diatoms maybe?

[jussery17]

Hey so today I got up and saw that this shell on my sand bed had a brown covering all over it... one rock on the right side of my tank has a little too....I always use rodi water and have been running a classic octo 100 hob protein skimmer for about 2 weeks pulling alot of crap out....ive had perigee and chemi pure elite in my filter for about a month or maybe a month and a half... about two weeks ago I bought a 3 inch rock with dark purple coraline that also had two zoas on it... my tank has always been very healthy and just trying to figure out how I got anything into the tank to cause this ...unless it came on the rock with the zoas or the octo protein skimmer that I bought from a friend.... the water I get from the lfs I have always only used that and it has never caused any problems .....i will defy monitor this, but was wanting to get everyones input and what to do about it.... thanks in advance

 

[lmforbis]

More likely cyano than diatoms. Cyano isn’t always red. In my tank it is usually brownish because of the lighting. You need silica in your water to get diatoms. If you are using RODI it is unlikely I guess if your sand is silica instead of argonite it could be diatoms. Usually these blooms are fueled by nitrates and phosphates. Increases flow can help as well as keeping nutrients down.

 

[jussery17]

Would seachem product Phosguard be ok to use?

 

[lmforbis]

I don’t see why not. I use GFO.

 

[jussery17]

Well I've put a pouch of Phosbond, and will take phosphates and silicates out, but I've had chemi pure elite and purigen in my filter for a little under a month now and chemi pure elite is supposed to remove phosphates and silicates. If that's the case why is this occurring if there shouldn't be any phosphates or silicates to begin with? Also got 3 new turbo snails lol....

Another question I had was in the beginning the first thing I bought was just 1 big turbo snail, well last night I looked into the tank at night on a big LR and I counted 6 little baby turbo snails! What would I do about this if anything at all? I mean I now have new turbo snails for free and not complaining but I guess id like to know what to do about them from this point forward....?