History repeats - Phytoplankton Bloom

[Alexraptor]

Hi people! Been a while since I lurked these parts!

 

Funniest thing, I started up my largest nano to date a couple of weeks ago, a 38-gallon, and found myself catapulted back 15 years, to this thread: 

 

 

Turns out, yes it was a phytoplankton bloom then, and I'm having a new one now.

I had forgotten entirely about the event, but as the bloom unfolded and I scoured the net for just more data, that thread popped up in the results. 😂

 

This time however, because the tank being set up deliberately in sunlight, the bloom is much much stronger, and is currently on day 5. And this time i've been documenting a bit of the progress of the bloom.

July 8th: Slight haze, added the live sand a few days earlier, so didn't think much of it.

 

July 11th: Sort of the same, wouldn't go away so I set up my old skimmer, which started pulling a lot of dark green stuff out.

 

July 12th: 

Still hazy, but the green color of the water bece drastically more apparent when I turned off the lights for evening.

 

July 13th: The tank is looking like a literal slice of coastal ocean around summer, hereabouts.

 

July 14th: The bloom is a matter of fact now. Tried doing a big water chance the day before, but didn't even put a dent in it.

 

July 17th: Is there a tank in there somewhere?

 

All in all though the tank health seems pretty good. A few nights into the phyto bloom, I had a mysid swarm show up, countless thousands. At least that's what I assume they were, as they were good swimmers.

 

Stopped the pumps last night to take a look, no sign of the swarm in open water, but did have quite a few pelagic copepods attracted to my flashlight.

 

I have no idea how long this bloom is going to last, but it doesn't seem to be doing any harm, so I'm content to just let it run its course for now. 🙂 As for the source of it, I have a common denominator to both events: Nature's Ocean Bio-Active live sand. It cannot be a coincidence that both blooms were triggered by the addition of said sand.

[Alexraptor]

Bloom still going strong, but starting to dissipate a little, also bought myself a microscope, and can now confirm beyond shred of a doubt, live phyto.

 

 

[seabass]

It might even be a combo phyto/bacterial bloom.  Either/both should eventually dissipate on its own.  Of course, a UV sterilizer would clear it up faster if you have access to one.

 

Good to see you back on Nano-Reef.

[Alexraptor]

Quite possible! The sample does have a pretty high bacteria concentration as well, as seen by all the little gray sticks surrounding the phyto cluster. All seems harmless thankfully, have some LPS and hardier SPS placed in the tank, as canaries, and their doing just fine. 🙂