ID of multiple algaes please

[Reefs and Geeks]

One of my tanks has what appears to me to be a combination of cyano, dino and GHA. I'm looking to try to get a confirmation on the best ID I can before looking into the best treatment methods. Does this look like GHA, or bryopsis?

Would Vibrant be a good option for battling these algaes? I was thinking maybe do Vibrant for dinos and GHA/bryopsis, then chemiclean for cyano if it's still present. Thoughts?

 

[glb]

It’s hard to tell from your pics, but cyano looks like a red mat and dinos look like brown slime with bubbles in it. How new is your tank? I’ve never used Vibrant but have seen videos on BRS recommending it for these kind of algae. Also, what are your nutrient levels?

 

[Reefs and Geeks]

It’s hard to tell from your pics, but cyano looks like a red mat and dinos look like brown slime with bubbles in it. How new is your tank? I’ve never used Vibrant but have seen videos on BRS recommending it for these kind of algae. Also, what are your nutrient levels?

I do have red mats that easily blow off, as well as brown slime with bubbles that quickly comes back after wiping off, and gets worse as the day goes on (lights on), but not bad in the morning.

The GHA part i'm not sure exactly as there seems to be a few varieties of stuff that looks very similar.

I'm going to go ahead and give vibrant a try and see how it goes. hopefully it knocks out the algae and I can keep it gone with a maintainance dose.

Thanks!

 

[glb]

I do have red mats that easily blow off, as well as brown slime with bubbles that quickly comes back after wiping off, and gets worse as the day goes on (lights on), but not bad in the morning.

The GHA part i'm not sure exactly as there seems to be a few varieties of stuff that looks very similar.

I'm going to go ahead and give vibrant a try and see how it goes. hopefully it knocks out the algae and I can keep it gone with a maintainance dose.

Thanks!

You should also figure out the source of the problem. Are your nitrates and phosphates high? Is the tank new? If so, they all go through an “ugly “ stage during the cycling. I’d also turn off the lights for a few days, which will decrease growth. You might see your nitrates and phosphates go up after this. It’s because they are currently being consumed by the algae. Once the algae is gone, the numbers may rise. I’d also suggest some water changes if high nutrients are a problem.

 

[Reefs and Geeks]

You should also figure out the source of the problem. Are your nitrates and phosphates high? Is the tank new? If so, they all go through an “ugly “ stage during the cycling. I’d also turn off the lights for a few days, which will decrease growth. You might see your nitrates and phosphates go up after this. It’s because they are currently being consumed by the algae. Once the algae is gone, the numbers may rise. I’d also suggest some water changes if high nutrients are a problem.

Nitrates are around 5, phosphate is 0.03. I dose nitrates daily to keep them up around 5. I will monitor daily and likely stop nitrate dosing if they go up. Tank is about 18 months old now.

I don't have much of a clean up crew because I have a trigger and a puffer that tend to pick everything off except a pair of urchins. I do manual cleaning every week or two, but it gets pretty bad in between cleaning, and I've just gotten tired of straining my shoulders trying to clean. Hopping to find some relief by using vibrant, or if that doesn't work I'll try something else.

 

[glb]

Nitrates are around 5, phosphate is 0.03. I dose nitrates daily to keep them up around 5. I will monitor daily and likely stop nitrate dosing if they go up. Tank is about 18 months old now.

I don't have much of a clean up crew because I have a trigger and a puffer that tend to pick everything off except a pair of urchins. I do manual cleaning every week or two, but it gets pretty bad in between cleaning, and I've just gotten tired of straining my shoulders trying to clean. Hopping to find some relief by using vibrant, or if that doesn't work I'll try something else.

Your numbers are good, but my guess is that your no3 and po4 are actually higher because they’re being consumed by the algae. I’ve used Dr. Tim’s Waste Away to clean up my tank. It’s working, but I’ve been hearing a lot about Vibrant. The wisdom is to treat it like it’s cyano first. If that doesn’t work, then move on to dino treatment. How long has the algae been this bad?

 

[Reefs and Geeks]

Your numbers are good, but my guess is that your no3 and po4 are actually higher because they’re being consumed by the algae. I’ve used Dr. Tim’s Waste Away to clean up my tank. It’s working, but I’ve been hearing a lot about Vibrant. The wisdom is to treat it like it’s cyano first. If that doesn’t work, then move on to dino treatment. How long has the algae been this bad?

I'm sure there is plenty of nutrients tied up in the algae, so I'll try to manually remove what I can as frequently as I can before and during treatment to reduce the amount of nutrients released into the aquarium. I used waste away and ATM colony months ago to combat dinos and it really knocked them back to almost nothing. Still had some hair algae, but nothing worth complaining about. But a few weeks after those treatments, it slowly but surely crept back. I'd say the algae has been bad for 4-6 weeks maybe.

I'm now considering maybe dosing Live Rock Enhance as well as vibrant. Anyone have experience doing that and have suggestions?

 

[ScottR]

First pic looks like GHA. Is the second pic red bubble algae? Hard to tell. Based on what you described, it seems like cyano and dinos. Chemiclean will cut off cyano easily. Dinos will be a battle. GHA can be dealt with by using vibrant. But after using both vibrant and chemiclean at separate outbreaks both brought on dinos for me. I’m just letting things be. I believe that trying to control and fret over PO4 and NO3 is a nowhere game. I’ve had all of these outbreaks in multiple tanks with different values. I’ve had dinos with high PO4 and NO3 and maintaining those values didn’t do much.

 

[Reefs and Geeks]

First pic looks like GHA. Is the second pic red bubble algae? Hard to tell. Based on what you described, it seems like cyano and dinos. Chemiclean will cut off cyano easily. Dinos will be a battle. GHA can be dealt with by using vibrant. But after using both vibrant and chemiclean at separate outbreaks both brought on dinos for me. I’m just letting things be. I believe that trying to control and fret over PO4 and NO3 is a nowhere game. I’ve had all of these outbreaks in multiple tanks with different values. I’ve had dinos with high PO4 and NO3 and maintaining those values didn’t do much.

I tend to agree that higher nitrates and phosphates isn't the answer to preventing dinos as it is frequently mentioned. The first time I got dinos I suspect I over did it with carbon dosing (vinegar) and did have 0P and 0N. However, after I seemingly got rid of them, I maintained higher numbers and they still eventually returned.

What I'm thinking is use vibrant as a way to cut back on GHA, Maybe cyano, and Maybe dinos since it seems pretty iffy if it will do anything to them. I think I'll be dosing live rock enhance to add some good bacteria during treatment, and possibly weekly as a maintenance dose to keep good bacteria up after a while. If cyano isn't knocked out, I'll do chemiclean for it as I have in the past and always had good results. Never 100% eliminated them for me, but more like 95-98% which isn't so bad.

 

[glb]

I tend to agree that higher nitrates and phosphates isn't the answer to preventing dinos as it is frequently mentioned. The first time I got dinos I suspect I over did it with carbon dosing (vinegar) and did have 0P and 0N. However, after I seemingly got rid of them, I maintained higher numbers and they still eventually returned.

What I'm thinking is use vibrant as a way to cut back on GHA, Maybe cyano, and Maybe dinos since it seems pretty iffy if it will do anything to them. I think I'll be dosing live rock enhance to add some good bacteria during treatment, and possibly weekly as a maintenance dose to keep good bacteria up after a while. If cyano isn't knocked out, I'll do chemiclean for it as I have in the past and always had good results. Never 100% eliminated them for me, but more like 95-98% which isn't so bad.

Agreed about the dinos. I got them when my po4 and no3 bottomed out. The best advice I got was to not let these numbers get down to zero.