Diatoms or dinos?

[eartheater]

Hi all. I’m totally new to saltwater and I have a new setup that went through some sort of bloom, seemingly overnight. I thought it was for sure diatoms but now I’m afraid it could be dinos/cyano.

Tank is 2 weeks old. I did a fish in cycle, started with Dr. Tim’s nitrifying bacteria. I’ve been using the API test kit (I know it’s notoriously inaccurate/hard to read, so I have salifert replacements on the way. Only ever got Ammonia reading of .50ppm, now reading zero. Max Nitrite reading of .25, now reading zero. And nitrates are so faint a reading I can’t tell if they’re 0 or between 0 and 5 ppm. Which is what makes me afraid it could be dinos.

 

[dwest]

I’m not sure but I don’t see anything alarming. It looks like a normal new tank to me. Good luck and welcome!

 

[shakacuz]

it could be dino’s but the tank is fairly new so i’m leaning on diatoms which are a very normal part of a cycle