DIATOMS. Please help determine the source.

[Lavey29]

Hard to tell. May be beginning dinos. Does it disappear overnight? Seems relatively minor outbreak right now.

 

[TopClamSkoo]

Hard to tell. May be beginning dinos. Does it disappear overnight? Seems relatively minor outbreak right now.

Hey thanks for all the help!
Yeah it's just mainly in this area where there is not as much flow. There's flow but not turbulent like the other side. In those areas, the dinos/diatoms are mainly in outlines or my rock and a bit on the sand but barely.
It does shrink away at night. But don't diatoms do that too? Or is that a dino thing?
I get confused.. I thought only diatoms shrink away at night.

 

[TopClamSkoo]

Times like this I wish I had a microscope..

 

[Lavey29]

Hey thanks for all the help!
Yeah it's just mainly in this area where there is not as much flow. There's flow but not turbulent like the other side. In those areas, the dinos/diatoms are mainly in outlines or my rock and a bit on the sand but barely.
It does shrink away at night. But don't diatoms do that too? Or is that a dino thing?
I get confused.. I thought only diatoms shrink away at night.

Dinos disappear into the sand or the water column overnight depending on which tipe of dinos you have. What don't you get a sand sifting goby to plow your sand all day?

 

[TopClamSkoo]

Dinos disappear into the sand or the water column overnight depending on which tipe of dinos you have. What don't you get a sand sifting goby to plow your sand all day?

I heard they'll eat all the copepods and microfauna from the sand. Kinda like a sand sifting star. no?
What do u feed em? Hopefully my dottybavk doesn't kill it lol.

 

[TopClamSkoo]

What does everyone think about using a uv sterilizer? Bahama lama on YouTube said it worked for him.. problem is.. I heard it can kill off the beneficial bacteria in the water column.
Also not sure if there is a nano version..

 

[Lavey29]

What does everyone think about using a uv sterilizer? Bahama lama on YouTube said it worked for him.. problem is.. I heard it can kill off the beneficial bacteria in the water column.
Also not sure if there is a nano version..

That only works for dinos that enter the water column overnight not other types that stay in the sand.

Buy a cheap microscope off Amazon and you will get a positive ID here then you will know the best remedy.

 

[Lavey29]

I heard they'll eat all the copepods and microfauna from the sand. Kinda like a sand sifting star. no?
What do u feed em? Hopefully my dottybavk doesn't kill it lol.

I doubt that. Yes they probably eat left overs on the sand but people that have open sand area tanks seem to have good success with nice clean sand. I'm wall to wall corals so a sand sifter won't work for me which is unfortunate.

 

[Troylee]

I heard they'll eat all the copepods and microfauna from the sand. Kinda like a sand sifting star. no?
What do u feed em? Hopefully my dottybavk doesn't kill it lol.

Nah… I have one and he moves some serious sand everyday lol.. he couldn’t keep up with all that sand.. they only tend to dig out under the rocks “making dens” and don’t mess with the rest of the tank.

 

[TopClamSkoo]

Nah… I have one and he moves some serious sand everyday lol.. he couldn’t keep up with all that sand.. they only tend to dig out under the rocks “making dens” and don’t mess with the rest of the tank.

My dottyback has a den under the rock too... Think it'll be bad? It is an electric indigo dottyback so it's kinda tame compared to a neon dortyback.. but never know..

 

[sixty_reefer]

With the pictures I would be inclined to say dinoflagellates or Cyanobacteria

 

[Troylee]

My dottyback has a den under the rock too... Think it'll be bad? It is an electric indigo dottyback so it's kinda tame compared to a neon dortyback.. but never know..

I’m not sure.. I’d think the diamond goby would win if there’s any trouble.. mine throws huge hermits and snails haha! Not to mention any frags that fall get tossed with plug and all Into his cave..

 

[mjw011689]

wow... so should i stop feeding pellets and go back to frozen?

Didn’t read through everything else in here, but I can say with 100% confidence that frozen food can add phosphate. I’ve been testing every single day with a Hanna phosphate checker for over a month now to track what raises/lowers my phosphates. I test 6 hours after feeding, on the dot. Every single day I feed frozen, phosphate raises anywhere from 0.03-0.06 from whatever it was previously. Every day I feed flake it drops down to 0.02 on the dot. Basically have it on an every 3rd day schedule for the frozen food now, and I’m maintaining just about perfect for my phosphates. This was after dosing neophos for about a month just to get it to show up. No longer need to dose neophos as I’m maintaining it with food now. But again, you’ve got the opposite problem, your phosphate is way higher and needs to be brought down. You can do tests for silicates in your RO water if you want, probably wouldn’t be a bad idea, however it won’t matter if you don’t bring phosphates down to start with. I’ve never had to bring phosphate down before, but I know a lot of people use phosban or gfo with success

 

[Lavey29]

Didn’t read through everything else in here, but I can say with 100% confidence that frozen food can add phosphate. I’ve been testing every single day with a Hanna phosphate checker for over a month now to track what raises/lowers my phosphates. I test 6 hours after feeding, on the dot. Every single day I feed frozen, phosphate raises anywhere from 0.03-0.06 from whatever it was previously. Every day I feed flake it drops down to 0.02 on the dot. Basically have it on an every 3rd day schedule for the frozen food now, and I’m maintaining just about perfect for my phosphates. This was after dosing neophos for about a month just to get it to show up. No longer need to dose neophos as I’m maintaining it with food now. But again, you’ve got the opposite problem, your phosphate is way higher and needs to be brought down. You can do tests for silicates in your RO water if you want, probably wouldn’t be a bad idea, however it won’t matter if you don’t bring phosphates down to start with. I’ve never had to bring phosphate down before, but I know a lot of people use phosban or gfo with success

Do you thaw your food with tank water and strain it prior to adding to the tank?

 

[Lavey29]

Didn’t read through everything else in here, but I can say with 100% confidence that frozen food can add phosphate. I’ve been testing every single day with a Hanna phosphate checker for over a month now to track what raises/lowers my phosphates. I test 6 hours after feeding, on the dot. Every single day I feed frozen, phosphate raises anywhere from 0.03-0.06 from whatever it was previously. Every day I feed flake it drops down to 0.02 on the dot. Basically have it on an every 3rd day schedule for the frozen food now, and I’m maintaining just about perfect for my phosphates. This was after dosing neophos for about a month just to get it to show up. No longer need to dose neophos as I’m maintaining it with food now. But again, you’ve got the opposite problem, your phosphate is way higher and needs to be brought down. You can do tests for silicates in your RO water if you want, probably wouldn’t be a bad idea, however it won’t matter if you don’t bring phosphates down to start with. I’ve never had to bring phosphate down before, but I know a lot of people use phosban or gfo with success

Do you thaw your food with tank water and strain it prior to adding to the tank?

 

[TopClamSkoo]

Do you thaw your food with tank water and strain it prior to adding to the tank?

good question! I definitely would like to know that. I used to just mix the cubes in rodi water and feed with a turkey blaster...

 

[TopClamSkoo]

Didn’t read through everything else in here, but I can say with 100% confidence that frozen food can add phosphate. I’ve been testing every single day with a Hanna phosphate checker for over a month now to track what raises/lowers my phosphates. I test 6 hours after feeding, on the dot. Every single day I feed frozen, phosphate raises anywhere from 0.03-0.06 from whatever it was previously. Every day I feed flake it drops down to 0.02 on the dot. Basically have it on an every 3rd day schedule for the frozen food now, and I’m maintaining just about perfect for my phosphates. This was after dosing neophos for about a month just to get it to show up. No longer need to dose neophos as I’m maintaining it with food now. But again, you’ve got the opposite problem, your phosphate is way higher and needs to be brought down. You can do tests for silicates in your RO water if you want, probably wouldn’t be a bad idea, however it won’t matter if you don’t bring phosphates down to start with. I’ve never had to bring phosphate down before, but I know a lot of people use phosban or gfo with success

Hmm... so I guess i should test after I feed my tank with pellets to see where the phos levels are...
Frozen doesnt always mean there will be less phosphates correct? based on your observation?

 

[Lavey29]

good question! I definitely would like to know that. I used to just mix the cubes in rodi water and feed with a turkey blaster...

Well that is fine to as long as you strain all the liquid out first then add a little tank water to fill your baster. Who knows how dirty this water could be that the fish food companies use to freeze cube their products.

 

[TopClamSkoo]

Im gonna also assume i have dinos since the algae retracts after the lights go out...

Cant get a 100% confirmation until I get a microscope. Im gonna ask my lfs if he has one.. he should. he's pretty hardcore.

 

[TopClamSkoo]

Well that is fine to as long as you strain all the liquid out first then add a little tank water to fill your baster. Who knows how dirty this water could be that the fish food companies use to freeze cube their products.

I think im gonna start doing that... makes sense. the water they use is pretty cloudy . I guess i gotta stay away from using the rest of my brine shrimp. my strainer def will not work for those. but mysis will be perfect!