Ugly Stage/Identification advice

[Marcus Rogers]

Hey all, I started my reef tank about ~2.5 months ago and I am in the midst of the "ugly stage". My nitrates and phosphates both read 0 (red sea test kit and hanna test kit). What should I do? Wait it out, dose something like microbacter clean, or try to artificially raise nitrates and phosphates through additives?

Also, my guess is that they are mostly diatoms, and not dinos. What do others think?

 

[Nanojoe]

may be dinos my friend. A sure sign is that it will be "stringy and have bubbles" In your first pic posted i see this in the back right of the pic. Of course ID verification would be a start to fighting it.

For now raise those nutrient levels then begin dosing bacteria. Without nutrient levels being detectable, beneficial bacteria wont be able to survive.

Once you do get readings on your kits, I did like and still use Microbacter clean and Microbacter 7