Help!! Red/Orange algae almost completely covering sand…

[Jurassic5zr1]

I’m not really sure what this algae is and or the best way to tackle this ….over the last month, this stuff will start completely covering my sand bed about 24hrs following weekly water changes. Initially at the same time, GHA and bubble algae appeared as well, but has since mostly cleared up through manual removal. Bubble late has slowly been disappearing. I have a tiger conch I. The tank but for some reason he’s buried himself in the back of the tank and has been there for the past week and a half….not sure if I should check on him or not. I’ve heard they can “hibernate” for periods of time.

the sand will clear up over night and then by mid day, it looks like this in the pictures.

The tank is about 9 months old, 26 gallon red sea peninsula.

Any suggestions would be helpful!

 

[shakacuz]

likely happening due to poor flow by the sand. increase flow or point gyre/wavepump/return nozzle a little lower or towards the glass to push water around the tank, and of course ultimately towards the sand to keep food suspended in the water column.

 

[saltyfins]

it could be dino's. can you look at it through a microscope? does it go away at night?

 

[Jurassic5zr1]

it could be dino's. can you look at it through a microscope? does it go away at night?

I don’t have a microscope handy, BUT, they do go away at night….is that Dino’s?

 

[Salty_Northerner]

Its probably dinos or diatoms, If it goes away at night then yup but spend a few bucks and grab a cheap microscope to validate. A UV sterilizer can help, and if you use filter socks change them out every day as it helps remove the dino.

 

[Troylee]

Looks like the dreaded Dino’s to me.. a microscope will be needed to determine the actual strain and course of action to remove them.