Need help identifying and eliminating

[Lou Raffael]

I’m just about to empty the tank and start over. I’ve gone through green hair algae, dino’s, cyano, bubble algae and now this. Would really appreciate if someone could tell me what this is and what I’m doing to cause it. Started a little over a month ago all over the sand and rocks. Scrubbed the rocks and cleaned up the sand to get rid of it but it doesn’t come up cleanly. Doesn’t make huge chunks like green hair algae but doesn’t come up easy either. I have a 90 Gallon that I’m doing 20 - 35 Gallon water changes weekly and every time this stuff comes right back just a day or so later. Usually starts the next day in spots under the sand where I didn’t fully remove it.

Tank is
77.7 degrees
6.78 Alk
460 calc
0 nitrate
0.08 phosphate
34.2 ppm salt
8.18 PH
2 radion XR15 gen 3 led lights

Tank is a year old with not a lot in it since I’ve been constantly battling something or another.
2 clowns
1 firefish
Fire shrimp
2 emerald crabs
Trumpet coral
Hammer coral
2 hermit crabs
Various snails

Using RO water with aqua forest salt, I’ve got a carbon reactor and a large algae reactor that was added a month ago. Reactor was not working right so I got it fixed and back on two days ago.

35 Gallon water change two days ago took pictures today

It’s a black hairy thing that gets long and spreads quickly. I was told it’s Dino so I tried Dino-x with lights out and it didn’t do anything. Any help is greatly appreciated

Thank you

 

[BootyPup]

I had that same issue, for me I just would manually remove it every now and again, but other than that I just waited it out and continued as normal

 

[Lou Raffael]

Its not going anywhere and with it taking over the sand and rocks I find myself cleaning it constantly. Anyone know what it is and what I’m doing to cause it?

 

[Bret Brinkmann]

It sure does look like dinos. You have the right situation for it to thrive and keep coming back. Read the first post of the dino sticky thread. Do the paper towel and shake up test to verify it is dinos. You don't have to read the whole thread, just do the test mentioned in the first post of the thread and let us know if it's dinos and we'll go from there.

 

[Lou Raffael]

Hi Bret, sorry I just saw this. I’ll take a look at the thread. What is it that I have that makes them thrive? I’d like to tackle that if I can confirm they are Dino’s. Is it the phosphate? I just did another big water change three days after my last one and the sand was covered. I’m pretty deflated and about to drain the tank if I can’t figure out what I’m doing to keep causing these and hopefully eliminate

Thanks for your reply

 

[Bret Brinkmann]

Do the paper towel test they mention in the first post. If it is dinos, then the cause is both PO4 and NO3, not because it's too much. It's because there isn't enough. Dinos can switch from photosynthetic to bacteriavores when they don't get enough nutrients from the water column. At that point they go after your bacteria and bacteria grow on surfaces, like sand and rocks. They take the nutrients from the bacteria, and even other algae, and use that instead. But first confirm you have dinos with the paper towel test from the sticky. Let us know what you find and we can get you started on treatment so you don't have to read that whole sticky, unless you want to.