Brown Stringy Algae

Miguel Negron · Feb 10, 2020

Hello guys,

I recently bought a 20G Waterbox Cube and I transferred everything into this tank my 20L except the sand. I did add new substrate and after 2 1/2 weeks running I started getting brown stringy substance on my corals and substrate. My parameters are all in check. I have tried DinoX, Water changes, Replaced chemipure, and it’s still there. Any advice appreciated!

Alk 8
Cal 440
Temp 78
Salinity 1.026

AllSignsPointToFish · Feb 10, 2020

Really looks like dinoflagellates to me. Have you tried peroxide?

Miguel Negron · Feb 10, 2020

AllSignsPointToFish said:
Really looks like dinoflagellates to me. Have you tried peroxide?

I have tried that but, I did hear people speak about it in forums. Would it harm the fish and corals? Would I have to remove my GFO and carbon?

MTBake · Feb 10, 2020

Looks like the start of dinos.

UV helped a lot for me. But I have never been able to eradicate them fully.

Coral Reef Keepers · Feb 10, 2020

X2 on the dino's. What levels are your NO3 and PO4?

AllSignsPointToFish · Feb 10, 2020

Miguel Negron said:
I have tried that but, I did hear people speak about it in forums. Would it harm the fish and corals? Would I have to remove my GFO and carbon?

I don't think the peroxide will help your situation as I think it's ineffective on dinos. The reason I asked was that if you had already tried it, I was curious if you saw any results.

The UV sterilizer suggestion is pretty interesting as it implies that oxidizers (like ozone) may help control dinoflagellate populations.

Miguel Negron · Feb 10, 2020

Coral Reef Keepers said:
X2 on the dino's. What levels are your NO3 and PO4?

Sorry, I don’t have test kits for those parameters. Do you think those parameters can be the issue

Miguel Negron · Feb 10, 2020

AllSignsPointToFish said:
I don't think the peroxide will help your situation as I think it's ineffective on dinos. The reason I asked was that if you had already tried it, I was curious if you saw any results.

The UV sterilizer suggestion is pretty interesting as it implies that oxidizers (like ozone) may help control dinoflagellate populations.

Okay I will look into a UV Sterilizer, thank you

AllSignsPointToFish · Feb 10, 2020

Miguel Negron said:
Sorry, I don’t have test kits for those parameters. Do you think those parameters can be the issue

Yes, excess nutrients can aggravate dinoflagellate growth. Judging by how healthy the corals look in the background, I'd say you have a fair amount of nutrients in the system

Coral Reef Keepers · Feb 10, 2020

Miguel Negron said:
Sorry, I don’t have test kits for those parameters. Do you think those parameters can be the issue

Yes. Dino's usually appear when nutrients are near 0. They start to multiply when there is no other algae to out compete them.

AllSignsPointToFish · Feb 10, 2020

Coral Reef Keepers said:
Yes. Dino's usually appear when nutrients are near 0. They start to multiply when there is no other algae to out compete them.

That's an interesting observation. I've always associated dinos with higher nutrient loads, but maybe that is after all of the competing algae has died off.

NeonRabbit221B · Feb 10, 2020

Battling Dino without testing for phosphates and nitrates is next to impossible imo. UV is a good start but really need a positive id with microscope.

Dragon174 · Feb 10, 2020

I agree that it looks like the start of dino's. What are your other parameters? Nitrate, Nitrite, etc. I battled this very early on in my system and found that my system was running 0 at everything including phosphates. Killed my fuge light, dosed nitrate and phos. Once those came up and I was able to keep them at a healthy level, they slowly went away.

I would also stop all water changes for the time being.

Coral Reef Keepers · Feb 10, 2020

AllSignsPointToFish said:
That's an interesting observation. I've always associated dinos with higher nutrient loads, but maybe that is after all of the competing algae has died off.

I have only had dinos in 0 nutrient environments. As soon as i brought nutrients up, they vanished. In the end it is always a balancing act lol

Miguel Negron · Feb 10, 2020

Dragon174 said:
I agree that it looks like the start of dino's. What are your other parameters? Nitrate, Nitrite, etc. I battled this very early on in my system and found that my system was running 0 at everything including phosphates. Killed my fuge light, dosed nitrate and phos. Once those came up and I was able to keep them at a healthy level, they slowly went away.

I would also stop all water changes for the time being.

Yeah I definitely need to get more test kits cause I only have a Hanna ALK and some salifert Cal and Mag