Diatoms or something else?

[cirrus]

Hi everyone,

I have a 40 gallon mixed reef tank that's been running for about four months. For the past month or so I've had what I thought was a diatom outbreak, and dealt with it by leaving the lights out every third day or so and feeding every other day. It's never gotten better, but for a while it wasn't getting worse...until about a week ago when I added my first corals (some zoa covered rocks and green star polyps) and another 10lbs of live rock.

I readjusted the powerheads to better hit the areas of sand with the least flow, but despite it all the diatoms have just gotten worse. Our skimmer (a reef octopus HOB) is working fine and seems to be producing even more skimmate since the additions, which makes me think that isn't the problem either. I noticed today as well that in some of the parts of the tank with the thickest cover of 'diatoms' there are little hairlike filaments growing off the sand and waving around in the current. This makes me wonder if it isn't actually something else? Do diatoms grow like that?

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

p.s. I'd take a photo but my camera is broken :(

 

[Piratefish]

Sounds like dinoflagellates.

This stuff SUCKS BIG TIME !! I know Ive got it in my tank. I will try to find a post someone sent me on how to get rid of it.

Here it is:Next time you turn the lights out, wait 2 days and then do a 25% water change. Leave the lights out. Wait 2 more days and then do a 50% water change. NO, this will not hurt your corals or your fish. As long as you have the salinity adjusted, temp accurate and pH balance the water it will be fine. Leave the lights out.

On the 5th day, turn the lights back on.

Another 50% water change.

Wait a couple days.

25% water change.

Yes it's a lot of water changes. But you have to realize that you're killing algae by starving it for light. It's going to die and dissolve and break down into organic nutrients in the water. You have to get the nutrients OUT of the water or the algae will just come right back as soon as it gets light...... you already discovered this.

 

[cirrus]

Is there anything that gets rid of them?

 

[Piratefish]

Is there anything that gets rid of them?

I found the post and edited my previous post:mrgreen:

 

[little_fish]

also what is your alk at. they flourish a lower alk levels.

 

[sps]

Here is a very good read that will help you a great deal. I read it last night and glad I saved it. I hope I am not pushing it by posting another sites thread but this will help you greatly. Read all 4 pages for the best help. Also, there is a post in the thread about NOT doing water changes due to the silicates. Also, there seems to be a relation with PH.
Help! Killer fast growing brown slime ----Carbon Dosing??? - Reef Central Online Community

 

[little_fish]

I will admit i havent had a chance to read the article, but diatoms are different from dino. And i do agree, when you have diatoms you shouldnt do a water change, they will die off on their own.

 

[little_fish]

Ok, so i read and i have two very big problems with their advice

1. No water changes - that is pretty darn stupid to me. If you are using tap water to make up your water than it might be helpful because you are probably just dumping more nutrients for them to run off of. But it is absolutely stupid to me that they would recommend not doing water changes. Im pretty sure dino dont use silicates in their shells, so by not doing water changes, you are just leaving the dead dinos in there to rot and make more fuel to grow more dino. Nutrient starvation is key in fighting these things.

2. He changes his carbon every 3 weeks. The obvious problem with this is that it gets full of crap which is just going to float back out in the water column to fuel algae and dino growth. Second, a less obvious thing is that the active properties of carbon dont last that long. Carbon's ability to take stuff out of the water column lasts at maximum about a week, after that its doing nothing more than sitting there.

 

[Bifferwine]

Probably the easiest way to deal with dinos is to give your tank a black out for 4 or 5 days. If your tank gets ambient light, cover it with a sheet or blanket. Only turn on the lights for short periods during the day to feed your animals, check on everyone and do water changes. After the 4 or 5 days are up, do a big water change, because as Hannah said, the algae that is dying is just releasing its nutrients back into the water, which will fuel more algae as soon as the lights come on.

 

[sps]

Ok, so i read and i have two very big problems with their advice

1. No water changes - that is pretty darn stupid to me. If you are using tap water to make up your water than it might be helpful because you are probably just dumping more nutrients for them to run off of. But it is absolutely stupid to me that they would recommend not doing water changes. Im pretty sure dino dont use silicates in their shells, so by not doing water changes, you are just leaving the dead dinos in there to rot and make more fuel to grow more dino. Nutrient starvation is key in fighting these things.

2. He changes his carbon every 3 weeks. The obvious problem with this is that it gets full of crap which is just going to float back out in the water column to fuel algae and dino growth. Second, a less obvious thing is that the active properties of carbon dont last that long. Carbon's ability to take stuff out of the water column lasts at maximum about a week, after that its doing nothing more than sitting there.

Wow. I think "stupid" is a little too strong of a word for him. Kind of offensive actually.

 

[little_fish]

Ok then, is clueless better?

 

[cirrus]

Hmm ok, so I'm still trying to decide whether they're dinoflagellates or diatoms, and it seems like the main issue there would be doing water changes or not, correct?

Either though way it seems like I should leave the lights out for several days to see if it improves. This won't hurt our coral right? We have polyps & LPS right now.

Also, speaking of aquarium pests, I've just realized the frags I added brought aiptasia and zoa-eating nudibranchs to the aquarium. Great. Also, it turns out our cowrie loves eating zoas. Great. Return the cowrie, buy a peppermint shrimp, right?

 

[little_fish]

Yep. I would also get some aiptasia X and some coral dip. Take out the infected zoas and pick off all the nudis and egg sacks you can see, then dip all the zoas, dip into another cup and shake. That will hopefully dislodge any nudis. Be sure to dip all the zoas incase they have moved around.

And you corals will be fine, just reacclimate them to the light.

Also diatoms will be easy to blow off the rocks, like dust. dinos are very stringy and snot like.

 

[Bifferwine]

Hahahahaha... Oh I love irony! :lol: