Cyano, Hair Algae, or Dinoflagellates??

[Rupture Reefer]

Hey, so I've got a lot of this stuff growing really fast, and I don't know if it is dangerous for my tank. Do you guys know what it is?
Thanks!

 

[Abdullah Al Faruq]

I am sure it's cyano. It isn't dangerous (we all know) but there's a lot of po4 & no3 feeding it. I would suggest, test, lower the bioload (to a point of truce between desire & necessity), introduce po4 absorbing material or siphon it weekly till it diminishes, test more. (Algae cleanse our water of those toxic elements rendering a safe environment for the inhabitants. They are friends, not foes)

 

[Lukas75]

+1 on cyano. The other thing you can do is increase the flow to the area. If the tank is fairly new (the rock looks kind of new, it's hard to tell) this could be part of the ugly phase.

 

[Rupture Reefer]

My nitrates are at 4 ppm. My phosphates are at 0.1 ppm. I think my nitrates are good, but are my phosphates a little high? (Causing the cyano growth)

 

[MrObscura]

0.1 is the max people suggest but being there or even above won't hurt anything. Can it fuel a little more excess algae/cyano? Sure, but there's worse things to deal with, and even the nicest tanks seem to have an occasional cyano bloom.

Whatever you do, don't do what I did and rush to lower nutrients only to bottom out and end up with dinos.

Also, for future reference a good test to determine cyano from dinos, if you don't have a microscope, is to take a small container with a lid, fill it with some tank water and some of the algae, shake the hell out if it and then strain it through a paper towel into another container. If it regroups within a couple hours, it's dinos.

 

[p1u5h13r4m24]

Is the algae a dark red color? It’s tough to tell from the picture. But from the texture most likely everyone’s right. You can use chemiclean. Most people’s are against it and say it’s a bandaid. However I’ve had cyano even with low nutrients. Looks like your tank is pretty new. When I first start a tank I usually also get cyano no matter how clean it is. Chemiclean is a fast fix and it works great.

 

[p1u5h13r4m24]

0.1 is the max people suggest but being there or even above won't hurt anything. Can it fuel a little more excess algae/cyano? Sure, but there's worse things to deal with, and even the nicest tanks seem to have an occasional cyano bloom.

Whatever you do, don't do what I did and rush to lower nutrients only to bottom out and end up with dinos.

Also, for future reference a good test to determine cyano from dinos, if you don't have a microscope, is to take a small container with a lid, fill it with some tank water and some of the algae, shake the hell out if it and then strain it through a paper towel into another container. If it regroups within a couple hours, it's dinos.

This is very important. It took m 2 years to figure out what this guy said. You need to find the happy medium. Not too dirty, not too clean

 

[lapin]

A better picture is needed. If its a new tank it could even be diatoms on the rock as well as cyano. As for the stringy stuff, there are many forms of algae. Its very hard to tell until it has matured a little more.

 

[Rupture Reefer]

Here is a better pic:

 

[O'l Salty]

It looks like Dino's to me. I say this primarily because of the stringy like nature. I put some water and a sample of the algae in a white cup. Shake it up and if it's dino's the water will turn slightly brown. Look at the cup two hours later and if it's starting to string back together then you have dino's. I confirmed this with a microscope.

 

[p1u5h13r4m24]

Here is a better pic:

Dino’s has bubbles in it when. You can get a cheap microscope on amazon for like 12$. I think you only need a 100x. Dino’s is brown cyano is a dark red. A microscope will give you the answer if you’re still unsure

 

[Abdullah Al Faruq]

In this case, there isn't much to panic about. Just test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate and take measures to reduce them as needed to usher the safer zone for the frags already in there.
After that, ensure bioload is low if corals are the primary focus. The rest, we will know what to do.

 

[Rupture Reefer]

Ok, thanks everybody!

 

[Rupture Reefer]

Ok, so I looked at it under microscope and it looked like lots of little strings (almost like feathers) going out (diagonally) from one center line (verticale). I am not sure about bubbles, as I was looking at the shining water containing the whatever it is. What do you guys think it is based on that description? If you need more info, I'll see what I can do.

 

[p1u5h13r4m24]

Ok, so I looked at it under microscope and it looked like lots of little strings (almost like feathers) going out (diagonally) from one center line (verticale). I am not sure about bubbles, as I was looking at the shining water containing the whatever it is. What do you guys think it is based on that description? If you need more info, I'll see what I can do.

Search dinoflagellates under 100x in google. There’s also videos of it

 

[p1u5h13r4m24]

Search dinoflagellates under 100x in google. There’s also videos of it

Under 100x Dino’s looks like a bunch of mini ticks and they should be moving. Brown also. Look up cyano under 100x sounds more like cyano to me

 

[actik]

If your like me...it's cat hair

 

[p1u5h13r4m24]

If your like me...it's cat hair

Lol! Does that spike your alkalinity?

 

[actik]

Never did check honestly hahah. My tanks about 4-5 months old, she's crystal clear. Noticed long stringy brown stuff like that all in my rocks...later that day saw the cat laying on my hanging light......sigh, mines definitely cat hair with dinos on it hahah

 

[Rupture Reefer]

Ok, I looked both up, and I think it's cyano.

If your like me...it's cat hair

I suppose it could be dog hair , but I hope that was not the case as it was slimy!