You have too much algae; when it sucks all the nutrients out of the water, leading to a dinoflagellates outbreak. Here’s what I think happens; You set up a new tank. You turn the lights on but there’s nothing sucking up nitrates and phosphates. Algae such as hair and turf algae, among others (not that bad IMO), are first to take advantage of the high nutrient environment. If nutrients remain high, and possibly other factors such as flow and light are favorable, Cyanobacteria can begin to take hold. Cyanobacteria can outcompete the turf and hair algae, coat everything, and cause harm to other organisms. If the Cyanobacteria absorbs too much nutrients, Dinoflagellates will take advantage of the very low nutrient environment. If instead of the nutrients remaining high early on, they bottom out, it will again leave the door open to dinos.
Nutrients should be balanced, and will need to be exported from the water. Timing your water changes correctly, and changing the right amount of water is one way to attempt to balance nutrient levels. This alone might not stop the growth of algae such as hair and turf algae. The addition of a refugium with macro algae, and the addition of more and/or larger and/or faster growing corals are the best ways to get algae out of your display tank, and will give you some wiggle room when it comes to nutrient balance.
I might have some of this wrong, but from personal experience and a lot of reading, I believe this to be pretty accurate. Without algae, or a large coral load, balance is hard to achieve. If you’re not growing ‘decorative’ macro algae in the display or a refugium, less desirable algae is likely to show up. Another thing to note is that nutrients from algae that dies or is eaten inside the tank, have not left the tank.
thanks
