Diatom problem

[texdobe]

My problem is I have had diatoms for weeks now. It started out on the sand bed and is now beginning to 'stick' on my gsp and pallys keeping them from opening. What could be causing this? I've been playing around with the idea of building a small diy phosban reactor to see if this helps...but I'd like to get to the root of the problem rather than rely on that.

 

Here is a summary of everything:

 

Tank was well over a year old when I got it. I've had it set up for 5-6 months and used all existing rock, sand, water, etc minus the livestock. Over that 5-6 months I have added the following:

1 small clown

2-3 astrea snails

3 nassarius

2 cerith

3 small red legs

1 emerald crab

 

Ammonia 0

Nitrite 0

Nitrate 0

I dont have a phosphate kit but someone tested it for me and it was .011. It could be higher now, but I don't know for sure.

 

20-25% water changes every week and cheato in the fuge.

Top off is RO and change water is premixed from one of the larger LFS in my area.

I think its pretty good flow. I have 2 powerheads (mini-jet 404 or 606...I keep forgeting...and a maxijet 900)...one of them split to push water in 2 directions.

 

Does anyone have an idea on what I can do?

[seabass]

Diatoms or Cyano?

[texdobe]

It's brown and stringy looking on some areas. Has air bubbles trapped in it. Doesn't look like cyano that I have seen but its possible. I'll take a pic when I get home. It's not really on the rock...just the sand and starting to stick to some corals. Especially my gsp...which is on a rock by itself on the sand bed.

[seabass]

Dinoflagellates?

[whofeelsitknowsit]

I get that from time to time. I'm pretty sure it's caused by the lights running too long, and it usually goes away if I leave the lights off for a few days. It would probably be best if I just got a timer and ran the lights for less time each day, but I'm cheap and/or lazy.

[texdobe]

This is probably the best picture I was able to take.

 

I run my lights for 10 hours I think. Is this too long?

 

Here is the pic. I can try to one a littler closer up if needed.

 

[whofeelsitknowsit]

Yes, 10 hours is too long.

 

Try cutting it to 7 or 8 and see if it gets better.

[texdobe]

Alright, I'll adjust the timers. So, just to be sure, is that diatoms?

 

Thanks for the help guys.

[seabass]

IMO, it's dinoflagellates. Look through the threads in the link; they can be stubborn to get rid of.

[Lawnman]

Read this thread

http://www.reef2reef.com/forums/general-re...efing-tool.html

[brandon429]

I think the use of peroxide is promising. koi keepers have been adding a tiny bit to transport bags for decades as a trick to keep the water oxygenated when shipping/transporting in large uncirculated bags so its not untested in aquarium circles.

 

wonder if it works on a free radical basis, three oxygen atoms instead of two, on plants?

 

the liberation of oxygen in photosynthesis prevents toxicity and free radical accumulation damage in plants. its a poison in the levels produced for a plant, so its leaked to the world...maybe the above dosing item overpowers oxygen-sensitive machinery inside the chloroplast or other cellular structures in the algae it kills

 

one of the tanks that is wrecked with algae on here should run the experiment to see if it helps sounds possible

[texdobe]

Dinoflagellates...great. Don't know much about them so it looks like I have a lot of reading to do. Thanks for the links.

[whofeelsitknowsit]

Or you could just try to run your lights for less time each day and see what happens.

[texdobe]

Or you could just try to run your lights for less time each day and see what happens.

 

Yeah, I will definitely be doing this. I am setting the timers to 7 or 8 hours today. We will see if this slows them down or gets rid of them while I am doing more reading. Now that I have read several threads about dinos and seen pictures....I am pretty sure that's what I have. It seems that some dinos are photosynthetic. Not sure if the ones we get in reef tanks are, though.

[texdobe]

I just observed my emerald crab eating the dinos off my gsp. Nothing eats dinoflagellates from what I have read. So could it possibly be something else? I can't see anything else on the gsp other than the stringy brown stuff.

[seabass]

Could be Cyano, treatment is slightly different (although easier). Could be both. However, the Emerald Crab could be picking at something else altogether (even the coral). I would continue with the treatment of Dinos.

[texdobe]

Alright, will do. Thanks.