Dinos or never ending diatoms?

[Gligor]

Hello everybody.
*The tank is 8 months old. Started with live rock and live sand.
*I use RO/DI water, Aquaforest reef salt.
*Salinity: 1.024 - 1.025
*Alkalinity: 9 - 9.5
*Phosphate: 0.25 - 0.30
*NO3: 25 - 30
These parameters have been stable for several months.
*Living organisms: 2 clownfish, 1 watchman goby, 1 emerald crab, 3 nassarius snail.
*Corals: BTA, GSP, Pulsing xenia, Utter chaos zoa, Mushrooms, Candy cane coral, Gorgonian, and dying plate montipora.

For start, this nuisance is visually present after the first month, and I assumed it was never ending diatoms. But the past month it started growing on some corals and they won't open anymore.
The BTA, zoas, mushrooms and candy cane look like they are not affected by this nuisance, but this thing grows over the gorgonian, gsp, and the montipora. The xenia won't open as well.
What is this? I cleaned the sand 4 days ago when i did my last water change. Also when i syphon the sand it feels like the top brown layer is glued to the sand.

Thank you in advance.

 

[Lavey29]

Have you checked your RODI for silicates? The only way to ID dinos is with a cheap microscope. You have a lot of open space. Drop a sand sifting goby in there to turn the sand for you. You also need way more cleaning crew then what you currently have.

 

[Idech]

It looks rusty in color so it might very well be dinos but as mentioned, you need to to id them with a microscope.

 

[Gligor]

Here is a picture (the second picture) of the tank early in the morning when I turn the lights on just to check the tank before I go to work, and the forst picture is from yesterday afternoon. It seems like they dissolve in the water column during the night, and come back after the lights turn on.
This is my first reef tank, but as I understand this should be dinoflagellates. What is your opinion on the matter?

 

[Peter Houde]

Could be cyanobacteria

 

[aquadise]

I defeated dino problem once.

In my personal experience, if it is dino, it will also cover the corals as well.
If it is diatom, i will not cover the coral. Diatom only grows on sand, rockwork, glass.

I am not sure if it is true but that is what I observed.

 

[NE reefer]

Try beefing up your CC, add an urchin, 4-5 more hermit crabs and snails. Maybe a Blenny. Either a bicolor or small sailfin ?

 

[Gligor]

Could be cyanobacteria

Does the cyano go away at night as well, and then come back after the lights turn on? As I understand cyanobacteria has red/purple color, mine is yelow/brown/rusty.

I forgot to mention, I run 2x54W Aqua Medic ocean LED with 2h sunrise, 4h peak light, 1h sunset, and 3,5h moonlight.

 

[aquadise]

Does the cyano go away at night as well, and then come back after the lights turn on? As I understand cyanobacteria has red/purple color, mine is yelow/brown/rusty.

I forgot to mention, I run 2x54W Aqua Medic ocean LED with 2h sunrise, 4h peak light, 1h sunset, and 3,5h moonlight.

If you are sure that it come back with the light cycle, propably you have the same dino type as me: Ostreopsis.

UV light and Activated carbon will be very effective. About the process, please check the attached file.

The dino will gone but you must dose more bacteria to avoid it comes back. Your tank now is too young and imbalance. You need more good bacteria to outcompete the dino.

 

[NE reefer]

You can also try a large water change,, without disturbing the sand then do a 4 day blackout. Following the blackout slowly ramp up your lights

 

[Lavey29]

Here is a picture (the second picture) of the tank early in the morning when I turn the lights on just to check the tank before I go to work, and the forst picture is from yesterday afternoon. It seems like they dissolve in the water column during the night, and come back after the lights turn on.
This is my first reef tank, but as I understand this should be dinoflagellates. What is your opinion on the matter?

Seems relatively minor and in line with various ugly stages for a tank less then a year old. You need a cheap microscope to ID dinos. You need to check your RODI for TDS silicates. Sift the sand daily. Add some filter floss on a nori clip overnight. Dose PNS probio which is a natural heterotrophic bacteria that eliminates organic waste.

 

[Gligor]

Update, 1 week after I started the thread here is the situation:
Phos 0.3
NO3 25
Alk 8.5
The parameters are stable, I tested every day. I touched nothing in the tank since then. The slime appears to progress slowly, as it did in the past. I'm the morning the sand and rocks are clear, this thing definitely appears after lights turn on. I also noticed that there is dark red slime on the live rock as well.
Unfortunately, I'm not able to test the water for silicates because I live in a very small town, and here we don't have reef stores at all. For all my reef equipment including livestock I travel 100 miles to another city.
I was unable to find cheap microscope as well, I only found professional that cost 500 USD +.
Can you identify this by its appearance, progressing, and water parameters?
I also have decorative acro skeleton that is covered with something. I don't think it's algae, my emerald crab would eat it if it was. He was practically living on that skeleton when it had algae on it, and he was esting a lot of it. Now he won't even get close to the acro skeleton.

 

[aquadise]

You can try the process to eleminate Ostreopsis, by applying a UV light. If it is Ostreopsis, you will see the effective in just a day or 2. Activated carbon is a must because Ostreopsis releases toxin when they die off.

If they are still there, probably you have another types.

 

[saltyhog]

To me that doesn't look typical for Ostreopsis grossly. Rather than waste time and money buying UV/GAC , it would be far better to get an inexpensive microscope and find out what you are actually dealing with. There are other dino types that are not treated with UV that this could be. If you are in the US I would be happy to look at a specimen under the microscope for you if you want to send one.