Anyone know what these are?

[ReefGrrl]

I'm cycling a new 20g nano with sump. I used dry Marco rock and have been ghost feeding every day and adding 30ml of Microbe Lift Special Blend on alternate days. Today is day 13. I had the lights on for the first 5 days and then off since then, only turning them on to document what was happening. No detectable nitrite, a bare shadow of colour for nitrate, nothing measurable with the kits I have.

Yesterday I noticed these small white circles have appeared in the areas of diatoms - they are the actual rock and can't be scraped off. When I scrape, it's the diatoms that are removed, not the white areas.

I'm hoping its bacteria growing and consuming the diatoms but I've never seen this before, and searches turn up information about only stuff that's removable, not this type of thing.

Any ideas? I have a better picture but I'm having trouble uploading that file - I'll try again.

image.jpg

[ReefGrrl]

Here's a better picture. They're like little targets with a bullseye in the centre.

[Myka]

Have you been cycling with the lights on? You have a lot of diatom algae growing, anf it will turn into green hair algae if you're not careful. If you really want some lights, just use the blue LEDs at say half strength for a few hours a day.

I'm not sure what those what patches are, but they don't strike me as unusual.

[ReefGrrl]

Originally Posted by Myka

Have you been cycling with the lights on? You have a lot of diatom algae growing, anf it will turn into green hair algae if you're not careful. If you really want some lights, just use the blue LEDs at say half strength for a few hours a day.

I'm not sure what those what patches are, but they don't strike me as unusual.

I had the lights on for the first two days but saw algae on the back wall, so I stopped running them, and only turn them on briefly each day to document how things look.

The patches gradually "dissolved" over the course of several days, and as of about three days ago, there are no diatoms. Today is day 20 of the cycle and I've got .50ppm of ammonia so things are happening.

It's good to hear they don't seem unusual. You can never be sure in this hobby.

Thank you for answering!

[brisco]

This whole hobby is unusual....so

[ReefGrrl]

Originally Posted by brisco

This whole hobby is unusual....so

HAHAHAHAHAHA. Never a truer word spoken.

[Myka]

Good to hear.

[soapy]

Originally Posted by brisco

This whole hobby is unusual....so

It is my favourite part of the hobby. You can have a tank up and running for 5 years and then one day the weirdest creature you've ever seen suddenly makes an appearance.

[brisco]

That happened to me...then I realized it was my reflection