Dinos........I think.

[Pennywise the Clown]

I posted this on another part of the forum so apologies if you have seen it before.

My Reefer 250 is 5 months old. Apart from the usual diatom outbreak I have never had any algae other than having to clean the glass. My phosphates and nitrates have never registered a reading and I use Rowaphos.
About 14 days ago I did a deep clean of the sand bed and since then this rust brown algae has appeared and is getting worse.
It disappears over night and is back within an hour of the lights coming on. Yesterday I was sure that it was dinos, there was bubbles and stringy bits. Today though, it looks more like diatoms. It is only along the back of the tank, the front is clear.
I have also had a big out break of pineapple sponges in my sump. My fish seem healthy and my snails are still going strong.
My plan is to try and raise my phosphates and nitrates to encourage other algae to out compete the dinos, if indeed it is dinos.

 

[Oscaror]

I posted this on another part of the forum so apologies if you have seen it before.

My Reefer 250 is 5 months old. Apart from the usual diatom outbreak I have never had any algae other than having to clean the glass. My phosphates and nitrates have never registered a reading and I use Rowaphos.
About 14 days ago I did a deep clean of the sand bed and since then this rust brown algae has appeared and is getting worse.
It disappears over night and is back within an hour of the lights coming on. Yesterday I was sure that it was dinos, there was bubbles and stringy bits. Today though, it looks more like diatoms. It is only along the back of the tank, the front is clear.
I have also had a big out break of pineapple sponges in my sump. My fish seem healthy and my snails are still going strong.
My plan is to try and raise my phosphates and nitrates to encourage other algae to out compete the dinos, if indeed it is dinos.

I agree looks like dinos. I don't know much about them but I wish you best of luck. #reefsquad can help more than I can

 

[ndrwater]

Dino's usually are kinda stringy with bubbles on the tips. Looks more like common Diatoms to me

 

[Gareth elliott]

What are is your no3 and po4 running?

The reasons for most microscopic algae are undetectable nutrient levels, a lack of competition or predation(pods) and or a low flow area.

Steps i would take would be:
1). Make sure no3 is 5-10 ppm and po4 .01-.1 pppm. by the corals i see lps will grow better at these levels too [emoji4]
2). Make sure the areas that have algae are getting decent flow. You can test this with something as simple as a fishing line with something plastic that sinks tied on and seeing how much the line sways.
3). After about a week of raised nutrients, add some pods [emoji4]

This will not be an instant fix will take several weeks to clear up entirely with this method. But doesnt call for any drastic changes or additions that would endanger any of your live stock.

 

[saltyhog]

Your description of yesterday and your parameters are troubling for dinos but today's picture looks more like diatoms. I would not run Rowaphos routinely, only if PO4 is high. Lowering PO4 to undetectable is a recipe for dinos. Agree with your plans to raise NO3 and PO4. Keep us posted with pictures!

 

[rkpetersen]

Could be dinos, diatoms or the mix with some cyano thrown in. The 3 basic groups are very easy to differentiate under a microscope. If you don't have one you can see if a nearby LFS does, some will keep a cheap scope on site.

 

[afartindolphin]

I posted this on another part of the forum so apologies if you have seen it before.

My Reefer 250 is 5 months old. Apart from the usual diatom outbreak I have never had any algae other than having to clean the glass. My phosphates and nitrates have never registered a reading and I use Rowaphos.
About 14 days ago I did a deep clean of the sand bed and since then this rust brown algae has appeared and is getting worse.
It disappears over night and is back within an hour of the lights coming on. Yesterday I was sure that it was dinos, there was bubbles and stringy bits. Today though, it looks more like diatoms. It is only along the back of the tank, the front is clear.
I have also had a big out break of pineapple sponges in my sump. My fish seem healthy and my snails are still going strong.
My plan is to try and raise my phosphates and nitrates to encourage other algae to out compete the dinos, if indeed it is dinos.

If it's dinos you could try a UV sterilizer. I used a temporary setup with the 35watt Jebao and the cheap Cobalt inline pump and it cleared up my ostreopsis, which would almost all disappear into water column at night, in about two days.

 

[Pennywise the Clown]

What are is your no3 and po4 running?

The reasons for most microscopic algae are undetectable nutrient levels, a lack of competition or predation(pods) and or a low flow area.

Steps i would take would be:
1). Make sure no3 is 5-10 ppm and po4 .01-.1 pppm. by the corals i see lps will grow better at these levels too [emoji4]
2). Make sure the areas that have algae are getting decent flow. You can test this with something as simple as a fishing line with something plastic that sinks tied on and seeing how much the line sways.
3). After about a week of raised nutrients, add some pods [emoji4]

This will not be an instant fix will take several weeks to clear up entirely with this method. But doesnt call for any drastic changes or additions that would endanger any of your live stock.

Your description of yesterday and your parameters are troubling for dinos but today's picture looks more like diatoms. I would not run Rowaphos routinely, only if PO4 is high. Lowering PO4 to undetectable is a recipe for dinos. Agree with your plans to raise NO3 and PO4. Keep us posted with pictures!

My nitrates read 0.2 on the low end of the Salifert kit. 0 on the high end. Phosphates have never registered at all, probably due to the Rowaphos I was running (which has now gone)
I was always very happy with these readings which was, in hindsight, a big mistake.

Thanks guys, I will follow your advice and keep you posted.

 

[saltyhog]

Don't beat yourself up. I made the same mistake and it cost me a bunch of mature acro colonies. You can get through this, it will just take some time and a bit of effort!

 

[Pennywise the Clown]

Is there anything I should be doing with my lighting schedule?
I currently run my hydras for 12 hours, 2 hours ramp up and down. Mixed spectrum for the first 5 hours followed by blues/uv.

 

[Pennywise the Clown]

This is what I came home to today. A lot more matted on the sand bed and a lot more bubbles. I'm trying to raise nutrients by over feeding until I can get to my lfs later this week.

 

[Pennywise the Clown]

Getting worse

 

[rkpetersen]

Have you lo0ked through the dino threads here? Especially the sticky thread in the nuisance algae subforum? Lots of ideas there although not every technique works for everyone. If it's dinos (probably so, but I'd still scope it to be sure), more aggressive treatments might include dosing hydrogen peroxide, raising pH, and 72 hr tank blackouts, in addition to what you're already doing. It sounds like there are few corals yet so a long complete blackout might be a reasonable option.

 

[dwest]

Getting worse

For about $10 you can determine if you have dinos or not. I believe you might have amphidinium dinos.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071JQFXC4/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Tureefik]

That looks like Dinos to me I just recently broke down my tank and started over luckily I didn’t lose anything but time money and some snails no corals were in it
I think what triggered it was letting my nitrates and phosphates bottom out on a new tank using redsea NoPox (good product) btw but carbon dosing on a new tank is risky
Lesson learned
I did lights out (uselessIMO)Dino xal ,hydrogen peroxide ,even tried a little bleach,dirty tank (increasing nitrates phosphates silicates) the diatoms started outcompeting the Dino’s and I didn’t see them for like four weeks then low and behold Dino’s again they started multiplying like crazy this was all from start to tear down about 7mos ,never ever dealt with anything like this before been in the hobby for 20yrs
I ended up getting rid of tank and stand ( which was 10 yrs old tank deep blue 75 and stand still have the eshoppes sump) sterilized everything ( pumps protein skimmer nets power heads ect) bought a new Waterbox haven’t even got it wet yet just taking my time
Get yourself a cheap microscope with about 400 or 500 x and you’ll know for sure
I probably could’ve beat them but who knows
I personally didn’t want to go length like some of the other reefers Ive seen on the forums
Those things are ironclad!

 

[4FordFamily]

At first I thought you were looking like diatoms but they appear to be getting “stringy”. I treated mine with manual removal, “blackouts”, and hydrogen peroxide and just kept the pressure on... I am sure now there are easier ways to handle it. Good luck!

 

[rkpetersen]

Those things are ironclad!

They really seem to be a curse. Even people who have gotten rid of all visible evidence sometimes still have problems growing corals for months afterwards. Like my neighbor across the street, who has lost some fantastic high end corals to them. I wouldn't necessarily start over though that's definitely a reasonable option if gutting it out isn't appealing.

 

[Pennywise the Clown]

For the first time since my tank cycled I am now registering phosphate and nitrate (o.1 and 2) and my fish are so fat that they can hardly swim
My corals seem to be doing okay so far too. My zoas have never looked better.
I have what seems to be green algae growing on the back wall and in general my tank looks a mess but I feel positive. I have ordered a 5 micron filter sock and my plan is to use it over night to collect the water born spoors. Clean it every day and repeat.

 

[Pennywise the Clown]

Is it me or is this starting to look more like cyano?

 

[dwest]

Is it me or is this starting to look more like cyano?

Agree cyano.