Algae identity help please.

J

JPruitt

Premium Member
Not new to the hobby but this is my first time to deal with this type of algae/ bacteria. First off tank parameters
Ph. 8.1
Alk. 8 to 9
Ammonia. Undetectable
Nitrite. 0
Nitrate. 0
Temp is 79
Mag is 1300

I can't figure this stuff out tank is 3 months old transferred all live rock and live stock from previous tank I purchased. I did purchase new live sand approximately 80 pounds in a 58rr. All corals are doing good and livestock as well. I know flow is not the problem I have 2 mp10's running 75 percent and 2 additional power heads running 950 gph along with 450 gph return. I have a reef octopus 1000sss which is overkill for this setup. Running refugium with chaeto and miracle mud. I feed once a day every other day after rinsing in ro/di water. Also running a phosban with rowaphos. Any input would help a lot. Sorry for the bad pics but the I pad camera sucks. It's a rust brown and after approximately one week it gets these small strands that have bubbles trapped in them. These are small ptches now after blowing it into the cater column but will quickly recover the sand. NONE on the rocks. I have tried blowing them off with a turkey baster, I do weekly water changes. I'm at a loss. Thanks.
 
Here is a link to a helpful guide on identifying, and dealing with problem algae:

http://www.reefcleaners.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54&Itemid=60

I cannot tell anything by the photos, but you seem to be describing dinoflagellates.



David
 
Thanks I know the pics are horrible. Ill upload better pics tomorrow when I'm around a computer.
 
Sounds like diatoms or cayno to me bud get u some nerite snails they will eat it up same thing happen to me when I first stated my tank just part of the cycleing but those snail should eat it up for u and they are cheap
 
Better pics im thinking diatoms due to about 3 weeks ago my leather waging war in my tank releasing toxins and killing most of my corals. Figured it was going to cycle again just never had algae quite like this. Thanks for any advice.
 
Diatom. Nothing wrong with your tank. Part of the cycling process. I had that problem at around 2 months old, and my tank is just clean after 15 weeks now. It'll go away on its own. Whatever you do, don't use chemical treatments, it will do more harm than good. If you want to speed up the process, cut your lights time by a couple hours. If you're not running LEDs, the age of the bulbs are a factor also. Your tank will look ugly for about 2-4 weeks, but it'll pass. if you stir it, it'll make your sand bed have brown ugly spots, so don't try to disturb it too much. Feel free to PM me if you have other questions
 
Thanks bud i was leaning to diatoms but have never had them to this extent. Yeah i took 3 years off from reefing and forgot all the little things about it lol. And no chemicals ever go into my tanks. Thanks for the ID.
 
Same here. I just got back into the hobby after a ten plus years moving around. my tank is prolly about a couple weeks older than yours. I could bet that the addition of the new sand had something to do with it too(even though it says live sand, it goes through a cure time) After I had the diatom bloom, I got Cyanobacteria bad. I just did small water changes while syphoning the infested area out. Took about 3 weeks, but now my rocks and sand are spotless clean and I'm starting to see lots of coralline algae growth. Oh, I also ran my sump light opposite of my DT and bumped up the sump light to 20 hrs a day. Good luck and welcome back to the hobby.
 
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