Am I dealing with Chrysophytes?

[brian222]

Hi reefers, I have an algae outbreak in my 8 months old 150-gallon system now, I have been doing some research it seems like they are Chrysophytes, my parameters are:

No3: 0 ppm (used RS Nitrate Pro test kit)
Po4 : 0 ppm (Hanna ULR Phosphorus checker, 0 ppb)
Salinity: 1.025 SG
pH: 8.2-8.3
Temp: 77.6 - 78.5 F

I am not entirely sure what I am dealing with, so I:
1) have been doing 15% WC weekly, brushing them off from rock surfaces and siphoning them as much as I can
2) reduced light intensity to half of it used to be, and reduce schedule from 10 hours to 6 hours a day
3) stopped dosing All-for-reef
4) clean up the skimmer cup every 2 days
5) increased the schedule of my Pentiar 40W UV from 4 hours to 24 hours daily

I haven't tried any chemical treatment yet, does anyone know what kind of algae this is and have similar experience dealing with it?

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Were you trying to keep your N and P at zero?

 

[brian222]

Were you trying to keep your N and P at zero?

I am not, I have an oversize skimmer and roller mat running, and 1 fish + 4 corals in my system now, so I don't have much nutrient input

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I am not, I have an oversize skimmer and roller mat running, and 1 fish + 4 corals in my system now, so I don't have much nutrient input

Bottoming out nutrients can cause lots of issues. You need to keep a balance. Why are you running a roller mat at all if the nitrates/phosphates aren't high?

And why are/were you dosing if you only have 4 corals?

I can't tell what your algae is, but with zero nutrients, it could be dinos.

Manually removing as much as you can is the first step regardless of what it is... If the rocks can be removed from the tank, scrub them in old tank water during a water change.

Turning off the filter mat, and take the cup off the skimmer (you want it running for gas exchange) will help keep you from continuing to strip the water.

I wish I could offer an ID.

 

[V A R I A N T]

Sure looks like Chrsophytes to me. By chance did you start with CaribSea Life Rock? I had this same golden algae in a prior setup with Life Rock. Keeping N03 at 5ppm or higher and 0.1 P04 helped, with manual removal and limited lighting. All together it lasted 6-8 weeks. I did not use chemicals, I allowed it to run course while I maintained nutrients. If I remember correctly, the tank had a smell to it also.

 

[brian222]

Bottoming out nutrients can cause lots of issues. You need to keep a balance. Why are you running a roller may at all if the nitrates/phosphates aren't high?

And why are/were you dosing if you only have 4 corals?

I can't tell what your algae is, but with zero nutrients, it could be dinos.

Manually removing as much as you can is the first step... If the rocks can be removed from the tank, scrub them in old tank water during a water change.

Turning off the filter mat, and take the cup off the skimmer (you want it running for gas exchange) will help keep you from continuing to strip the water.

I wish I could offer an ID.

thanks for the advice! I run roller mat since the start of the system (I removed the filter sockets originally in the sump), so it is the system's main mechanical filtration.

I dose every week to correct the low Alk and Ca caused by the bad TM reef salt I used to start my system, and slowly switching to RS blue bucket.

I will slowly decrease the run time of both the roller mat and skimmer, hopefully that can slowly bring up the nutrient level and fight off the outbreak...

 

[brian222]

Sure looks like Chrsophytes to me. By chance did you start with CaribSea Life Rock? I had this same golden algae in a prior setup with Life Rock. Keeping N03 at 5ppm or higher and 0.1 P04 helped, with manual removal and limited lighting. All together it lasted 6-8 weeks. I did not use chemicals, I allowed it to run course while I maintained nutrients. If I remember correctly, the tank had a smell to it also.

Yes I have ~80 lbs of CaribSea Liverocks in the system, and yes the tank smells like algae now. Thanks for sharing your experience I am going to increase nutrients and hopefully control the outbreak

 

[taricha]

probably so. looks very much like it.

 

[V A R I A N T]

I’ve been researching this a bit more, and it seems silicates are a major contributor to chrysophytes. However, the two test kits on the market seem to have mixed reviews. Phosguard, Purit, and Chemipure Elite remove silicates. So the question is where did the silicates come from? The source water, or is it in the manufacturing process of the CaribSea Life Rock?

 

[brian222]

I’ve been researching this a bit more, and it seems silicates are a major contributor to chrysophytes. However, the two test kits on the market seem to have mixed reviews. Phosguard, Purit, and Chemipure Elite remove silicates. So the question is where did the silicates come from? The source water, or is it in the manufacturing process of the CaribSea Life Rock?

I have been making RO water using 5-stage RODI with an additional RO membrane, I didn't have this problem in my previous system.

I suspect the source of silicates in my system is either the rock or my salt mix, I previously used TM Pro Reef for a few months and later discovered it was a bad batch. Elevated Silicate level and zero PO4/NO3 together probably provided an ideal environment for chrysophytes to thrive since there are no other algae to compete.

To update the chrysophytes situation seems improving as I can see the population is decreasing.

 

[pandaparties]

Silicates are very hard to remove even with RODI, which is why it shows up on many peoples ICP tests for RODI. You could just have silicate heavy water coming in

 

[brian222]

Silicates are very hard to remove even with RODI, which is why it shows up on many peoples ICP tests for RODI. You could just have silicate heavy water coming in

ok I am going to do an ICP test for my RO water just to make sure, if that is the case then I may need to run a second DI resin cartridge just to remove silicate.

 

[pandaparties]

ok I am going to do an ICP test for my RO water just to make sure, if that is the case then I may need to run a second DI resin cartridge just to remove silicate.

I'm running four in series and have significant silicates coming in still typically they aren't super harmful though im not familiar with this particular issue. I have an abundance of sponges from it but i don't mind them

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

ok I am going to do an ICP test for my RO water just to make sure, if that is the case then I may need to run a second DI resin cartridge just to remove silicate.

You could just buy a ro canister add on with a silicate buster cartridge and run it last https://www.saltwateraquarium.com/silica-buster-di-filter-cartridge-10-spectrapure/

 

[V A R I A N T]

Nice, I’m going to keep that cartridge in mind.

 

[brian222]

Found a similar product on BRS:

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/dual...D=7033&indexName=brs_prod_m2_default_products

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

That's what I run as my 4th d.i stage and it seems to work, it at least doesn't hurt

 

[taricha]

I’ve been researching this a bit more, and it seems silicates are a major contributor to chrysophytes.

The things we are referring to as chrysophytes are not known Si users.
http://cfb.unh.edu/phycokey/Choices...ated/Chryso_colonial_non-flagellated_key.html

 

[Zoajohn]

I dealt with chrysophytes starting up my tank. Reeflux (fluconazole) wipes it out with ease, but that opened the door for dinos which was an even worse headache. If you go down this route - make sure you have detectable nutrients and bacteria, macroalgae, or something else to out compete dinos from taking hold.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

The things we are referring to as chrysophytes are not known Si users.
http://cfb.unh.edu/phycokey/Choices...ated/Chryso_colonial_non-flagellated_key.html

I think so as well, They may be mixed with diatoms at the time of infestation and be confused for the chrysophytes, assuming the growth of both is one and also consuming silicates, possibly. I've had chrysophytes a few times the smell gives it away but the microscope doesn't lie they are a small perfectly round golden brown ball that doesn't move.