algae?

[jb rekit]

I just got rid of a small cyano outbreak about 2 weeks ago.
Amm. - 0
trites -0
trates - 0
RO water
20 gal refugium
protein skimmer
About 2 days ago I got some light yellow / green algae that covers the glass. Can't see any on the sand or rocks but if you wipe it off the glass, it comes back in about an hour. Never seen anything like it. Anyone know what it is or how to get rid of it?
And it grows faster in the higher flow areas on the glass.

 

[krishj39]

It isn't diatom algae is it?

 

[jb rekit]

It could be I guess. I have never had it before so I'm not totally sure. I just added about 10 #'s of LR last week if that might be the what caused it. I have about 50#'s now.
Will it hurt anything in the tank? And how soon will it go away?

 

[jblabs]

Depends: What did you use to rid your tank of Cyano?

 

[jb rekit]

3 - 30% water changes about 4-5 days apart to get my nitrates to go from 5 to 0.

 

[jb rekit]

And added an extra bag of carbon in the sump of my wet dry b.c it was suggested to me that the carbon in the filters on my emporer 400 was not enough.

 

[jb rekit]

If it is diatom algae, do I need to do anything about it? It doesn't seem to be getting worse, but it doesn't seem to be getting any better either.
I did a search and was hoping to find a pic of it but had no luck.

 

[krishj39]

Diatom requires silicates to grow. This is just a side-note, UNLESS you added non-argonite sand, in which case you probably added silicon sand which many will say (I don't actually know from experience, just what I've been told) causes increased problems with diatom because it makes for more available silicates. Diatom algae is something you will never get rid of. I still have to wipe it off my glass about every 3rd day. Right now, you probably have it worse because of having a new tank. Keep wiping it off the glass, and wait it out. That's all the advice I can give. IME, it's one of the final battles before settling into a stablized tank. There are many many pictures you should be able to find of diatom algae on the microscopic level, they really are beautiful little organisms, all different little crystals. However, I suppose microscopic pictures doesn't help you ID what you have, still interesting though.