Cyano or Diatoms? Hard to tell. PIC INCLUDED

[excitedforfish]

Hi,

What do you think this is: Diatoms or cyano?

Isn't very red, more rust colored BUT it is kind of like a light film on the sand. I just recently downsized from a 57g tank to a biocube. The 57g was ridden with cyano problems that even chemi clean couldnt fix. No idea why.

Anyway, we moved the sand over to fill the biocube and this stuff has showed up. The one in the 57g was way more reddish and gunky.

Is this a mix between both gross things?

It seems to get worst with the lights on. No air bubbles (as of yet.) We used to have air bubbles in our old tank.

This biocube is only 3 days old.

Ammonia 0
Nitrates: 5
Nitrites: 0
PH: 7.8 (I know it's low)

 

[excitedforfish]

Bump

 

[rsl3]

Get yourself some hermits they will take care of it fast!

 

[sneaton]

blow it off with a turkey baster...if it disintegrates its dinoflagellates, if it comes off in mats then its cyno....does it ever get stringy and snotty

 

[excitedforfish]

Yikes. If it disintegrates, wouldn't that also make it be diatoms as well as dino? I took a turkey baster and its hard to tell. It disappears but you can see little "sand clumps" which I assume are pieces of it left behind.

And my old tank would very rarely get stringy stuff with air bubbles in it....BUT I was told cyano gets air bubbles as well.

 

[excitedforfish]

Get yourself some hermits they will take care of it fast!

I have a bunch of scarlets and they never even touch it!

 

[excitedforfish]

Any more suggestions, guys?

 

[Floowid]

It looks like diatoms to me. You are gonna see diatoms, cyano, green algae, maybe other things as your tank cycles. I know you moved everything from another tank, but tis still gonna do a little cycle, especially if it all came from a tank that never overcame a cyano problem. Be patient, put in some snails as soon as the ammonia and nitrates go to zero. You can keep brushing it off, blowing it away, whatever, it is gonna come back until it runs its course.

 

[Mike_Noren]

Color suggests diatoms, but if you want to be sure have a look in a microscope. Incidentally, I suspect it's never dinoflagellates, always cyanobacteria or diatoms.

 

[excitedforfish]

Thank you everybody. When I tried chemi clean on my old tank it didnt really work. Most of this stuff looks like diatoms to me but then the gelish stuff seems like cyano. Phosphates are still at 0.... what do I do? I dont even feed a lot...every other day. And no frozen food, so I have no idea how phosphates are coming into the system. I use my own RO/DI with 0 TDS

 

[Floowid]

If you have some beer or wine around the house, here is a sure cure for it:

Step 1: Go open a beer, or pour yourself a glass of wine. Step 2: Relax.

Your post dated yesterday says the biocube has been set up for 3 days. Given that its now today, I make that 4 days. It may take a couple weeks for the diatoms to clear up. Relax and give the tank some time to run its course.

 

[Uncle Salty 05]

Diatoms.
Cerith snails are the best natural defense, but silica in your source water is the root cause.

http://buckeyefieldsupply.com/showproducts.asp?Category=182&Sub=127

 

[Ronny#66]

I got the same thing in my 25 gal reef tank. my tank is at least 7 years old.

 

[gmate]

Diatom bloom. Add a CUC. Can take several weeks to clear up.

 

[120reefermadnes]

Can cyano cause dead spots on my monti caps?