is this part of the ugly phase of a new tank?

[Ballyhoo]

at first I thought it was fish food deposit. but it's also on the lower part of the glass. I added about 20mL of Tommy's phyto mix. however, I've had a little red dots, even before I made those deposits for the blue damsel fish.

 

[Subsea]

@Ballyhoo
Can you describe it? Have you used a gravel vac. Your picture does not help.

Check out ReefCleaners nuisance algae guide. Maybe Calothrix

Nuisance Algae ID Guide- Reef Cleaners

Nuisance Algae ID Guide. Red Slime, Cyano, Cyanobacteria. Green Film Algae, Film Algae. Green Hair Algae. Green Turf Algae. Bryopsis pennata and B. plumosa. Bubble Algae, Valonia. Lobophora. Blue Green Cyano.

www.reefcleaners.org

Calothrix​

These species of cyano often appear as a light slimy yet hairy/fuzzy nastiness that loosely attaches to your rock work. Air bubbles are usually trapped while escaping the "algae", just like in the picture to the left. Calothrix is a type of blue green algae that looks very similar to Dinos. We have them next to each other in the guide to help you distinguish the difference between the two.

Manual Removal: Remove the rock and scrub, and then fine tune with a toothbrush. Let the cleaners get the rest. It helps to use a net to collect the debris that will occur as a result of the toothbrushing.

 

[Ballyhoo]

thanks to your response. This stuff lives in the live sand. I can't really scrub the sand that's the problem but I'm wondering if I'm running my aquarium to hight @ 81° sometimes. Now I set it to 78. perhaps I should set aquarium to as low as it could safely go and still support my clowns LpS and blue damsels. It was much worse today when i got home from work, but I used the plunger and removed much of it from the sand surface as i had done yesterday. Perhaps I'm being to aggressive on LED lighting and temperature.

 

[Subsea]

I use a gravel vac in the sand.

I looked for a tank journal to understand your system and your husbandry. A full tank picture would help. Looks like diatoms which is a type of phytoplankton. What kind of clean up crew do you have?

 

[Ballyhoo]

I got most of it out yesterday, but I came home from work and it all came back

 

[Jekyl]

Can you list parameters please?

 

[Ballyhoo]

I believe it's dyno. I'm not sure which species of it though. I have to wait till tomorrow to do all the testing and get all the parameters. But indicators are it's a form of dyno. thank you

 

[Readywriter]

Does it go away at night? If I recall correctly your tanks pretty new it could be diatoms, or it could be dynos. either way theres two options: siphon it off as you see it and stay super on top of your params for the next couple weeks (it will be annoying but worth it), or dump some bottled stuff in to treat it (might want to also get started on the rough draft for the thread you'll post when that backfires)

 

[Lavey29]

It's just diatoms in a new tank. It will go away in 2 or 3 weeks when the silicate in the sand is used up.

 

[Ballyhoo]

Does it go away at night? If I recall correctly your tanks pretty new it could be diatoms, or it could be dynos. either way theres two options: siphon it off as you see it and stay super on top of your params for the next couple weeks (it will be annoying but worth it), or dump some bottled stuff in to treat it (might want to also get started on the rough draft for the thread you'll post when that backfires)

it does go away at night. That's the fascinating thing.

sounds like you're skeptical on a fluid /solution remedy.

 

[skey44]

Are those live starfish?
Looks like a little ugly phase. Won’t be a long term issue with good husbandry practices.

 

[Ballyhoo]

the one is live. can you guess which one?

 

[Ballyhoo]

It's night time now, and the uglies are all but dormant

 

[Readywriter]

it does go away at night. That's the fascinating thing.

sounds like you're skeptical on a fluid /solution remedy.

Yea Im not a fan of bottled remedies. Quick fixes can work with certain things but they rarely work entirely as intended when it comes to nature. So I avoid it as much as possible. Sounds like dynos to me. If you have a microscope you can identify which type and figure out where to go from there.

 

[Ballyhoo]

arrgh so now i gotta buy a microscope? maybe my LFS has one.

 

[Ballyhoo]

also, I read eurythmyosin works. I happen to have of antibiotics like that in the medicine cabinet

 

[Readywriter]

also, I read eurythmyosin works. I happen to have of antibiotics like that in the medicine cabinet

Should work. But the key word in that is antibiotic. It would also nuke a lot of other things that youd regret nuking. Patience is virtue, quick fixes lead to more threads like this one.