Idoc
Getting lazier and lazier with upkeep!
I just can't get this algae or cyano bloom to completely go away. I thought it was cyano, but it doesn't create "sheets" like typical cyano pictures. I let it go for a week without blowing it off rocks and the back wall and then cleaned the tank thoroughly. Ive been doing 20% water changes weekly and vacuuming the sand at the same time. As soon as I showed these pics to my LFS guy, he said that's diatoms, not cyano. I always thought diatoms were dusty only... he said no, they are also mucus-like as in my pictures. This stuff also smells very badly...so that's why I thought cyano. And... no bubbles forming in it... so not thinking dinos. I stir the sand every couple of days and this stuff is already back starting to brown the sand the next day!
These pics are after I let it go a week without cleaning... then shut off pumps and scraped the back wall and blew off the rocks, so it was suspended in the water column for a bit and looked ... then settled and I could vacuum it out:
My nutrient import in terms of food is very minimal and controlled... still only 2 clowns in a 75g tank that's about 4-5 months post-cycle. Nitrates staying around 2ppm (salifert) and PO4 from 0 - 0.04 (hanna) regularly when testing a day or 2 after a solid cleaning of this stuff... both nitrate and phosphate tests zero when this stuff is going strong before cleaning.
Then I started wondering if this is actually diatoms, are silicates coming in by my RODI water? I haven't changed my DI Resin since i purchased the RODI system used (almost a year now... and no clue how old it was before but guy said he just changed it and it was very brown colored). The color has changed to that in the picture now, but my TDS output is 000... so thought all was good. Think this might be the source of my silicates? Should I change the DI resin or RO membrane regardless of the TDS output?
These pics are after I let it go a week without cleaning... then shut off pumps and scraped the back wall and blew off the rocks, so it was suspended in the water column for a bit and looked ... then settled and I could vacuum it out:
My nutrient import in terms of food is very minimal and controlled... still only 2 clowns in a 75g tank that's about 4-5 months post-cycle. Nitrates staying around 2ppm (salifert) and PO4 from 0 - 0.04 (hanna) regularly when testing a day or 2 after a solid cleaning of this stuff... both nitrate and phosphate tests zero when this stuff is going strong before cleaning.
Then I started wondering if this is actually diatoms, are silicates coming in by my RODI water? I haven't changed my DI Resin since i purchased the RODI system used (almost a year now... and no clue how old it was before but guy said he just changed it and it was very brown colored). The color has changed to that in the picture now, but my TDS output is 000... so thought all was good. Think this might be the source of my silicates? Should I change the DI resin or RO membrane regardless of the TDS output?
