Rust colored dust on sand? ID

[Coxey81]

Expect more hair algae. If the levels stay that way for a while, and only algae growing in sump. As long as every thing is stable. Add stuff to display levels should go down and compete with sump. Maybe some inverts too. I like taking urchins from display to sump back and forth.

Eh, they've been this high for a while, just now getting them where the don't rise and require a water change more often then I planned. I've got several snails and crabs. And my always hungry tang that came with the tank.

I think with this next water change or two I'll be pretty close to where I want to be... then just to see if it'll stay there.

 

[DrZoidburg]

Yes they should flat line out when everything is good. Mine for a while has sat at 10 nitrate. Added a few fish now sits at 15. Same food every day, same filtration. When you see this its a good time to add stuff to soak up nitrates like a bullet proof soft coral, or a clean up crew member if you have algae.

 

[Rmckoy]

Is this the experimental tank ?
But yes +1 for diatoms. .
They will be gone as soon as silicates are consumed .

 

[Coxey81]

Is this the experimental tank ?
But yes +1 for diatoms. .
They will be gone as soon as silicates are consumed .

No, this is my DT

 

[DrZoidburg]

Is this the experimental tank ?
But yes +1 for diatoms. .
They will be gone as soon as silicates are consumed .

Would be interesting to make an experiment on this. Currently have around 1 ppm dissolved silicates coming in 24/7 through my ro/di. It doesn't get it all. No diatoms though. I wonder what's going on?

 

[vetteguy53081]

A few myths here regarding diatom which is in mamy cases indicators of completed cycle, Diatoms are a brown algae that typically appear in a reef tank that has just completed its cycle but they can also appear in an established reef tank. They can cover sand, rock, pumps, glass, you name it. Diatoms look ugly but in most cases they are harmless so the key is to not panic when they appear.
Diatoms feed mainly off of silicates but also consume dissolved organic compounds, phosphate and nitrates. Unfiltered tap water can contain silicates and is a good way to jump start a bloom if you use it to mix salt or to replace water that evaporated from the tank. The best way to prevent this from happening is to filter water through a RODI unit, although you can still get a diatom bloom when using RODI if the cartridge that removes silicates expires.
diatoms are typically harmless to a captive reef and can be beaten once their food source expires. Once you put the kibosh on the source, the outbreak should last a couple of weeks so just be patient and it will pass. For major outbreaks you may want to consider the three day blackout. Diatoms are easily wiped from the glass with a mag float, a turkey baster or a toothbrush can access other areas of the tank. Be prepared for them to re-establish themselves quickly, they are likely to be able to resettle and have exponential growth rates.
To prevent their return, practice good aquarium husbandry by doing regular water changes, keep the substrate clean, don’t overfeed the fish, ensure your skimmer is running at an optimal level and rinse out filter socks and sponges on a regular basis.
Some cleaner crew to help control it are : Cerith snails, Nerite snails and Trochus snails and also Astraea snails are effective at removing diatoms.

 

[Coxey81]

Yes they should flat line out when everything is good. Mine for a while has sat at 10 nitrate. Added a few fish now sits at 15. Same food every day, same filtration. When you see this its a good time to add stuff to soak up nitrates like a bullet proof soft coral, or a clean up crew member if you have algae.

Cool, I started tracking my NO3 and PO4 in a Reef app. Was easier than trying to remember or do a spreadsheet and it's pretty cool. Plus on my phone which is a plus.

I want to add corals. But really wanted to get good at the FOWLR part fist. Think I'm nearly there.

Plus Christmas seemed a good time to add some stuff.

 

[Coxey81]

A few myths here regarding diatom which is in mamy cases indicators of completed cycle, Diatoms are a brown algae that typically appear in a reef tank that has just completed its cycle but they can also appear in an established reef tank. They can cover sand, rock, pumps, glass, you name it. Diatoms look ugly but in most cases they are harmless so the key is to not panic when they appear.
Diatoms feed mainly off of silicates but also consume dissolved organic compounds, phosphate and nitrates. Unfiltered tap water can contain silicates and is a good way to jump start a bloom if you use it to mix salt or to replace water that evaporated from the tank. The best way to prevent this from happening is to filter water through a RODI unit, although you can still get a diatom bloom when using RODI if the cartridge that removes silicates expires.
diatoms are typically harmless to a captive reef and can be beaten once their food source expires. Once you put the kibosh on the source, the outbreak should last a couple of weeks so just be patient and it will pass. For major outbreaks you may want to consider the three day blackout. Diatoms are easily wiped from the glass with a mag float, a turkey baster or a toothbrush can access other areas of the tank. Be prepared for them to re-establish themselves quickly, they are likely to be able to resettle and have exponential growth rates.
To prevent their return, practice good aquarium husbandry by doing regular water changes, keep the substrate clean, don’t overfeed the fish, ensure your skimmer is running at an optimal level and rinse out filter socks and sponges on a regular basis.
Some cleaner crew to help control it are : Cerith snails, Nerite snails and Trochus snails and also Astraea snails are effective at removing diatoms.

I do need more snails...

Especially some sand sifters.

 

[DrZoidburg]

Ceriths definitely dig. I agree generally fixing levels in new tanks can help. I think though it's more things that people don't think about. How would it be that my tank at 1ppm silicates, stable everything else has nothing, but someone else's tank at .2ppm have diatoms?

 

[Coxey81]

Ceriths definitely dig. I agree generally fixing levels in new tanks can help. I think though it's more things that people don't think about. How would it be that my tank at 1ppm silicates, stable everything else has nothing, but someone else's tank at .2ppm have diatoms?

Lower nitrates and phosphates?

That would be my first guess/question.

 

[Coxey81]

Ceriths definitely dig. I agree generally fixing levels in new tanks can help. I think though it's more things that people don't think about. How would it be that my tank at 1ppm silicates, stable everything else has nothing, but someone else's tank at .2ppm have diatoms?

Also, how do you know your 1 TDS is silicates. Did you test for them?

Or maybe I misunderstood, you mentioned your RODI, so I was thinking you are reading 1 tds coming out. But I may have took that wrong.

 

[DrZoidburg]

They are not super low right now. 15ppm NO3, 1ppm silicates, everything else good, and about .07 PO4. I believe its a bacterial thing. Where everything is just right. A hand full of corals, fish, and inverts. With only algae in the over sized sump. @Coxey81 yes I've tested for them 2 ways.

 

[Coxey81]

They are not super low right now. 15ppm NO3, 1ppm silicates, everything else good, and about .07 PO4. I believe its a bacterial thing. Where everything is just right. A hand full of corals, fish, and inverts. With only algae in the over sized sump. @Coxey81 yes I've tested for them 2 ways.

I don't know, maybe light? After someone mentioned it I noticed mine end as soon as the shadows from the rocks hit the sand.

But I run a good bit of cool white. Do you run mostly blues and violets?

 

[DrZoidburg]

I don't know, maybe light? After someone mentioned it I noticed mine end as soon as the shadows from the rocks hit the sand.

But I run a good bit of cool white. Do you run mostly blues and violets?

Mix of blue, semi white/blue, and actinic all ati t5's for about 9.5 hrs. The sump runs a bar type current usa led for 16? hrs at a red/and white spectrum. Would have to check.

 

[Coxey81]

Mix of blue, semi white/blue, and actinic all ati t5's for about 9.5 hrs. The sump runs a bar type current usa led for 16? hrs at a red/and white spectrum. Would have to check.

That's what I'm running on my 2 AI 16hd primes.

I know the red, green, and white will promote algae growth. So definitely could have something to do with it.

 

[Lavey29]

I don't know, maybe light? After someone mentioned it I noticed mine end as soon as the shadows from the rocks hit the sand.

But I run a good bit of cool white. Do you run mostly blues and violets?

White light will cause algae in tanks especially newer tanks. Mine is maybe 5% the rest blues and uv.

 

[Coxey81]

White light will cause algae in tanks especially newer tanks. Mine is maybe 5% the rest blues and uv.

I may turn mine down then. I didn't know what to set them at, but brs did a 5 minutes series on a 40g breeder with ai primes (what I have exactly) and that's the settings they recommended. But the more I've learned I feel like I'm running whites alot higher than most.

 

[Lavey29]

I may turn mine down then. I didn't know what to set them at, but brs did a 5 minutes series on a 40g breeder with ai primes (what I have exactly) and that's the settings they recommended. But the more I've learned I feel like I'm running whites alot higher than most.

I run the Radion AB plus program. My LFS doesn't run any white, red or green in his tanks just blues and uv low intensity. I have mine ay 38% intensity.

 

[DrZoidburg]

As I under stand it with plants. Red for flowering, and blue for vegetation. Growing either way. Don't know how this works for marine plants. "White" t5 does have a amount of red in them. I only run my whiter t5's for about 4 hours. The ati bulbs don't have much. I also have a blue led that I've used on sump in the past with not much difference. I only stopped using the blue one because it caught on fire haha.

 

[Coxey81]

As I under stand it with plants. Red for flowering, and blue for vegetation. Growing either way. Don't know how this works for marine plants. "White" t5 does have a amount of red in them. I only run my whiter t5's for about 4 hours. The ati bulbs don't have much. I also have a blue led that I've used on sump in the past with not much difference. I only stopped using the blue one because it caught on fire haha.

So as I said I had seen diatoms before and did not know what they were. Mainly smaller patches around the time I first got my tank.

But I hadn't seem them much sense that first month. However, they have definitely come on strong the last 4 days or so.

What's interesting is that they have popped back up just as I'm getting my nutrients back down where I want them after my chaeto addition.

They had been running PO4 .25-.5 ppm and NO3 20-25 ppm.

But the last 5 days or so they have been NO3 15ppm going down to 9 ppm and PO4 going from .3ppm down to .15ppm.

Nothing else has really changed the last month and a half... but that... and here come the diatoms.

I also had them the first month, when my nutrients were in this range, cause I did a 95% water change after the tank move.

So I'm wondering if they don't like higher nitrates or phosphates... just an observation.... may not be related at all.

Anyway, it's awesome my chaeto is working, but cut the light period down... cause now I'm going to fast the other way, lol. But that's good cause I had cut it up to 11 hours the last 6 days or so to see if I could do exactly that. Not only keep them stable with the 8 hours I was running the lights, but actually bring them down too.

Pretty neat.