Brown snotty algae

Crackem · Oct 30, 2015

My tank is fallow and I only have a large cuc but my brown snotty diatom algae will not go away and is definitely getting worse. It used to be only on powerheads, overflow, and the back glass , and now it has moved to my rocks and is really getting disgusting. I recently changed my filter socks but I haven't done a water change since 9/16/15. I turned up the flow and my t5 and LED lighting periods have been reduced. I am ghost feeding pellets every other day to keep the bacteria alive. I'm also running gfo. Tank has only been running since June. Tank is barebottom and no live rock or anything from my old tank was added. I bought all my rocks online because I wanted a specific aquascape and I was worried that they were leaching Aluminum Silicates so I sent my water to triton for testing. I posted my results on the chemistry forum and was told that they seemed ok. Po4 was at 0.02 and nitrates were at 0. I cut my skimmer off to try to raise my nitrates up and now they are at 2.5ppm. I still havent done a water change because I was trying to raise the nitrates up. I am now at a loss and will post some pics of this brown snotty algae that will not go away. Any tips or suggestions are welcome.

Pete polyp · Oct 31, 2015

It's dinoflagellates

Jlentz · Oct 31, 2015

Does it make air bubbles?

Crackem · Oct 31, 2015

No air bubbles

brandon429 · Oct 31, 2015

Not dinos IMO

IMO it's among the early algae invaders that can vary in reefs it's a golden hue strain

Nice good pics
Some appear to show fronds in the algae

Crackem · Oct 31, 2015

I can't take anymore bad news with this tank. I pray that you're right! Now I need to know how to get rid of it.

brandon429 said:
Not dinos IMO

IMO it's among the early algae invaders that can vary in reefs it's a golden hue strain

Nice good pics
Some appear to show fronds in the algae

Tahoe61 · Oct 31, 2015

Google Chrysophytes in marine tank.

Good luck. I will try to get back to this thread later.

143MPCo · Oct 31, 2015

found this...
Introduction to Chrysophytes

Filamentous Algae Colony
Chrysophytes are plant-like protists that can be found in marine and freshwater environments which are often low in calcium. There are three main types of chrysophytes: diatoms (bacillariophyta), golden-brown algae (chrysophyceae), and yellow-green algae (xanthophyceae). Although many areunicellular and free swimming, some chrysophytes, like the dynobryon above, join together and form colonies, like the filamentous algae colony to the right.
There are over 1000 described species of Chrysophytes, and, because there are so many species, there is no common cell structure shared by them. Some species have cell walls made of cellulose strengthened by silica compounds, while others are amoeboid without any cell walls.

143MPCo · Oct 31, 2015

I'm no expert on this stuff but sharing my findings...

I will add that just recently I started noticing chrysophytes in my own 180 gallon system, my system is fairly new less than year old and I hadn't started really dosing anything because I hadn't a need for it. Recently I started testing my alkalinity, calcium along with my magnesium, and I noticed that I was low on all three, soon as I started bringing my calcium up I noticed that the stuff started to die back some, coincidence, maybe but, as noted in the post above this seems to be evident that it's abundance is due to a lack of calcium in our marine environments?

In reading a few additional articles I've noticed that nutrients is also a contributor that should be taken into consideration.

Crackem · Oct 31, 2015

Thank you. From searching the Internet I believe this is exactly what I have. As stated before my tank has been running since June and it is barebottom. The rocks are all manmade and I believe that they are the cause of all my problems. I sent a water sample to triton for testing and it showed a small amount of Aluminum. The comments I received stated that the amount was nothing to worry about.

My tank only has trochus snails and blue leg hermits.

I am running Gfo which hasn't been changed in over a month, and I haven't done a water change for 6 weeks so I don't introduce more silicates. I've done lights out a few times a couple months ago and I'm going to do lights out again starting today.

I'm at the point of doing lights out forever or until this nasty stuff goes away.

Tahoe61 said:
Google Chrysophytes in marine tank.

Good luck. I will try to get back to this thread later.

Pete polyp · Oct 31, 2015

143MPCo said:
I'm no expert on this stuff but sharing my findings...

I will add that just recently I started noticing chrysophytes in my own 180 gallon system, my system is fairly new less than year old and I hadn't started really dosing anything because I hadn't a need for it. Recently I started testing my alkalinity, calcium along with my magnesium, and I noticed that I was low on all three, soon as I started bringing my calcium up I noticed that the stuff started to die back some, coincidence, maybe but, as noted in the post above this seems to be evident that it's abundance is due to a lack of calcium in our marine environments?

In reading a few additional articles I've noticed that nutrients is also a contributor that should be taken into consideration.

Back in the day people would keep the calcium level 475+ because it was believed to help control algae growth.

twilliard · Oct 31, 2015

I feel your po4 is still too high.
Your gfo may be exhausted.
Keep your skimmer running to aid on o2 co2 exchange just dial back the neck level.

SantaMonicaHelp · Nov 4, 2015

Maybe this little bit of info might be helpful:

Nutrient Export

What do all algae (and cyano too) need to survive? Nutrients. What are nutrients? Ammonia/ammonium, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate and urea are the major ones. Which ones cause most of the algae in your tank? These same ones. Why can't you just remove these nutrients and eliminate all the algae in your tank? Because these nutrients are the result of the animals you keep.

So how do your animals "make" these nutrients? Well a large part the nutrients comes from pee (urea). Pee is very high in urea and ammonia, and these are a favorite food of algae and some bacteria. This is why your glass will always need cleaning; because the pee hits the glass before anything else, and algae on the glass consume the ammonia and urea immediately (using photosynthesis) and grow more. In the ocean and lakes, phytoplankton consume the ammonia and urea in open water, and seaweed consume it in shallow areas, but in a tank you don't have enough space or water volume for this, and, your other filters or animals often remove or kill the phytoplankton or seaweed anyway. So, the nutrients stay in your tank.

Then, the ammonia/ammonium hits your rocks, and the periphyton on the rocks consumes more ammonia and urea. Periphyton is both algae and animals, and is the reason your rocks change color after a few weeks from when they were new. Then the ammonia goes inside the rock, or hits your sand, and bacteria there convert it into nitrite and nitrate. However, the nutrients are still in your tank.

Also let's not forget phosphate, which comes from solid organic food particles. When these particles are eaten by microbes and clean up crews, the organic phosphorus in them is converted into phosphate. However, the nutrients are still in your tank.

So whenever you have algae or cyano "problems", you simply have not exported enough nutrients out of your tank compared to how much you have been feeding (note: live rock can absorb phosphate for up to a year, making it seem like there was never a problem. Then after a year, there is a problem).

So just increase your nutrient exports. You could also reduce feeding, and this has the same effect, but it's certainly not fun when you want to feed your animals

~SF

Crackem · Dec 7, 2015

Sorry for the crappy pics! I will try to take better pics tomorrow. I noticed this in my overflow after turning my powerheads off for a few days so I could clean the (Chrysophytes) nasty brown algae that came back after a 2 week lights out period. My tank is still fallow and only has 1 small chalice frag. Its also BB. The pics below are in my overflow and I don't see it anywhere else yet.

Crackem · Dec 8, 2015

I tried 3 days of lights out and it seemed to have no effect. I would describe the algae as clear , slimy, stringy. I don't see it anywhere else.

Crackem · May 19, 2016

It's been almost a year. I'm probably going to take out all my rocks and start over after bleaching the tank and all the equipment.

Crackem · May 19, 2016

Just noticed these little white things on everything in my sump. I have no clue what they are. Hoping some type of sponge.

Crackem · May 19, 2016

All over my pump and everything in sump

brandon429 · May 19, 2016

We are strong specialists in saving tanks without a restart, should repeat that here

Post full tank shot not much fells us. a valonia invasion dang sure did a few times.