Diatom or algae??

[AWMarineUK]

Hi guys,

Can anybody advise what this actually is and more so how to get rid?

The tank has been running for 18 months (55g) now and this only disappears when the SB is vacced only for it to return 12 hours later.

At first I thought diatoms but now I'm not so sure!! Either way it's annoying

Cheers




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[Animal-Chin]

Is it new or have you had it for 18 months? Looks like diatoms but they ususally burn off once your tank is established so I want to think it's algea. Does it grow upwards or just stay as a dust like substance on the sand?

 

[Sniperhank]

Cyanobacteria. This comes from excess nutrients in the water column, nitrates and phosphates. There are links to articles in my signatures that talk about fighting this issue regarding algae outbreaks, but it works for cyano just the same.
Increasing the flow in the tank can also assist with cyano, but the nutrients that are feeding it will still remain and will be replaced with algae growth unless also addressed.

 

[AWMarineUK]

Hi,

thanks for the info, done some further digging based on your advice and i do think its cyano!

Reading up i also do have to scrape the stuff off in a film like fashion from the glass.

Will reduce feeding and increase water changes to start with to try and decrease the nutirients, also retested and found that my phosphates had increased (which i find odd)

Going to run a fresh course of rowa to deal with that and see what happens.

Cheers

Aaron



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