Waterbox Mini Peninsula 15G, Diatoms or Dinos Identification Help

[ImD4]

Hey everyone,

I purchased my waterbox aquarium mini around October and had it cycling using live rock and live sand without fish / ammonia additives.
I did not test water parameters everyday for the first few weeks.
Before purchasing my CUC (2x Nessarius snails and 2x Blue hermit crabs, recommendations from LFS after showing them water parameters as a second opinion), my parameter levels were as followed using the red sea test kit:

Ammonia: 0.2
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 5

After a week or two of having CUC (purchased roughly last week of november), I purchased 2x Clownfish and 1x Blood Shrimp. Water parameters were still measuring as the above and since having the clownfish & shrimp only 1 water change has been done. Unfortunately on Christmas day, I found one of my clownfish stuck in between my filter floss cup holder and the first chamber walls dead. I guess you could say it was a failed attempt at finding neemo.

Anyways, thats my history on the tank so far.

I thought I was going through the diatoms phase but am now second guessing the diatoms for dinos and would like some help identifying the algae. I did a phosphate test using an API kit which was giving me a reading of 0 but I have not found anything confirming if dinos can be an occurrence of just 0 phosphate levels. I have blacked out my tank for roughly a day now and it seems as if the algae has reduced but again would love a second opinion with the pictures provided.

 

[A Young Reefer]

Hi and welcome!
sorry about the issues you are currently facing. first of all these look like diatoms to me. they are completely normal to appear in the initial stages of a reef tank and can be caused by the imbalance of nutrients like ammonia. another cause could be the presence of silicates that come from tap water or even rocks.
so I would like you to do the following:
test your ammonia again and if its still present try to decrease it for me please.
can you please tell me if you are using tap water or RODI water?
if the nutrients isn't the issue then try adding a silicate remover like ROWA phos or something like seachems phosgaurd.
At the end don't worry its all part of the ugly stage and it should be over in no time!

 

[ImD4]

Hi and welcome!
sorry about the issues you are currently facing. first of all these look like diatoms to me. they are completely normal to appear in the initial stages of a reef tank and can be caused by the imbalance of nutrients like ammonia. another cause could be the presence of silicates that come from tap water or even rocks.
so I would like you to do the following:
test your ammonia again and if its still present try to decrease it for me please.
can you please tell me if you are using tap water or RODI water?
if the nutrients isn't the issue then try adding a silicate remover like ROWA phos or something like seachems phosgaurd.
At the end don't worry its all part of the ugly stage and it should be over in no time!

Hey, thanks for the reply!

Dont be sorry about the issues im facing. I've read the setting up a new tank thread and new this would occur at some point

In terms of my ammonia levels:
0.02 at 26C with ph levels between 8.1 - 8.4. I will look into how I can remove more ammonia if this is not low enough.
RODI water from LFS.

I will pop into my LFS and see if I can purchase any of the products you listed above.

Thanks for the help

 

[tharbin]

+1 on the diatoms call. I'm a bit confused on your cycle. If you did not use fish or ammonia additives what did you use to cycle? Fish food or a dead shrimp, or nothing? If you did not have an ammonia source, you did not really cycle the tank because there was no food source for the beneficial bacteria.

On the diatoms they're are normal and will recede with time. They are feed mainly by Nitrate and Silica (from your fresh new sand and rock mainly). To keep them in check for your CUC to catch up you can do a three day blackout. It will not stop the diatoms but it will slow them down to let your CUC get a chance to catch up. I would not add more livestock at this point. Your ammonia needs to be at zero. It will happen because the livestock you have now will finish the cycle.

Nassarius snails are great but they do not eat algae or diatoms. They eat detritus and stir the sandbed. Trochus and Cerith snails are good for diatoms as are turbos. Your current cleanup crew will do little against the diatoms.

BUT you will need to add new livestock very slowly at first as your bacterial buffer is small at this point. Again don't add any more livestock until your ammonia reads zero.

I would not add a phosphate remover at this point. There is only a very small chance you have a phosphate issue right now. You would see green hair algae and/or cyanobacteria in the tank.

Since your current CUC will not do much to help, I would suggest you do a 2 gallon water change and vacuum about 25% (don't go nuts and do the whole sandbed--vacuuming brings fresh silicates from your sand to the surfce so take it easy) of the sandbed as part of the water change. Do one per week and you will get on top of this.

 

[ImD4]

+1 on the diatoms call. I'm a bit confused on your cycle. If you did not use fish or ammonia additives what did you use to cycle? Fish food or a dead shrimp, or nothing? If you did not have an ammonia source, you did not really cycle the tank because there was no food source for the beneficial bacteria.

As stupid as this sounds, I did use nothing. I tested my water parameters and somehow (possibly through the live rock? that was preowned by someone else) had 5ppm Nitrate using Red Seas Marine Care Test Kit. The water was obtained from my LFS both salt and RODI.

On the diatoms there are normal and will recede with time. They are feed mainly by Nitrate and Silica (from your fresh new sand and rock mainly). To keep them in check for your CUC to catch up you can do a three day blackout. It will not stop the diatoms but it will slow them down to let your CUC get a chance to catch up. I would not add more livestock at this point. Your ammonia needs to be at zero. It will happen because the livestock you have now will finish the cycle.

I am currently on day two with my black out, so I guess that is a good sign!

Nassarius snails are great but they do not eat algae or diatoms. They eat detritus and stir the sandbed. Trochus and Cerith snails are good for diatoms as are turbos. Your current cleanup crew will do little against the diatoms.

You mentioned above that adding more livestock is not recommended, would I be able to at least add 1 or 2 of the CUC mentioned?

BUT you will need to add new livestock very slowly at first as your bacterial buffer is small at this point. Again don't add any more livestock until your ammonia reads zero.

Noted. I hope when I go to add another clown in the future, the clown will be receptive of this.

I would not add a phosphate remover at this point. There is only a very small chance you have a phosphate issue right now. You would see green hair algae and/or cyanobacteria in the tank.

My phosphate readings using an API kit were reading 0. I was looking into purchasing a better test kit. (Api Test kit was given free)

Thank you for your advice!

 

[tharbin]

As stupid as this sounds, I did use nothing. I tested my water parameters and somehow (possibly through the live rock? that was preowned by someone else) had 5ppm Nitrate using Red Seas Marine Care Test Kit. The water was obtained from my LFS both salt and RODI.

If it is preowned live rock it probably had a bacterial load on it already it just needs time to catch up. Was the rock dry or still wet when you got it?

You mentioned above that adding more livestock is not recommended, would I be able to at least add 1 or 2 of the CUC mentioned?

Since your ammonia is pretty low you could probably add a couple but hold off on the fish.

Noted. I hope when I go to add another clown in the future, the clown will be receptive of this.

Clowns are notoriously pugnacious, even when introduced together. It is always a cross-your-fingers-event with clowns.

My phosphate readings using an API kit were reading 0. I was looking into purchasing a better test kit. (Api Test kit was given free)

I do not share the common opinion that API tests are junk but several of the tests are not really granular enough to be truly useful for a reef tank. Phosphate is one of them.

 

[ImD4]

If it is preowned live rock it probably had a bacterial load on it already it just needs time to catch up. Was the rock dry or still wet when you got it?


Since your ammonia is pretty low you could probably add a couple but hold off on the fish.


Clowns are notoriously pugnacious, even when introduced together. It is always a cross-your-fingers-event with clowns.


I do not share the common opinion that API tests are junk but several of the tests are not really granular enough to be truly useful for a reef tank. Phosphate is one of them.

The live rock was dry at the time of purchase. For how long? I didn't ask. The person before me had the tank for 3 months for corals and decided to take it down.

I really appreciate your advice. I will check out the LFS for some cerith or turbo snails and get 1 of each and see how it goes.

 

[tharbin]

I really appreciate your advice. I will check out the LFS for some cerith or turbo snails and get 1 of each and see how it goes.

A warning on the turbos. Look for them whenever you watch your tank and flip them over of they get upside down. They cannot right themselves and will perish if left upside down too long.