diatom or dino

I just added some clownfish 2 days ago. The tank is cycled and ammonia is now at 0, nitrites 0, nitrates ~5, salinity at 1.022, and temp at 77. Based on my research this could be brown algae since the tank is super new, Around 1.5 months old. My concern is diatoms vs dinos, and how to tell...

Hi I was in a battle to defeat Dinos with the carbon method, so far it seems I won the battle, very small samples of optreopsis but more biodiversity. Checking with the microscope I saw the bug I post which is one third size of a optreosis, moves fast or stays quiet. I though of a kind of...

This is in a 20 gallon AIO with a protein skimmer, UV sterilizer (recently added) and some matrix carbon in the back. It seems to get less apparent at night which leads me to think it's Dinos, but the microscope couldn't magnify enough to get 100% verification. Yes my Nitrate and Phos need to...

So a little background the tank is about half a year old now. I have higher than desirable nutrients Nitrate is at 19.5 and phosphate is at .07-.17 (Hanna issues) I have a refugium going below the tank in my sump i do weekly water changes of about 35 gallons. (the tank is a 90-gallon display and...

Trying to ID what this is. Growing on my tank racks at a staggering rate. Diatoms or Dinos perhaps? If someone knows exactly what it is, I would be greatful for the knowledge.

Looking for help. Tank is 5 months old. One clownfish, and one tuxedo urchin. I QT'd the urchin for 83 days before adding him to the DT about two weeks ago. And since adding the Urchin I increased the lighting schedule to 6 hours on (I used to have it at 3 or 4 hours when the clown was in...

Hello I have a 30 gallon tank and I have algae. I recently had to quarantine my fish so my nitrates went down. My nitrates are less than 2 but definitely not 0. I don’t have a phosphate test kit, I just ordered one so it should come in soon. Anyways I’m keeping my tank fallow except for...

Sorry I tried looking at some of the existing posts but honestly having a hard time differentiating. These were taken under 40x which is what I happened to have, do I need something more powerful? I just vacuumed them out so not a lot of long strands but typically within a day or two lots of...

Hi all. I’m totally new to saltwater and I have a new setup that went through some sort of bloom, seemingly overnight. I thought it was for sure diatoms but now I’m afraid it could be dinos/cyano. Tank is 2 weeks old. I did a fish in cycle, started with Dr. Tim’s nitrifying bacteria. I’ve been...

Hi all, hopefully you can help me!! I have a 24 gallon AIO waterbox peninsula, roughly 8 months old. I have been battling algae for the last 4-5 months. I believe its a combination of diatom, dinos and maybe cyano? the algae doesn’t completely disappear at night, but does reduce slightly. If...