Brown diatom dust

[Metrontech]

Sorry for the lack of detail

Currently I am running a 55 display with an open 30 gallon sump

I am running a coral life 125 skimmer which is currently hanging on the back of my display because I can't get it into the sump because of my stand (changing that this weekemd)

I'll be putting a 55 gallon sump with 3 sections in it and I will love my skimmer there

I am running a phosban from 2 little fish with the high output gfo stuff

Lights are 4 x 54w t5 (blue, special blue, purple and day liht)

I have lots of movement in the tank, all my lps Amd softies are growing like weeds (hammer, Xenia, Kenya, gsp, toadstool and a few others)

I am doing calcium and iodine daily and other than that I doing my weekly 7-10 gallon water changes

Haven't had to clean my tank in 4 days...

What a relief

I

Originally Posted by Myka

Diatoms are the only algae you should be seeing during your cycling. If you're seeing it starting to turn green that is not good, and you should be taking steps to prevent this. Daily or twice daily turkey basting is a good idea. Replacing filter pads/socks everyday or every second day is a good plan. What type of filtration do you have? Socks? filter pads? Skimmer? Do you have a clean up crew in there yet? If so, what do you have?

As far as the sump goes, removal of the crushed coral is probably a good idea. I don't like to have rock, sand, or any substrate at all in my sumps.

Also, I prefer to keep lights off during the cycle. Once the cycle is over, I will slowly ramp up lights starting with just a couple hours a day. As soon as diatoms are seen I add some snails (not a load of them). I slowly ramp the light up by a couple hours a week, and ramp up the number of snails, keeping it all in balance as far as algae vs light vs snails. You might find turning the lights off for a week will help you out if it starts coming back.

[Myka]

Originally Posted by Metrontech

I am doing calcium and iodine daily and other than that I doing my weekly 7-10 gallon water changes

Iodine is really good at helping algae grow. I would not be dosing iodine daily. Your tank where it's at right now probably doesn't need any dosing at all - especially not iodine.

Are you testing calcium? I doubt you need to be dosing calcium at this point. Generally, as a tank gets stocked, alkalinity is the first thing a person will need to dose. I even test alkalinity and dose accordingly in fish only tanks as it helps to keep algae from growing. Also, increasing calcium will lower alkalinity and you will get really out of whack. Corals are much more sensitive to alkalinity than calcium.