Diatoms, Dinoflagellates, or Cyano?

puddinman13 · 03/27/2019, 07:42 PM

I noticed this forming a couple days ago (3/24/2019) after I introduced a few new pieces of dry rock as well as CaribSea Refugium Mud. After it continued to form I did a partial water change and vacuumed the sand. It was mostly cleaned up but by the end of the following day it was back and worse. Now it continually forms and releases bubbles. These bubbles are almost constantly releasing. In the evening the bubbles stop forming (guessing because the photosynthesis stops) but by morning they will start forming again. I’ve read about the different textures between diatoms, dinos, and Cyano but I am still having trouble identifying it. There was some of this forming on my power head so I waived my hand in the after above it and it all mostly dusted off the powerhead. I can provide more details as required but am hoping to identify this so I can take the appropriate action. I have 5 turbo snails and they are enjoying themselves eating this stuff and none have died yet. I'm not sure how long it would take dinos to kill a snail if it were toxic.

Note: This is a newer tank. It has had water in it and been running for about 6 months, but the lights have only been on for a little over a month. It is the first time any sort of algae has grown and become noticeable.

Parameters 3/7/2019 (using Tropic Marcin Compact Lab. This was well before the bloom):
Temp: 78
PH: 8.2
NH4: .02
NH3: ~.0269
NO2: .02
NO3: .5
KH: 6
PO4: <.03

Parameters 3/25 (using Tropic Marcin Compact Lab):
Temp: 78
PH: 8.2
NH4: .05
NH3: ~.0269
NO2: .02
NO3: 2
KH: 5
PO4: <.03

Parameters 3/27 (using same test kit):
Temp: 78
PH: 8.3
NH4: .1
NH3: .0765
NO2: .05
NO3: 3
KH: 5
PO4: <.03

These photos are from today (3/27/2019, about 3 days into the bloom):
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Auapn6i4mHbsqR-ebfguLrk2hj1n
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Auapn6i4mHbsqSDu0onsz9Mg8f2Q
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Auapn6i4mHbsqR7UM3gW7RzmxkdQ
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Auapn6i4mHbsqR21-DiKwEMe0_vc

03/27/2019, 07:42 PM	#1
puddinman13 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2019 Posts: 1	Diatoms, Dinoflagellates, or Cyano? I noticed this forming a couple days ago (3/24/2019) after I introduced a few new pieces of dry rock as well as CaribSea Refugium Mud. After it continued to form I did a partial water change and vacuumed the sand. It was mostly cleaned up but by the end of the following day it was back and worse. Now it continually forms and releases bubbles. These bubbles are almost constantly releasing. In the evening the bubbles stop forming (guessing because the photosynthesis stops) but by morning they will start forming again. I’ve read about the different textures between diatoms, dinos, and Cyano but I am still having trouble identifying it. There was some of this forming on my power head so I waived my hand in the after above it and it all mostly dusted off the powerhead. I can provide more details as required but am hoping to identify this so I can take the appropriate action. I have 5 turbo snails and they are enjoying themselves eating this stuff and none have died yet. I'm not sure how long it would take dinos to kill a snail if it were toxic. Note: This is a newer tank. It has had water in it and been running for about 6 months, but the lights have only been on for a little over a month. It is the first time any sort of algae has grown and become noticeable. Parameters 3/7/2019 (using Tropic Marcin Compact Lab. This was well before the bloom): Temp: 78 PH: 8.2 NH4: .02 NH3: ~.0269 NO2: .02 NO3: .5 KH: 6 PO4: <.03 Parameters 3/25 (using Tropic Marcin Compact Lab): Temp: 78 PH: 8.2 NH4: .05 NH3: ~.0269 NO2: .02 NO3: 2 KH: 5 PO4: <.03 Parameters 3/27 (using same test kit): Temp: 78 PH: 8.3 NH4: .1 NH3: .0765 NO2: .05 NO3: 3 KH: 5 PO4: <.03 These photos are from today (3/27/2019, about 3 days into the bloom): https://1drv.ms/u/s!Auapn6i4mHbsqR-ebfguLrk2hj1n https://1drv.ms/u/s!Auapn6i4mHbsqSDu0onsz9Mg8f2Q https://1drv.ms/u/s!Auapn6i4mHbsqR7UM3gW7RzmxkdQ https://1drv.ms/u/s!Auapn6i4mHbsqR21-DiKwEMe0_vc