Dodgersfan
Well-Known Member
quick background, the tank has been wet for a little over 4 weeks, it is cycled, ammonia and nitrite stay at zero, nitrate fluctuates a little above to a little below 5. Stocked with a handful of corals, and some (about 5 each) nassaritus, trocus, and cerinths. No fish. More details are in my build thread which is in my signature.
Diatoms showed up a little over a week ago, they were tan-gold at first but they’ve either changed color or been taken over by something more greenish, but very much the same consistency/size/texture. I have SB reef lights sbox basic LED lights, I’ve been slowly increasing the lighting intensity since I added corals about 2 1/2 weeks ago. I started at 20% whites and 50% blues and have slowly incr asked it to about 50% whites and 80% blues. The green stuff has just showed up in the last 3-4 days. Are the diatoms just changing color with the increase in the white lights? I run blues from 10am to 10pm and whites from noon to 8. I don’t think these are Dino’s, I flashed the lights on real quick this morning and took these pictures:
And these were from just a few minutes ago, the amount on the rocks has increased, the amount on the sand hasn’t. There’s a ton on the glass that’s new, I scraped it 24 hours ago: the color looks a little different but that is just the aquarium camera app I’m using, the color looks the same to the naked eye:
You can see the buildup on the glass better here:
The corals all seem fine and happy, one favia is a little closed this evening, but that’s it, everything else is wide open. I did add pods on Friday along with a capful of Seachem bottled phyto.
So is this still diatom phase? Is it anything I should be worried about? Should I turn my whites or White duration down? My sump is set up for chaeto, but I haven’t added any yet and wasn’t planning on adding any until I add fish because I’m worried it’s going to strip all the nutrients out of the water. Should I add a little bit? Is this stuff any danger to the coral? Just not sure if it’s something I should be worrying about or not. Thanks everyone!
Diatoms showed up a little over a week ago, they were tan-gold at first but they’ve either changed color or been taken over by something more greenish, but very much the same consistency/size/texture. I have SB reef lights sbox basic LED lights, I’ve been slowly increasing the lighting intensity since I added corals about 2 1/2 weeks ago. I started at 20% whites and 50% blues and have slowly incr asked it to about 50% whites and 80% blues. The green stuff has just showed up in the last 3-4 days. Are the diatoms just changing color with the increase in the white lights? I run blues from 10am to 10pm and whites from noon to 8. I don’t think these are Dino’s, I flashed the lights on real quick this morning and took these pictures:
And these were from just a few minutes ago, the amount on the rocks has increased, the amount on the sand hasn’t. There’s a ton on the glass that’s new, I scraped it 24 hours ago: the color looks a little different but that is just the aquarium camera app I’m using, the color looks the same to the naked eye:
You can see the buildup on the glass better here:
The corals all seem fine and happy, one favia is a little closed this evening, but that’s it, everything else is wide open. I did add pods on Friday along with a capful of Seachem bottled phyto.
So is this still diatom phase? Is it anything I should be worried about? Should I turn my whites or White duration down? My sump is set up for chaeto, but I haven’t added any yet and wasn’t planning on adding any until I add fish because I’m worried it’s going to strip all the nutrients out of the water. Should I add a little bit? Is this stuff any danger to the coral? Just not sure if it’s something I should be worrying about or not. Thanks everyone!
