Algae ID please

[Barrett]

I need an ID on this algae it is brown and only covers my sand. I vacuumed it out during my water change 2 days ago and now it is back again. Any suggestions on how to get rid of it would be appreciated. All parameters are in check. Nitrate 3-5 ppm with salifert and po4 0.01 on Hanna checker. Sorry about the photobomb I can't take a picture without her in it today.

 

[JEREMY82]

Maybe look up cyano and dinos. Sometimes the water change help feed the algae to grow

 

[Barrett]

Maybe Dino's I will try and get a better picture tonight. How do I eliminate them?

 

[Barrett]

Here are a few more pictures. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Barrett]

Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Barrett]

I'm open to any suggestions, anyone?

 

[SashimiTurtle]

I think that's diatoms. It's like a brown film that grows across the sand. I notice it in places with a bit lower flow where detritus can build up and when my nitrates get up too high. I try to keep just a trace of nitrate and phosphate in my tank to limit this stuff. Stir the sand up and it'll clear up for a few days until your nutrients come back down.

 

[Barrett]

Does not look like the diatom bloom I had while cycling, I just cleaned it all out with my WC and it was back worse than before in two days.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Looks just like diatoms to me. Excess nutrients and silicates can cause diatom blooms. Watch this video I just found.

 

[Barrett]

Any thoughts @saltyfilmfolks?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Any thoughts @saltyfilmfolks?

Id guess it's slimy to the touch and comes off in clumps. Most diatoms are generally more of a dusty thing.

Possibly a cyano but I'd put my money on a slime algae. Kinda like what we get on the glass, but forms sheets.

As far as getting rid of it, more snails, nutrient stuff, if your feeding aminos or carbon dosing stop.

What foods are feeding?
How new is the tank?
Are you stirring the sand?

 

[Barrett]

Id guess it's slimy to the touch and comes off in clumps. Most diatoms are generally more of a dusty thing.

Possibly a cyano but I'd put my money on a slime algae. Kinda like what we get on the glass, but forms sheets.

As far as getting rid of it, more snails, nutrient stuff, if your feeding aminos or carbon dosing stop.

What foods are feeding?
How new is the tank?
Are you stirring the sand?

I feed LRS reef frenzy once a day, tank is about 6 months old, I use a turkey baster and blow off the sand before WC. Is it possibly Dinos? I have a watchman goby that is a few days from coming out of qt and don't want to put him in if it's Dino as I read they are toxic.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I don't believe it's Dino's at all. Generally that's really ugly stuff.

I would however , try a different food for a week or two.
I'm one of the unfortunates, I can't feed LRS full time. It get Cyano. Not real clue why. Some marine marine snow does the same.

It's also quite likely it's just a bit of ugly phase.

I highly reccomend to folks with nice shallow sand beds to stir it up. It's better in the long run imo.

 

[Barrett]

Thank you so much for your help. I have nassarius snails and adding a watchman goby in hopes she will help keep the sand bed clean between WC's.

 

[Barrett]

I will try syphoning it out into a filter sock into the sump tonight and see if I can't get it under control.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

If you have a filter sock, you can just blow it off. It'll get there.

 

[Barrett]

That would be much easier, apparently I like to work harder not smarter

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Lol. And for years and years the common thought was to never touch the sand. So no worries. Times change.

 

[Barrett]

I will try and pull some out tonight and put it under a microscope to see what it looks like, my kids will love to see that.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Ooh! Science IS fun!!!