Help ID. Diatoms?

James Barton · Jan 8, 2018

It has popped up over the passed few days and seems to be spreading on my sand and rocks quickly. It also gets on my toadstools cussing them to close up. I'm not sure if this is causing my torch and frogspawn to not open up even though it doesn't seem to be physically on them.

Temp 78
Salinity 1.025
Ph 7.8
Ammonia/nitrite 0
Nitrate 20
Phosphate 0
Calcium 370
Magnesium 1300
Alkalinity 8

slipknotgrrl83 · Jan 8, 2018

Looks like diatoms to me....how old is the tank

James Barton · Jan 8, 2018

slipknotgrrl83 said:
Looks like diatoms to me....how old is the tank

It's about 4 months. But I've been through a crazy diatom bloom during my 1st month following cycling my tank. What has caused it to come back?

Ludders · Jan 8, 2018

Do you see bubbles anywhere?

Do you run GFO?

slipknotgrrl83 · Jan 8, 2018

Hmmm... any new equipment or sand added? What are phosphates? Could be silicates. I recently upgraded tanks and am having a bloom also, mine is due to new sand and equipment though.

James Barton · Jan 8, 2018

Ludders said:
Do you see bubbles anywhere?

Do you run GFO?

No not really seeing any bubbles. And I had a bag of carbon I had been using for about a month prior but it has since been removed.

James Barton · Jan 8, 2018

slipknotgrrl83 said:
Hmmm... any new equipment or sand added? What are phosphates? Could be silicates. I recently upgraded tanks and am having a bloom also, mine is due to new sand and equipment though.

No new equipment or sand. Phosphates are 0.

James Barton · Jan 8, 2018

Seems to be getting on my toadstools as well.

Ludders · Jan 8, 2018

It's sometimes difficult to ID stuff like this via photo. Microscopes are useful for IDing.

You can't easily get it under a scope can you?

slipknotgrrl83 · Jan 8, 2018

James Barton said:
No new equipment or sand. Phosphates are 0.

Not sure then.... hopefully some others will chime in

James Barton · Jan 8, 2018

Ludders said:
It's sometimes difficult to ID stuff like this via photo. Microscopes are useful for IDing.

You can't easily get it under a scope can you?

No idea where I'd get a microscope lol. The only places I see bubbles is here

jsker · Jan 8, 2018

What is your lighting schedule and spectrum times? Nitrates are a bit high but not insane.

Ludders · Jan 8, 2018

Don't worry about the microscope then.
Is it on your snail there? What colour is it mostly? Do you feed heavily? Are the bubbles on any of the algae/bacteria?

James Barton · Jan 8, 2018

Lights come on at 9 and turn off at 11 gradually increasing and then decreasing through the time period. Then my sump light comes on reverse the tank cycle. The spectrums are pretty low right now I found someone's schedule online.

rob safron · Jan 8, 2018

On the rock looks like it could be diatom but on the gravel it looks stringy. Diatom is more powdery and easily blows off with a turkey basted. I’m fighting it myself on a 10 year old tank.

James Barton · Jan 8, 2018

Ludders said:
Don't worry about the microscope then.
Is it on your snail there? What colour is it mostly? Do you feed heavily? Are the bubbles on any of the algae/bacteria?

There is some on some shells and some on a hermits shell. It's mainly a dark reddish brown color and very stringy. I do feed heavily at times and run my skimmer aggressively.

James Barton · Jan 8, 2018

rob safron said:
On the rock looks like it could be diatom but on the gravel it looks stringy. Diatom is more powdery and easily blows off with a turkey basted. I’m fighting it myself on a 10 year old tank.

Yea it comes off easily but it's the same on the rocks and the gravel, I assure you.

Ludders · Jan 8, 2018

rob safron said:
On the rock looks like it could be diatom but on the gravel it looks stringy. Diatom is more powdery and easily blows off with a turkey basted. I’m fighting it myself on a 10 year old tank.

I agree Rob, I am wondering if it's dinoflagellates.
You will need to do a few things to get this under control and the sooner you react the better, if indeed it is a strain of dino.

Do you have a reactor you can run some GFO like rowaphos in?

rob safron · Jan 8, 2018

So I have been fighting the same for a while. Did all the usual, changed all RODI filters, tried new salt. The only change in my system is I added Gyre pumps which could be exposing areas that did not get flow before. I assume you Test your makeup water and have 0 TDS.

James Barton · Jan 8, 2018

Ludders said:
I agree Rob, I am wondering if it's dinoflagellates.
You will need to do a few things to get this under control and the sooner you react the better, if indeed it is a strain of dino.

Do you have a reactor you can run some GFO like rowaphos in?

And dinos is what I didn't want to hear lol. I don't have a reactor unfortunately.