What is this ugly stuff

[Salty_Northerner]

Anybody tell me what this stuff on the sand bed is?

 

[DanyL]

Looks like diatoms.
They are caused due to the presence of silicates in the water.

Are you using RODI?
If so, do you make sure your TDS is reading 0?

 

[Lps_lover12]

How old is the tank? And what are your nutrient levels?

 

[Salty_Northerner]

It goes away at night and shows up in the morning. And yes I'm using a RODI with TDS meter installed from BRS and I do reverse flush the membrane after use and also let the unit run for 10 minutes or so before starting to make rodi water.

Rock is 6 months old but sand bed is new June 19th when I did the transfer over from the other tank to the new tank.

TDS meter reads 0 out while running.

 

[DanyL]

I wouldn’t worry about it.

It is most likely just leaching out of your rocks, which is a normal thing to observe with a new tank.

Once the diatoms done consuming all silicates in they system, they will disappear by themselves.

 

[Lps_lover12]

Could be diatoms or Dino’s. Only way to tell for sure is microscope

 

[Salty_Northerner]

I wouldn’t worry about it.

It is most likely just leaching out of your rocks, which is a normal thing to observe with a new tank.

Once the diatoms done consuming all silicates in they system, they will disappear by themselves.

Hopefully the UV sterilizer shows up tomorrow. That'll help I'm hoping?

 

[Lps_lover12]

Hopefully the UV sterilizer shows up tomorrow. That'll help I'm hoping?

Depending on the type of Dino’s you have it might

 

[ScottJ]

It goes away at night and shows up in the morning. And yes I'm using a RODI with TDS meter installed from BRS and I do reverse flush the membrane after use and also let the unit run for 10 minutes or so before starting to make rodi water.

Rock is 6 months old but sand bed is new June 19th when I did the transfer over from the other tank to the new tank.

TDS meter reads 0 out while running.

Sounds like a pretty new tank. Ugly just gonna happen. Might just have to wait it out.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Sand is showing a few diatoms associated with new dry rock and sand due to silicates and as they dissipate, so does the diatoms. to help control, reduce white intensity a little and add a few snails such as Astrea-cerith-trochus-turbo grazer and nassarius and even a few Carribean blue leg hermits which are tiny

 

[Salty_Northerner]

Sand is showing a few diatoms associated with new dry rock and sand due to silicates and as they dissipate, so does the diatoms. to help control, reduce white intensity a little and add a few snails such as Astrea-cerith-trochus-turbo grazer and nassarius and even a few Carribean blue leg hermits which are tiny

live rock is 6 months old but I hear ya, it's not completly seasoned. Just the sand is new and will see what the lfs have if anything. Would Bactor7 help?

 

[RobbieMaynard]

Hopefully it’s diatoms but it looks a lot like the Dino’s I have and been battling since November. It started in a little spot on my sand right around a few corals that I fed reef roids and AB+ to. When I was doing. water change vaccuming it up I spread it all over my tank. I blame it on a mix of cycling with dry rock and amino acids from the coral foods. My parameters never hit zero by the way. Hopefully this is helpful. But I agree with the others. Check it under a microscope.

 

[vetteguy53081]

live rock is 6 months old but I hear ya, it's not completly seasoned. Just the sand is new and will see what the lfs have if anything. Would Bactor7 help?

Bacter 7 or bacter XLM - Yes

 

[marinesnow]

It's part of the "ugly phase," it'll pass as your microbiome and microfauna grow and stablize. When it hit my tank I used microbacterclean with success.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

Here's a photo of the sand bed 15 min ago.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

So these must be dinos? They go away in the dark and come back a in the day light.