Dinos or Diatoms?

[Trenton Henderson]

Thoughts on whether these look like dinos or diatoms? When I turkey baste them they turn into powder. It’s hairy because there is GHA under it.

 

[Reefahholic]

Looks like a mix of both. The bubbles on the back wall likely Indicate Dino’s.

At the end of peak photo period when your lights are the hottest…squat down on your knees and look up at the rocks like you’re looking up a steep mountain. If you see a lot of bubbles or tiny bubbles it’s most likely going to be Dino’s.

Either way, this can be quickly ID’ed with a cheap microscope ($70-$80). If you’re on Facebook, join Mack’s Dino group.

 

[Trenton Henderson]

Looks like a mix of both. The bubbles on the back wall likely Indicate Dino’s.

At the end of peak photo period when your lights are the hottest…squat down on your knees and look up at the rocks like you’re looking up a steep mountain. If you see a lot of bubbles or tiny bubbles it’s most likely going to be Dino’s.

Either way, this can be quickly ID’ed with a cheap microscope ($70-$80). If you’re on Facebook, join Mack’s Dino group.

I probably need one. I have been leaning towards diatoms primarily because the rocks a spotless and it appears that the snails and urchin are consuming them to some extent. Also, my pod population seems to be growing.

I have a hunch that many of the bubbles may be from when I ran chemiclean a week or so ago, as I left the skimmer running for aeration, which created a ton of micro bubbles that collected in the algae on the back wall. This doesn’t mean it’s not dinos, however, as there was a few weeks that I had them due to bottomed out nitrates and phosphates.