Is this phytoplankton?

[Amanda Boda]

Hi Reefers!

Is this what I think it is? The water is green and I think it's phytoplankton, but I'm not sure. My lights are on for 8 hours, slow ramp up to 60%(blue only). I altered my lights for one day and tried to have them brighter and that's when this happened. This is a fairly new mixed reef tank. Finished cycling and started to add livestock in May. What should I do to mitigate this? I did a 10% waterchange yesterday and was considering another tomorrow.

Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 5 ppm
Temp: 77 f
Salinity: 1.026

 

[Asm481]

Most likely a bacteria bloom. Ride it out first. No changes, feed sparingly. It might disappear on its own. Waterchanges give it fuel to continue. If it doesn't fade in a couple days you can run a cheap uv filter such as the green killing machine.

 

[Dread Pirate Dave]

Do you have a protein skimmer? May want to add some more flow to the tank too. (not seeing any powerheads)