Dinos or diatoms?

[fl3xlinton]

So I have a new tank. Has 3 fish in it recently finished its first cycle and ammonia nitrate and nitrite are reading 0 not sure about po4 but once all my parems starting going down to 0 I started noticing brown algae. Heard it would be a think that always happens and it’s probably diatoms but then bubbles started appearing on my rocks and I got worried because people was saying it’s Dino’s and they are lethal and hard to get rid of. I don’t currently have pictures but I will in the future.

 

[Auquanut]

A picture would help. Are you sure your nitrates are at 0? Did you ever get a positive nitrate reading?

 

[fl3xlinton]

Well I brushed the bubbles off the rocks 2 days ago and they haven’t popped back up yet.

 

[fl3xlinton]

A picture would help. Are you sure your nitrates are at 0? Did you ever get a positive nitrate reading?

So honestly I don’t even think it was Dino’s. But I’m raising my ph and keeping my light off for a few more days and we’ll see what happens. I should have some competition for the algae soon so it won’t be as bad

 

[Auquanut]

Sounds like diatoms. A typical reaction in a new tank. Sounds like you have a solid plan. Good luck. If you haven't started putting together a clean up crew, it might be a good time.

 

[fl3xlinton]

Sounds like diatoms. A typical reaction in a new tank. Sounds like you have a solid plan. Good luck. If you haven't started putting together a clean up crew, it might be a good time.

I got copepods on the way with phyto from algae barn. I’ll probably get some snails and hermits next week it’ll be around the same time as when my other things come in.

 

[ScottB]

Yeah seems a bit soon to have dinos. Truth is you are going to see a few more colorful phases over the next 6 months, but I would not get aggressive with treating them at all. Once your fish are dirtying up the tank a little, just establish a consistent WC schedule & amount and roll with it.

The appropriate time for me to use a buffer to raise pH is... well... never. It just raises your alkalinity for no sustainable benefit. If you want to crack a window, or run an airline from outside to your skimmer intake, that is great. I run a CO2 scrubber for a system that runs in my furnace room. But no buffer.

 

[fl3xlinton]

Seachem makes a product that raises it without messing with alk and something else.

 

[fl3xlinton]

Yeah seems a bit soon to have dinos. Truth is you are going to see a few more colorful phases over the next 6 months, but I would not get aggressive with treating them at all. Once your fish are dirtying up the tank a little, just establish a consistent WC schedule & amount and roll with it.

The appropriate time for me to use a buffer to raise pH is... well... never. It just raises your alkalinity for no sustainable benefit. If you want to crack a window, or run an airline from outside to your skimmer intake, that is great. I run a CO2 scrubber for a system that runs in my furnace room. But no buffer.

It’s called seachem balance.

 

[fl3xlinton]

Yeah seems a bit soon to have dinos. Truth is you are going to see a few more colorful phases over the next 6 months, but I would not get aggressive with treating them at all. Once your fish are dirtying up the tank a little, just establish a consistent WC schedule & amount and roll with it.

The appropriate time for me to use a buffer to raise pH is... well... never. It just raises your alkalinity for no sustainable benefit. If you want to crack a window, or run an airline from outside to your skimmer intake, that is great. I run a CO2 scrubber for a system that runs in my furnace room. But no buffer.

Also I don’t have a skimmer yet. And my tank just finished its first cycle 2 or 3 days ago and everything is sitting at 0 atm but ph was at 8 lfs said try to slowly raise it up to 8.4 with this. It won’t mess with anything else just the ph so that’s what I been doing it’s at 8.2 now also trying to raise my salinity a little bit.