growing and my sleeper blenny won’t touch it. beginning to see it on rocks too. about 1/3 of the sand is affected. i do have some cyano also as u can see.
thinking of lights off for 2-3 days. advice.
To be honest I can’t say for sure, but we should still be able to get rid of it or at least significantly reduce its’ appearance.
Do you have a conch yet? How many Nassarius snails do you own?
What ever it is it is growing because
A. Nutrients and light are present(not that you didn’t already know that) and
B. It has a lower flow area to grow in and no animals are disturbing it.
What you have is likely some form of bacteria growing or a diatom of some sort. If you are doing what you can to reduce nitrates and phosphates from getting in the tank and doing what you can to remove both N and P from the tank then what is left is to manually deal with it. Some sort of sand sifting crew is almost always required with sand beds with finer particles. Since your fish seem to think it is gross perhaps try some inverts. 2-3 small fighting conch and a dozen Nassarius should help.
Have you checked you Mg recently?
[quote=“Gordonious, post:2, topic:2210”]
To be honest I can’t say for sure, but we should still be able to get rid of it or at least significantly reduce its’ appearance.
Do you have a conch yet? NOPE How many Nassarius snails do you own? UNSURE NOW, BUT HAD A BUNCH EARLY ON. DO THEY BURROW? IF SO, I HAVE SOME, BUT NOT A LOT, LESS THAN 10
What ever it is it is growing because
A. Nutrients and light are present(not that you didn’t already know that) and
B. It has a lower flow area to grow in and no animals are disturbing it.
What you have is likely some form of bacteria growing or a diatom of some sort. THAT WAS MY ORIGINAL THOUGHT, BUT IT’S RUSTIER THAN MY DIATOM BLOOM If you are doing what you can to reduce nitrates and phosphates from getting in the tank and doing what you can to remove both N and P from the tank then what is left is to manually deal with it. Some sort of sand sifting crew is almost always required with sand beds with finer particles. Since your fish seem to think it is gross perhaps try some inverts. 2-3 small fighting conch and a dozen Nassarius should help. WILL DO TOMORROW
Have you checked you Mg recently? NOT RECENTLY, BUT A MONTH AGO 1325
should i then wait before putting any of this sand in the 75?
THANKS.[/quote]
looks like diatoms to me which means you have a nutrient problem as this tends to be seen during most cycles, i would run an ammonia/nitrite/nitrate test and a po4 test.
tim
just ran tests
ph 8.4
phos undetectable
amm, trites/trates 0
BUT dkh is always low 6 drops
or 107.4 ppm
sg 1.0265
450 calcium
78*
all looks healthy
just curious does your tests measure ppm? or dkh? or meq/l? on the alk i’ve not seen one that says ppm, not to say there isnt but the normal readings i’ve seen are meq/l (if you multiply by 2.8 gets you your dkh for example 3 meq/l = 8.4 dkh) im not sure what the ppm reading would be
Your phos is gonna read zero, as the algae is using it all up. Thats the kicker, what are those tests good for. You have a lot of algae growing, high phos, no algae growing prob low phos… i did the 3 days thing, you could see the diff, but still didnt solve it… i would get more CUC… try siphoning it out…
Try syphon cleaning the sand. good chance theres some crud in it feeding the stuff.
In the last image is that a hermit crab? What color are it’s legs?
I don’t think this is anything horrible which you need to save guard your new tank against. Not like a pest algae or anything like that. Just something that may always be present, but will only grow to visible amounts if the conditions are right.
Check up on the Mg if you can.
Gravel vac(syphon cleaning as Ken said), significant water change, add sand sifting inverts, start running Phosphate removal media. Shouldn’t be a major issue. Good luck and keep us updated!
[quote=“Gordonious, post:9, topic:2210”]
In the last image is that a hermit crab? What color are it’s legs? I HAVE A FEW BLUE LEGGED AND AFEW RED.
I don’t think this is anything horrible which you need to save guard your new tank against. Not like a pest algae or anything like that. Just something that may always be present, but will only grow to visible amounts if the conditions are right.
Check up on the Mg if you can. OK WILL GET A KIT
Gravel vac(syphon cleaning as Ken said), DID THAT; LOOKS BETTER. THE STUFF CLUNG TO THE SAND LIKE MY DIATOMS DID significant water change, 20% OR MORE? I DID 10% YESTERDAY.add sand sifting inverts, ATTEMPTING TO GET NASSARIUS AND FIGHTING CONCH AS YOU SAIDstart running Phosphate removal media. RUNNING THAT ALL THE TIME PHOISGUARD IN A BAG IN FILTER SOCK Shouldn’t be a major issue. Good luck and keep us updated! [/quote]
it probably is diatoms. if so its a silicate problem. do u use tap or ro or ro/di? if u use ro/di i would test ur TDS. your di cartridge may be exhausted. if you use ro then you may need a di as the ro isnt yankin out the silcates. if u use tap, well then that is ur problem.
diatoms are also part of a normal cycle. how old is the tank?
[quote=“addicted2reefin, post:11, topic:2210”]
it probably is diatoms. if so its a silicate problem. do u use tap or ro or ro/di? if u use ro/di i would test ur TDS. your di cartridge may be exhausted. if you use ro then you may need a di as the ro isnt yankin out the silcates. if u use tap, well then that is ur problem.
diatoms are also part of a normal cycle. how old is the tank?[/quote]’
rodi water tds reads 0
tank is approaching 11 months.
NEVER used tap water past the first cycle
will change more water this weekend, though
Have you by chance added a new piece of live rock? Or maybe moved some plumbing around? Shifted your skimmer? Any of the above will sometimes expose small sponges that live in these places to air and kill them. The byproduct of sponge dieoff is silicate, which is also the primary foodstuff for the diatoms.
Or, everything that everyone else said.
Cheers,
Joe
[quote=“Jocephus, post:13, topic:2210”]
Have you by chance added a new piece of live rock? NOPE Or maybe moved some plumbing around? WHAT DO YOU MEAN? Shifted your skimmer? MOVED THIS TO CLEAN IT Any of the above will sometimes expose small sponges that live in these places to air and kill them. The byproduct of sponge dieoff is silicate, which is also the primary foodstuff for the diatoms.
Or, everything that everyone else said. FUNNY TOO
Cheers,
Joe[/quote]
joe, i that post is very helpful to me. can u please expand on these sponges. I have tiny q-tip sponges everywhere, and i am facing diatom trouble.
do u know how to get rid of these sponges.
Those little scypha (Q-tip looking) sponges, like most others will die off when exposed to air. Often times we have them growing all through our plumbing without knowing. If you move a pipe and shake some lose that eventually get sucked into a skimmer, they die off and raise siliva levels, which will contribute to the diatoms.
[quote=“addicted2reefin, post:15, topic:2210”]
joe, i that post is very helpful to me. can u please expand on these sponges. I have tiny q-tip sponges everywhere, and i am facing diatom trouble.
do u know how to get rid of these sponges. [/quote]
That might be part of the problem. The only way I know to get them out is with a bottle brush. If you do this, try to siphon out as much as you can, do a water change and expect to still have a diatom bloom for a few days.
Could be part of the problem, but wouldn’t suspect that it is a major contributor. What type of foods do you feed again? I know you told me, but I forget.
[quote=“Gordonious, post:18, topic:2210”]
Could be part of the problem, but wouldn’t suspect that it is a major contributor. What type of foods do you feed again? I know you told me, but I forget. [/quote]
about 95% five star reef bar
the rest would be spot feed corals w/mysis/krill/squid