Are these diatoms? Need help with ID

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grisban

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Hi all,

Im now about 4-5 months deep in my reeftank and im getting this think brown cover of algae, no bubbles.

I was suspecting dinos that went into the water column like ostreopsis, since at night my sand looked clean, and i already went through the ugly phase. So i bought a second hand 20w deltec UV. After running it for a week with 0 improvement i decided to get a microscope and here are the results:

My nitrates are a stable 10-15, and my phosphates i try to keep them detectable, 0.03 ish, i dose nyos phos every other day.

I dont have much bioload, couple corals and 2 fish.

20260424_222825.jpg 20260424_222704.jpg 20260419_102816.jpg 20260419_102807.jpg
 

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You shouldn't need to be dosing anything.

But yea thoes look like kinda dinos.
Been a while since I've seen em.

Aeird you have them with actual nutrients, also ugly phase goes on for quite a while. You're 100% still in it.
 
You shouldn't need to be dosing anything.

But yea thoes look like kinda dinos.
Been a while since I've seen em.

Aeird you have them with actual nutrients, also ugly phase goes on for quite a while. You're 100% still in it.
Could it also be my high silicates in my water after my rodi?
 
To add: i have trochus, cerith and astrea snails, if it were diatoms shouldnt the trochus eat them?
 

IF YOU HAD TO OPERATE EVERYTHING ELSE MANUALLY, WHICH AUTOMATED SYSTEM WOULD YOU KEEP?

  • Auto top-off

    Votes: 55 57.9%
  • Automated dosing

    Votes: 6 6.3%
  • Mechanical filtration / roller filter

    Votes: 4 4.2%
  • Automated water testing

    Votes: 3 3.2%
  • Automatic feeding

    Votes: 1 1.1%
  • Lighting schedule

    Votes: 17 17.9%
  • Controller and remote monitoring

    Votes: 4 4.2%
  • Leak detection and emergency shutoff

    Votes: 1 1.1%
  • Automatic water changes

    Votes: 3 3.2%
  • None. I prefer to operate everything manually

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Something else (explain in the comments)

    Votes: 1 1.1%
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