Another is this dinos or diatoms post

[crazyleo]

Hi all! So the uglies have started... I finished my cycle 2 weeks ago. Now, I have spots of brown showing up. Mostly they look dustyish so I'm guessing they're diatoms.

As of today, these are my params(160g):
salinity 1.026
alk 6.1
ph 7.81
Nitrate .8
Phosphate .04

The alk is still low, but it's going up with water changes(15% each week).

So, now for the stupid questions...
1. are these actually diatoms?
2. Saturday i was planning to get a conch and some nassarius snails. Are there any others I should add to the list(i already have a halloween urchin and 5 nerite snails)?
3. Any other tips for all the questions I don't know to ask yet?

Thanks!
Leo

 

[Kingsley_Reef]

Diatoms welcome to the ugly stage just let it do its thing naturally they will disappear after they consume your silicates wouldn’t hurt to add a small clean up crew right now small hermits and snails but IMO hold off on the conch and urchin on fear they may starve this early in your tank get some pods and start small doses daily of phytoplankton for diversity alk shouldn’t be a major concern for right now either keep up with your water changes and keep a eye on your phosphate and nitrate your doing great so far

 

[JonoH]

Diatoms :-)

No need to stress! I would recommend a good dose of Pods and Phyto.

 

[crazyleo]

awesome thanks guys. The little voice in the back of my head said everything was going the way it should, but it's good to hear it from people who have done this before.