 5
Phosphate .05
Temp 78 degrees

I used Red Sea Pro test kits, other than phosphate (Hanna Checker) and SG (Milwaukee Instruments).

I dose ESV b Ionic 2 part, approx 4ml per day. I run an OCTO skimmer 24/7. Use distilled water for top off. I’ve been trying Brightwell Microbactor7 when I remember, haven’t been dosing daily.

I currently have softies and LPS. Would like to keep SPS and have a mixed reef.

Please let me know your ideas on the current issue, as well as lighting schedule and what can I do parameter wise to be successful with SPS.

Thanks!

 

[Hemmdog]

Distilled water from where. Looks like diatoms.

also drop calcium, bump up mag. Maybe just do big water changes to get back to normal numbers. 35 gals tomorrow, 35 gals next weekend. That should give you a nice reset.

 

[Cari]

Diatoms! See that’s why I come to R2R and all my ID’s of things get question marks after it ! We have a distilled water system for drinking water, so I’ve always used that.

How do you get them? Do they come from lighting change or chemistry change?
Thanks for your help!

 

[Ultra Aquatics]

Diatoms usually come from silicates in your sand/water/rock. They will usually go away on their own once all silicates are consumed provided you don’t introduce more.

 

[leepink23]

Diatoms! See that’s why I come to R2R and all my ID’s of things get question marks after it ! We have a distilled water system for drinking water, so I’ve always used that.

How do you get them? Do they come from lighting change or chemistry change?
Thanks for your help!

Diatoms feed off silicates. You could test your source water to see if it has silicates in it. Do you know what your tds is from the drinking water? I would recommend getting a Ro/di unit with silicate remover to make your water if that is your problem.