Dinos or diatoms?

ArchXIII

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Recently upgraded my tank about four weeks ago, transferred old Rock, added new dry rock, and changed the sand. Within a few days I had diatoms, which I associated with the new sand, and new dry rock, it went away after a couple of weeks. Now I have this, I did see a couple air bubbles on one of my newer pieces of rock, which made me worry dinos. It looks more rust colored than diatoms have before, looks more like dinos to me.. But I don't see snottiness, and no bubbles today.

I've had dinos before in my old tank, but I'm wondering if it just looks kind of different to me since I went with bigger sand grains this time. Used Dino x before with success after three treatments, this time I have microbacter7 waiting by to try if I need to. Also old LR is roughly 10 months old. So, dinos, or diatoms?

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ArchXIII

ArchXIII

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I'm telling everybody today with sand bed stuff to buy a conch. That thing turned over every piece of sand.
Tempting. I do like them, I may pick one up next week. My only concern was since my sand is still relatively new, I've been adding new CUC slowly to make sure there's enough going on for them.
 

RobertTheNurse

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Tempting. I do like them, I may pick one up next week. My only concern was since my sand is still relatively new, I've been adding new CUC slowly to make sure there's enough going on for them.
Ya. Wait a bit. But they are the best for sand beds. As for yours. Hard to tell. What's your current parameters. You'll be able to notice Dinos im sure. What strain that's a different story for me. Snotty. One characteristic I've noticed is air bubbles at the top end.
 
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ArchXIII

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Ya. Wait a bit. But they are the best for sand beds. As for yours. Hard to tell. What's your current parameters. You'll be able to notice Dinos im sure. What strain that's a different story for me. Snotty. One characteristic I've noticed is air bubbles at the top end.
I've had dinos before, and the only reason I'm unsure is because it doesn't look quite the same.. So I'm slightly wondering if it's diatoms still and it's just darker, since it's not snotty and bubbly. Nitrates are hanging around 10, phosphates, I'm slightly convinced my checker is busted, it's reading 0, but I have seaweed in there every day, I feed heavy, and I dose aminos, as well as reef roids on occasion, so that reading I'm not trusting..
 

RobertTheNurse

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I've had dinos before, and the only reason I'm unsure is because it doesn't look quite the same.. So I'm slightly wondering if it's diatoms still and it's just darker, since it's not snotty and bubbly. Nitrates are hanging around 10, phosphates, I'm slightly convinced my checker is busted, it's reading 0, but I have seaweed in there every day, I feed heavy, and I dose aminos, as well as reef roids on occasion, so that reading I'm not trusting..
My levels read 0 for phos too. I feed heavy. I even took to my LFS and the guy was like "I've never seen undetectable phosphate"
 
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ArchXIII

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My levels read 0 for phos too. I feed heavy. I even took to my LFS and the guy was like "I've never seen undetectable phosphate"
Honestly that's a reason I've started back on reef roids, to possibly help my nutrient levels.. Since before I was just spot feeding my corals with frozen. And it's super weird, couple months ago I was around 1 ppm phosphate, ever since reducing it, I can't seem to keep it.
 

RobertTheNurse

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Honestly that's a reason I've started back on reef roids, to possibly help my nutrient levels.. Since before I was just spot feeding my corals with frozen. And it's super weird, couple months ago I was around 1 ppm phosphate, ever since reducing it, I can't seem to keep it.
I'm dosing both reef roids, feeding heavy and using amino (Red Sea AB+ on alternate days) can't get detectable phos and my nitrates remains 1.7.

I dosed vibrant a few months back. That's the ONLY other explanation. AND, I only have a cannister filter for a 65G no skimmer. Lol tank is beautiful tho
 

RobertTheNurse

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And I also don't want to dose products like Brightwell Nitrate and phos. Too worried about too much this and that. So when you find a solution HIT ME UP!! LOL
 

fishhead1973

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Recently upgraded my tank about four weeks ago, transferred old Rock, added new dry rock, and changed the sand. Within a few days I had diatoms, which I associated with the new sand, and new dry rock, it went away after a couple of weeks. Now I have this, I did see a couple air bubbles on one of my newer pieces of rock, which made me worry dinos. It looks more rust colored than diatoms have before, looks more like dinos to me.. But I don't see snottiness, and no bubbles today.

I've had dinos before in my old tank, but I'm wondering if it just looks kind of different to me since I went with bigger sand grains this time. Used Dino x before with success after three treatments, this time I have microbacter7 waiting by to try if I need to. Also old LR is roughly 10 months old. So, dinos, or diatoms?

20210226_140513.jpg 20210226_140502.jpg
New sand equals diatoms it will go away in time. New sand has a lot of silicate in it.
 

thedon986

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Could be amphidinium Dino’s if just on the sand or diatoms. A microscope will really help here.
Agree. Looks like dinos to me.

I will always consider a cheap kids microscope as an essential piece of reefing equipment after fighting what I thought was cyano with water changes and lowering nutrients. I was going the completely wrong direction, especially after reading the advice on forums.

Get a cheap microscope and verify for yourself. Don’t let people guessing at a photo help dictate your path of treatment. #1 reefing mistake I made.

also, I am in month 6 of my amphidinium Dino fight and I still have to phosphate to keep it from bottoming out. Every morning it is about 10ppb and I bump it up to 24ppb and it’s back to 10 the next morning. Dinos LOVE phosphate. And like you my nitrate is pegged steady and doesn’t move.
 

NShirke

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Can someone please help me id whether these are diatom or dinos? I've UV hooked up, just in case of dinos.

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