Phyto Bloom?

Stevorino · Sep 6, 2023

So I just got home from a long labor day vacation and came home to a very cloudy tank and tank glass that was far more dirty than I anticipated.

This tank is still young (~5 months), but in my 10+ years of reefing, I have never seen green skimmate like this:

The picture honestly doesn't do the nuclear green color justice. The cup was full of bright green liquid (since drained), and my roller mat area has a light green hue. The rollermats appear to have been working overtime and are greenish as well. Oversized UV has been running the entire time.

I'm not concerned, but more interested if this is a phyto bloom specifically or just an algae bloom in general?

Also, I had a little bit of diatoms on the rockwork before the weekend and now it's definitely progressed significantly. Bumped up my AWC x3 over the next few days and ordered a gallon of pods lol

Parameters:

8.6 Alk
480 calc
Mag 1330
Nitrate ~30
Phos .09
Temperature ~78.75, but it bumped up to 79.5ish while away
PH: ~8.35avg before trip, 8.45avg while away
Salinity 1.026

Spare time · Sep 7, 2023

Is the water green?

Stevorino · Sep 7, 2023

Spare time said:
Is the water green?

Last night, at least the sump water definitely had a slight green hue. It was hard to tell in the display with black backdrop and night lights on. It looked more cloudy than green, but could've been both.

As of this AM, the greenness & cloudiness has overall subsided significantly, almost entirely.

The rollermats are now green-green instead of green-brown and clearly pulled a bunch out overnight. Skimmate is back to normal as well. So strange.

Spare time · Sep 7, 2023

Stevorino said:
Last night, at least the sump water definitely had a slight green hue. It was hard to tell in the display with black backdrop and night lights on. It looked more cloudy than green, but could've been both.

As of this AM, the greenness & cloudiness has overall subsided significantly, almost entirely.

The rollermats are now green-green instead of green-brown and clearly pulled a bunch out overnight. Skimmate is back to normal as well. So strange.

I bet the copepods and filter feeders were happy lol