algea problem

G

georgeorndorff

Hi guy's and gal's,
Here's my new problem, in the morning the tank is clean and the sand is white. By noon the sand is gettnig that brown film on it and the corals have brown stringy algea on them . It blows off easy with a turkey baster, but still looks nasty. Next morning is starts over. I have tried doing lights out, comes back , water pars are all good, and I have not changes anything is months. Any ideas...Take care...George Orndorff
 
I was able to look at the algea under a microscrope this morning, it looks to be free swiming oval shaped brown in color, much like a phytoplanton. Any thoughts...George Orndorff
 
Good to hear from you, George. Sounds like dinoflagellates or chrysophytes. Seems a lot of folks are dealing with these recently. Some have had good results treating it like cyano- reducing feeding, upping water changes, 3 day lights out, etc. Kevin (GraviT) was having problems as well, and he tried a lot of things- UV, phosban, carbon, and finally settled on Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Algaefix Marine.

Does it look like this?
 
Scott,
Always good hearing from you. I agree that it is dino's as per Julian Sprung algae's book . Ive order the algaefix and have started using carbon. I'll keep you updated...Thanks George
 
Raising pH with Kalk has also been reported effective in some cases.. keeping the higher pH over time is the key, along with siphoning. Lights out for a period of time seemed to help in some cases as well. Carbon with PO4 remover also got some results. Not sure anyone has found a sure fire method yet, but a combination of things to combat it seems to do the trick on a case by case basis.

One thing that many have reported with Dinos is that water changes seemed to spur it on...
 
Hi Guy's,

Thanks for all the info, here is an update on my battle with dinoflagellates (brown algae). At this time I'm clear of it, after trying a couple of things here is what seem to work the best. First I started using Algaefix Marine, after two treatment (6 days) I did 3 days lights out and on the third day did a water change. At this time both tanks are clean and clear of the brown algea ,and the fish , inverts, and corals show no ill effect. I'm continueing a weekly treatment of Algaefix as per the instructions on the bottle. If any thing changes one way or the other I'll write back. Take care...George Orndorff
 
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