Diatoms or Dinos?

[notofthisreef]

Hi All,

I'm new to the forum and somewhat new to reef keeping as I've got back into the hobby a few months ago. I have a JBJ RL 20 cube that has been up and running since April 11th. I started noticing what I think is diatom algae on the substrate and have been doing weekly water changes after it was up the first month using R/O from my LFS.

I have two Clown fish, two turbo snails, a cleaner shrimp, Some zoas, a hammer and a racordia. All of the livestock seems happy and corals are growing.

Since the diatoms are not going away I'm beginning to wonder if I have dinos since they look similar from what I've read. Looking for some input on if these are just normal diatoms and suggestions on how to erradicate it or how long to expect to be dealing with it. Right now I've been sifting the gravel as I do the weekly 20% water changes and I manually stir it every couple of days but by the next day the diatoms are already returning. I'm considering throwing a UV light in the AIO sump. Thoughts on those for diatoms? See the attached photos.

Current Parameters and setup:
SG: 1.025
Nitrate: <10ppm (somewhere between 5 and 10)
Ammonia: 0
Phosphate: 0
Temp: 79 (just set to 82, I read this can kill off dinos.
Light: Kessil A80 Blue with Spectral controller. (I recently adjusted the ramps to only go up to 40% intensity to see if that improves whatever is growing on the substrate.)
Feeding: I dose Phyto Feast every other day and feed pellets or flakes 1 time per day.
Aquamaxx NF-1 Skimmer
Tunze Nano ATO

 

[vetteguy53081]

Diatoms and often associated with newer tanks feeding off silicates from sand and dry rock. While part of cycling will subside.
If becomes unsightly, you can siphon as needed, add micro bacter XLM and add snails such as:
Astrea
Nerite
Trochus
Nassarius

and some carribean blue leg hermits which are tiny

 

[notofthisreef]

Diatoms and often associated with newer tanks feeding off silicates from sand and dry rock. While part of cycling will subside.
If becomes unsightly, you can siphon as needed, add micro bacter XLM and add snails such as:
Astrea
Nerite
Trochus
Nassarius

and some carribean blue leg hermits which are tiny

Thank you for your input. Glad they're just diatoms.

 

[Screwgunner]

Dinnos look like snotty slim with boubles in it.