Diatoms vs Cyanobacteria?? - Pics included

K

kat74

Guest
I've had a 14 gallon Biocube for 10 months and I recently moved up to a 29 gallon Biocube from a LFS that was set up for 2.5 months and already had some corals. I moved all of my fish, inverts, some of my corals, LR and LS to the 29. The first couple of weeks, everything's been "perfect". All parameters have been stable at:
Temp: 81
Salinity: 1.024
Ammonia: 0
PH: 8.2
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Calcium: 400
dKH: 10
Phosphates: 0
I am using everything stock in the Biocube with some modifications. Widening between chamber 1 and 2 to allow for more flow; stock filter cartridge mods with filter floss, purigen in chamber 1, chemipure elite in chamber 3. I am using the stock pump which is rated at 243gph. I also added a Koralia nano and a Koralia 1 to the display which adds an additional 240gph and 400gph for a total of 883gph. The only supplements that I add to my tank are Kent's Nano Part A and Part B. I feed my fish frozen brine, mysis, and marine cuisine soaked in zooplex, garlic plus and some sort of omega fatty acid supplement on Mon-Wed-Fri. I have my actinics on from 8am-6pm and my whites on from 9am-5pm. I do weekly 10% water changes with Nutri-Seawater.
Anyway, for the last week, I have been battling either diatom algae or a cyanobacteria outbreak. I never experienced this with the Biocube 14. It is a rusty brown color and is on my sandbed only. I have some chemiclean and am prepared to treat my tank with it if it is indeed cyanobacteria. I thought that I had plenty of flow in my tank and I don't feed my tank excessively, only three times a week, and my phosphates are at 0.
Can you take a look at the following pics and let me know what you think? Diatoms or cyanobacteria. Treat with chemiclean or no?






Thanks in advance, for any and all advice and help!
 
alix2.0

alix2.0

Active Member
im thinking cyano, only because the diatoms in my tank DO NOT look like that... unless the algae in my tank isnt really diatoms, and its actually cyano... which means that what you have looks nothing like my cyano, therefore it must be diatoms.

anybody?
 
K

kat74

Guest
Originally Posted by ZeroC
what's your flow like?
I am using the stock pump which is rated at 243gph. I also added a Koralia nano and a Koralia 1 to the display which adds an additional 240gph and 400gph for a total of 883gph.
 
K

kat74

Guest
Originally Posted by alix2.0
im thinking cyano, only because the diatoms in my tank DO NOT look like that... unless the algae in my tank isnt really diatoms, and its actually cyano... which means that what you have looks nothing like my cyano, therefore it must be diatoms.

anybody?
Whoa!! Now I'm confused!
 
earlybird

earlybird

Active Member
My guess is it's both. You should adjust or increase your flow, manually siphon it out with thin diameter airline hose, water changes, don't over feed, and reduce your lighting.
If it clumps up kind of like a mat it's cyano. Cyano can come in different colors.
 
alix2.0

alix2.0

Active Member
Originally Posted by KAT74
Whoa!! Now I'm confused!

yeah. your tank tooks awesome by the way. are you just using the lighting that came with your cube? your corals look great.
 
alix2.0

alix2.0

Active Member
Originally Posted by earlybird
If it clumps up kind of like a mat it's cyano. Cyano can come in different colors.
can diatoms clump also? i ask because like i kindasorta stated above i always thought i had diatoms, but if i leave it for a few days it does kinda build up like a mat.
i guess mine is probably cyano then, hmm.
 
K

kat74

Guest
Originally Posted by earlybird
My guess is it's both. You should adjust or increase your flow, manually siphon it out with thin diameter airline hose, water changes, don't over feed, and reduce your lighting.
If it clumps up kind of like a mat it's cyano. Cyano can come in different colors.
I've kind of adjusted my flow so that it's aimed at the front area and this afternoon, after I took the pictures, I manually siphoned it all out and did a small water change. I also added 5 more nassarius snails and a conch. As soon as I added them, they went straight under the sandbed!

I know that I am not overfeeding as I only feed them once on Mon-Wed-Fri, and a very small amount at that. Maybe I can try reducing my lighting and see if that will help.

I guess if I go back to work on Monday and it's back, after my doing a water change today, added the Hydor Koralia nano, manually siphoning it out and adding the addional crew, I can safely assume that it's cyano and treat with chemiclean?
 
K

kat74

Guest
Originally Posted by alix2.0
yeah. your tank tooks awesome by the way. are you just using the lighting that came with your cube? your corals look great.
Thanks! Yes, I am just using stock lighting for now and everything seems happy. If they start stressing or bleaching, or I want to keep more light demanding corals, I will definately upgrade!

I have a thread in the nano section of my tank, if you want to check it out.
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/291308/kat74s-29g-biocube-diary
But first, I've gotta find out what's going on with the diatomic cyano (is that a new word?? LOL!) and get that taken care of!
 
K

kat74

Guest
Originally Posted by earlybird
I tried using chemipure and not sure how much it helped. Never tried chemiclean.
I'm using chemipure-elite in my third chamber. Chemiclean, I believe, is the redslime remover?
 
bonebrake

bonebrake

Active Member
Those are diatoms and although unsightly are harmless. Hermit crabs munch it up and so do some snails. You can siphon up as much as you can and try adding a few hungry hermit crabs to take care of the rest.
Brown diatom outbreaks are associated with new tanks (even though you transferred everything from an established tank, it is still a "new" tank) so this is a normal phase that your tank will pass through in a few weeks or a month so long as you have some critters to eat it.
 
mudplayerx

mudplayerx

Active Member
Lovely fungias... easily one of my most favorite corals. They really should be on the sandbed though. They prefer it down there and they are capable of movement. They can fall off the rocks and injure themselves or sting another coral.
 
K

kat74

Guest
Originally Posted by Bonebrake
Those are diatoms and although unsightly are harmless. Hermit crabs munch it up and so do some snails. You can siphon up as much as you can and try adding a few hungry hermit crabs to take care of the rest.
Brown diatom outbreaks are associated with new tanks (even though you transferred everything from an established tank, it is still a "new" tank) so this is a normal phase that your tank will pass through in a few weeks or a month so long as you have some critters to eat it.
So it's definately diatoms and I shouldn't do the chemiclean treatment on Monday? Do the diatoms mat up like that? I did siphon it all up this afternoon and added 5 nassarius snails and one conch to see if they would help. I have a bunch of little blue legs and a scarlet hermit or two.
I would hate for this to last a few weeks or even a month... it's sooooo unsightly. I'm extremely a "girly girl", so you know how us "girly girl's" like our "girly girl" tanks!

Thanks for your help!
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by alix2.0
im thinking cyano, only because the diatoms in my tank DO NOT look like that... unless the algae in my tank isnt really diatoms, and its actually cyano... which means that what you have looks nothing like my cyano, therefore it must be diatoms.

anybody?
what did you just say
 
K

kat74

Guest
Originally Posted by mudplayerx
Lovely fungias... easily one of my most favorite corals. They really should be on the sandbed though. They prefer it down there and they are capable of movement. They can fall off the rocks and injure themselves or sting another coral.
Thanks! The tank came with the green/purple one and when I saw the pink one, I fell in love and had to have it! I originally had them on the sandbed, on opposite sides of the tank and they seemed really unhappy there. The tentacles on the pink never extended like they do now and the other one seemed to stay closed more often than not. I've had them in their current places for 3 weeks now and they "seem" happy and are really very stable there. I'll definately keep an eye on them.

The brain is getting SOOOO big that I may soon trade him in for some store credit and see if one of those fungias might like to be in its place.
I appreciate your input!
 
bonebrake

bonebrake

Active Member
It is definitely diatom - I would not add the ChemiClean. It should go away with time with regular water changes and siphoning and different creatures that will eat it.
 
mudplayerx

mudplayerx

Active Member
Originally Posted by Bonebrake
It is definitely diatom - I would not add the ChemiClean. It should go away with time with regular water changes and siphoning and different creatures that will eat it.
I didn't even see the reference to the Chemiclean. Stay away from these products! Products that remove algae, cyanobacteria, etc. can be bad for your system and only fix the problem temporarily.
 
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