Help?!?!? Algae ID?

[keywestreefer]

I have looked around, and while I first thought Diatoms, its continuing to get longer.. Any Idea.

Tank is about 8 weeks Old- No fish, Coral QT. Was started with Bio Spira and Tropic Marin Pro Reef
Dosing full Quantum Suite

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 3
Po4 .037
PH8
Ca 430
DkH 8.1
Mg 1305
Temp 78
Salt- 1.025

Pic of the tank before the outbreak and some close up of the algae.


Any help would be appreciated.

 

[TheShrimpNibbler]

Could that be dinoflagellates?

 

[keywestreefer]

Could that be dinoflagellates?

Could be... I have no clue what it is...

 

[TheShrimpNibbler]

Dinos would be my best guess. It definitely looks like them.

 

[keywestreefer]

Dinos would be my best guess. It definitely looks like them.

Sad day

 

[vetteguy53081]

Those are dinos , but can be beat quickly.
Starting tonight, Turn all lights off and leave them off (known as Blackout) for a period of 5 days. At night dose 1ml of hydrogen Peroxide per 10 gallons. Also take a turkey baster and blow the dino loose and net/siphon/or force to overflow. Clean filters daily.
During the day. ,. . dose 1ml of liquid bacteria per 10 gallons to the tank. you MAY feed fish as normal. Loosen any dino present daily and again net or siphon up.
At this time. . . DO NOT FEED ANY CORAL FOODDS OR ADD NoPox TO THE TANK WHICH IS FOOD FOR DINO.
DAY 6. . . . turn on blues as normal BUT start with 10% whites and each day add 5% white until you reach your normal percentage.

 

[keywestreefer]

Those are dinos , but can be beat quickly.
Starting tonight, Turn all lights off and leave them off (known as Blackout) for a period of 5 days. At night dose 1ml of hydrogen Peroxide per 10 gallons. Also take a turkey baster and blow the dino loose and net/siphon/or force to overflow. Clean filters daily.
During the day. ,. . dose 1ml of liquid bacteria per 10 gallons to the tank. you MAY feed fish as normal. Loosen any dino present daily and again net or siphon up.
At this time. . . DO NOT FEED ANY CORAL FOODDS OR ADD NoPox TO THE TANK WHICH IS FOOD FOR DINO.
DAY 6. . . . turn on blues as normal BUT start with 10% whites and each day add 5% white until you reach your normal percentage.

Thanks for the tips. Will the 5 day blackout be detrimental to the coral? Hydrogen peroxide have any negative aspects to coral/inverts?
This is a Frag only tank so no fish...

 

[TheShrimpNibbler]

Thanks for the tips. Will the 5 day blackout be detrimental to the coral? Hydrogen peroxide have any negative aspects to coral/inverts?
This is a Frag only tank so no fish...

There aren’t usually any problems with either one. If there are no fish in the tank, that may be the cause of the dinos. The nutrients could have dropped too low. What are your nitrate and phosphate levels.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thanks for the tips. Will the 5 day blackout be detrimental to the coral? Hydrogen peroxide have any negative aspects to coral/inverts?
This is a Frag only tank so no fish...

Peroxide safe and no issues with coral. You can if you want -run blues at 5% - Blue only

 

[keywestreefer]

There aren’t usually any problems with either one. If there are no fish in the tank, that may be the cause of the dinos. The nutrients could have dropped too low. What are your nitrate and phosphate levels.

Nitrates were 0 for around 9 days. I dosed nitrates on Saturday to bring to 3ppm. Phosphates has a spike from something I was feeding (working to figure out what that was). Phosphates were as high as .5 but cleared within a day or two and now hovers around .03 to .04.

 

[TheShrimpNibbler]

Nitrates were 0 for around 9 days. I dosed nitrates on Saturday to bring to 3ppm. Phosphates has a spike from something I was feeding (working to figure out what that was). Phosphates were as high as .5 but cleared within a day or two and now hovers around .03 to .04.

They could have come from your nutrients bottoming out the 9 days ago. If that’s the case, keeping levels like you have now and removal should greatly help.

 

[Aqua Man]

There has been some reports of peroxide hurting shrimp.
I recommend the coffee filter test to help confirm its Dino

 

[keywestreefer]

They could have come from your nutrients bottoming out the 9 days ago. If that’s the case, keeping levels like you have now and removal should greatly help.

Thanks so much for the feedback. I’ll keep you posted on the progression. I’ve kept the lights off today and will pickup so hydrogen peroxide this evening. As of last night nutrients were maintained, will test again this evening.

 

[keywestreefer]

There has been some reports of peroxide hurting shrimp.
I recommend the coffee filter test to help confirm its Dino

No shrimp in this tank. Just snails and corals.

I have a microscope on order

 

[keywestreefer]

Did the test with a paper towel as I did not have a coffee filter. Keurig spoiled . I could not get the algae to break up no matter how hard I shook it. The water passed through the paper towel but collected most of the filaments. The residual water was slightly tinted brown but did not seem to re-congeal (is that a word?).

 

[Aqua Man]

Interesting! The picture, to me looks like algae that has been coated in diatoms.
Dino’s break up real easy.

Did you get the peroxide? Put some in the shaker vessel and see what happens. Most algae will bubble and turn white.

 

[keywestreefer]

Interesting! The picture, to me looks like algae that has been coated in diatoms.
Dino’s break up real easy.

Did you get the peroxide? Put some in the shaker vessel and see what happens. Most algae will bubble and turn white.

I will pick up peroxide this evening. Left the lights off for the day just in case. I’ll collect some more algae from the tank tonight and post some photos.

 

[ScottB]

You have a beautiful set up there Key. Looks great.

But lets all go back to the initial post folks: the tank is two months old.

To me, that means we have about 10 more months of the uglies to go. This current stuff is brown and stringy. Soon it will be brown and fuzzy. Then green and fuzzy. Then green and stringy. Then some red stuff followed by some brown then some green and then suddenly: presto! A mature biome where some stasis between all the competing algaes, bacterias, and microfauna have found a steady pecking order.

With some exceptions, our interventions are more likely to prolong the battle than to resolve it. Let it do its thing. Keep steady salinity and temp. Keep some steady, natural raw food introduction. Maybe the occasional dialing up/down on the nutrient export side. (GFO should not be necessary).

If you want to speed things up a bit, drop a bunch of real live rock in your sump.

Lastly, corals without fish waste remains mostly science fiction IMO. Reefing is challenging enough; trying to re-engineer millions of years of nutrient consumption evolution is a bridge too far.

 

[keywestreefer]

You have a beautiful set up there Key. Looks great.

But lets all go back to the initial post folks: the tank is two months old.

To me, that means we have about 10 more months of the uglies to go. This current stuff is brown and stringy. Soon it will be brown and fuzzy. Then green and fuzzy. Then green and stringy. Then some red stuff followed by some brown then some green and then suddenly: presto! A mature biome where some stasis between all the competing algaes, bacterias, and microfauna have found a steady pecking order.

With some exceptions, our interventions are more likely to prolong the battle than to resolve it. Let it do its thing. Keep steady salinity and temp. Keep some steady, natural raw food introduction. Maybe the occasional dialing up/down on the nutrient export side. (GFO should not be necessary).

If you want to speed things up a bit, drop a bunch of real live rock in your sump.

Lastly, corals without fish waste remains mostly science fiction IMO. Reefing is challenging enough; trying to re-engineer millions of years of nutrient consumption evolution is a bridge too far.

Thanks for the antiquated reply. The good news is, this is my Quarantine tank for my corals. It will remain fishless as I allow 80 days fallow to prevent the introduction of unwanted pests into the display. I am planning on keeping it setup and cycled to hold frags for isolation when received. My display on the other hand was using the same water, same mix, same everything. Only difference was the introduction of livestock and a UV on the display. I only have about two weeks left before I can transfer the frags to the display. The introduction of live rock is not something I am interested in at this time.
Thanks again for the feedback and will let it run it’s ugly phase. I will also not introduce any of the frags to the display until they have been properly cleared of whatever this ugly algae is.

 

[ScottB]

Thanks for the antiquated reply. The good news is, this is my Quarantine tank for my corals. It will remain fishless as I allow 80 days fallow to prevent the introduction of unwanted pests into the display. I am planning on keeping it setup and cycled to hold frags for isolation when received. My display on the other hand was using the same water, same mix, same everything. Only difference was the introduction of livestock and a UV on the display. I only have about two weeks left before I can transfer the frags to the display. The introduction of live rock is not something I am interested in at this time.
Thanks again for the feedback and will let it run it’s ugly phase. I will also not introduce any of the frags to the display until they have been properly cleared of whatever this ugly algae is.

Ah. I missed the part about it being a QT tank and failed to read your Build Thread.

I also QT my frags, but only for coral pests, not fish pests. True fish QT process is quite the commitment. I admire your level of commitment. I am too lazy and distracted; so I just go with the PaulB method.