Is this diatoms?

DeadEnd · Nov 13, 2022

Hey there,

I have a new tank that has been cycling for the past 4 months (no fish or corals yet) and I just noticed a green spot in the sand and I was wondering if someone could help me identify what it is?

Thanks!

Lavey29 · Nov 13, 2022

Cycling for 4 months? What are your current parameters? Did you just turn the lights on at 4 months?

Since you have no fish have you been adding an ammonia source regularly like ghost feeding?

Mrtakeoff53 · Nov 13, 2022

It’s probably just a little algae. A 4 month cycle is pretty long, IMO. You are probably ready for fish and corals at this point. I’ve had water in my tank about 7 days (but starting with 2.5 year old live rock) and I have fish already. I have a huge diatom bloom. It’s everywhere. It’s brown and ugly. But that’s why they all it the uglies. It’ll pass and something else will pop up. Eventually it’ll all settle out. Just expect ugly glass, sand, rock for a while. Get a couple fish to watch and enjoy them. Let the uglies pass and in a few months, you’ll have a beautiful tank.

DeadEnd · Nov 13, 2022

Lavey29 said:
Cycling for 4 months? What are your current parameters? Did you just turn the lights on at 4 months?

Haha sorry I lost track of time. It has been cycling for 10 weeks and I turned on the lights around 3 to 4 weeks ago.

My parameters shows everything at 0 and I add fish food to the tank every 2 days.

Lavey29 · Nov 13, 2022

DeadEnd said:
Haha sorry I lost track of time. It has been cycling for 10 weeks and I turned on the lights around 3 to 4 weeks ago.

My parameters shows everything at 0 and I add fish food to the tank every 2 days.

Ok, you should show measurable nitrates in the tank if it is cycling properly. This should not be 0.

If the lights have only been on for several weeks then you will most likely start off with diatoms on the sand and rocks as the first ugly stage. If you have some green film algae like your pics show that is fine to. It's just normal new tank stuff but now is the time to start slowly building your cleaner crew with some snails, maybe couple hermits.

DeadEnd · Nov 13, 2022

Mrtakeoff53 said:
It’s probably just a little algae. A 4 month cycle is pretty long, IMO. You are probably ready for fish and corals at this point. I’ve had water in my tank about 7 days (but starting with 2.5 year old live rock) and I have fish already. I have a huge diatom bloom. It’s everywhere. It’s brown and ugly. But that’s why they all it the uglies. It’ll pass and something else will pop up. Eventually it’ll all settle out. Just expect ugly glass, sand, rock for a while. Get a couple fish to watch and enjoy them. Let the uglies pass and in a few months, you’ll have a beautiful tank.

Sorry I totally lost track of time. It has been cycling for around 10 weeks. I was about to add fish and corals after 2 weeks but decided to properly quaretine everything so it pushed back on my schedule

.

My first batch is ready to go into he tank but I wanted to first make sure I did not have anything that could harm them

I really like your aquascape! It doesn't look as bad as you think but it will look amazing once it passes!

DeadEnd · Nov 13, 2022

Lavey29 said:
Ok, you should show measurable nitrates in the tank if it is cycling properly. This should not be 0.

If the lights have only been on for several weeks then you will most likely start off with diatoms on the sand and rocks as the first ugly stage. If you have some green film algae like your pics show that is fine to. It's just normal new tank stuff but now is the time to start slowly building your cleaner crew with some snails, maybe couple hermits.

The nitrates were at 0 this morning. I was thinking about redosing bacteria but I find it had to believe that there is none in the tank? Should I try and dose ammonia?

Mrtakeoff53 · Nov 13, 2022

I’d add some fish at this point if I were you. I’ve been doing this hobby for 20 years and I can tell you you’re good for fish. Here are the parameters I shoot for. If my numbers aren’t outside these ranges, I don’t make any changes. It keeps my tank more stable. ‘Everything at zero’ isn’t good in the long run. I actually dosed nitrates and phosphates a few days ago because I know my numbers were zero and bad things happen with zero nitrates and phosphates (like Dino’s, ugh).

salinity: 1.024-1.026
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate:15-40
Phosophate: 0.05-0.12
Ca: 400-500
Alk: 8-10
Mg:1200-1400

Here is my old tank with these parameters:

DeadEnd · Nov 13, 2022

Mrtakeoff53 said:
I’d add some fish at this point if I were you. I’ve been doing this hobby for 20 years and I can tell you you’re good for fish. Here are the parameters I shoot for. If my numbers aren’t outside these ranges, I don’t make any changes. It keeps my tank more stable. ‘Everything at zero’ isn’t good in the long run. Just my $0.02

salinity: 1.024-1.026
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate:15-40
Phosophate: 0.05-0.12
Ca: 400-500
Alk: 8-10
Mg:1200-1400

Here is my old tank with these parameters:

Ah I did not measure phosphates, calcium, magnesium or alkalinity.

Salinity: 1.025
Ammonia: 0
NO3: 0
NO4: 0
PH: 8.2

I had been adding fish food to generate some ammonia but I am starting to believe it is not working...

Mrtakeoff53 · Nov 13, 2022

I don’t worry about calcium, Mg or Alk until I have corals. Nitrates and Phosphates are key parameters. It’s the food for algae, including the ones that live in yours corals. Once you get a few fish (good job quarantining, BTW) you should see these numbers rise. If they rise and then go back to zero, feed a little more or filter your water less you need some NO3 and PO4 for you tank. That little bit of green in your tank is good. It means you have life and the beginning of an ecosystem!

Lavey29 · Nov 13, 2022

DeadEnd said:
The nitrates were at 0 this morning. I was thinking about redosing bacteria but I find it had to believe that there is none in the tank? Should I try and dose ammonia?

Strange nitrates is 0 if you are ghost feeding to produce ammonia but as the other poster stated you need some fish. You can always dose a little ammonia and then verify it's 0 after 24 hours then you should see nitrates unless for some reason your cycle is stuck.

DeadEnd · Nov 13, 2022

Lavey29 said:
Strange nitrates is 0 if you are ghost feeding to produce ammonia but as the other poster stated you need some fish. You can always dose a little ammonia and then verify it's 0 after 24 hours then you should see nitrates unless for some reason your cycle is stuck.

I feel the same way... I am actually thinking about getting some ammonia in a bottle and raise it to 2 ppm... then after confirming that the ammonia drops and the nitrates raise use a CUC or something to test it before I introduce the fish.

Lavey29 · Nov 14, 2022

DeadEnd said:
I feel the same way... I am actually thinking about getting some ammonia in a bottle and raise it to 2 ppm... then after confirming that the ammonia drops and the nitrates raise use a CUC or something to test it before I introduce the fish.

I actually left my lights off the first 4 months to let my tank develop biodiversity and microfauna before turning them on and adding corals.

There is nothing wrong with taking your time and verifying everything is good. There has to be some nutrients in the tank or your green algae would not have started but if you verify the cycle then you know you are ready for first cleaners and fish.

Reef and Dive · Nov 14, 2022

DeadEnd said:
I feel the same way... I am actually thinking about getting some ammonia in a bottle and raise it to 2 ppm... then after confirming that the ammonia drops and the nitrates raise use a CUC or something to test it before I introduce the fish.

Honestly:

1 - yout tank is cicled (just forget so much thinking anything different is easily wrong);

2 - at this point I would just start adding life with 0 worries;

3 - no matter what you WILL have many problems, they just happen in reef tanks (but I agree that QT for fish is a great idea);

4 - stop worring sooooo much and start enjoying;

5 - those green stuff is microalgae and it is just ok;

6 - the cycle is not a clear mark as we imagine, whenever you have new bioload your wastes will raise and your bacteria will proliferate as well.

DeadEnd · Nov 16, 2022

Reef and Dive said:
Honestly:

1 - yout tank is cicled (just forget so much thinking anything different is easily wrong);

2 - at this point I would just start adding life with 0 worries;

3 - no matter what you WILL have many problems, they just happen in reef tanks (but I agree that QT for fish is a great idea);

4 - stop worring sooooo much and start enjoying;

5 - those green stuff is microalgae and it is just ok;

6 - the cycle is not a clear mark as we imagine, whenever you have new bioload your wastes will raise and your bacteria will proliferate as well.

So... I was getting 0 nitrates because I am using the API test kit and I did not shake the bottles... Now it says 80 ppm lol

cpoynter · Nov 16, 2022

DeadEnd said:
So... I was getting 0 nitrates because I am using the API test kit and I did not shake the bottles... Now it says 80 ppm lol

Well, the API test kits don’t have the best reputation, but if your nitrates are 80, you should do a huge water change to get them in check. Since you don’t have fish yet, it will be easy.
if you add fish, and turn the lights on with high Nitrates and Phosphates, you might have a huge algae event. Really nasty ugly stage.

DeadEnd · Nov 16, 2022

cpoynter said:
Well, the API test kits don’t have the best reputation, but if your nitrates are 80, you should do a huge water change to get them in check. Since you don’t have fish yet, it will be easy.
if you add fish, and turn the lights on with high Nitrates and Phosphates, you might have a huge algae event. Really nasty ugly stage.

Haha I am actually doing a huge water change right now. Hopefully it will drop them to 10. Thanks