Please advise!! Persistent light brown algea?
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Crystalsreef
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I had a cyno bloom about 6 months ago. Did the antibiotic treatment. That fixed it. Then i started having another about a month ago, i put a raggud seahare in the tank and within a day it was all gone. 
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this looks similar to a battle i'm dealing with. i believe i have traced the bloom (and nutrients) to a phosphate leak from my dry rock. i was dumb and didn't cook it at all, but you did, which leaves me a little bewildered. i'm going back to live rock, all my live rock tanks EXCELLED, two dry rock tanks, not so much. I'd be more than happy to share my adventure in the rock change, let me know if you want to hear it (just ordered). Just my 2 cents.
Smite
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Looks like dinos to me.
Have you tried filtering you water through a filter sock into a white bucket, then placing it in direct sunlight? (Or under a direct light source if its cold where you live)
Dinos cannot be filtered out with a sock, they'll start to "reconnect" and form a slime within a few hours of being under a direct light source.
That may be an easy experiment to confirm what you are dealing with.
Have you tried filtering you water through a filter sock into a white bucket, then placing it in direct sunlight? (Or under a direct light source if its cold where you live)
Dinos cannot be filtered out with a sock, they'll start to "reconnect" and form a slime within a few hours of being under a direct light source.
That may be an easy experiment to confirm what you are dealing with.
SammyWoodywoo
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I personally had this problem and what I truly recommend is that you take out your live rock hose it down strongly with pressure make sure the algae comes off. also clean your glass/acrylic real good and also take all your sand out and get new bio active live sand. You can use the chemical which i did but after few weeks it slowly started coming back so that didnt solve the problem.
paraletho
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Just finished the dino thing a couple of months ago. This test is a really good diagnostic tool. If you have access to a microscope they look like this.
thats awesome. Seen similar on the net. Have you done cyano?Just finished the dino thing a couple of months ago. This test is a really good diagnostic tool. If you have access to a microscope they look like this.
djbetterly
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@redneckreefer (@brandon429 )where do you stand with this? I think I have something similar...looks like cyano on the sand, not quite as purple though, and I have the stringy stuff in my sump and a bit of GHA on my rocks.
I have so much flow though I'm not sure how it takes hold. I have a gyre 130 @ 75% and two MP10's @ 100% in reef crest mode. I've been battling all sorts of things lately and hoping it all ends soon. I've cut my lighting period down to 8 hrs total with no moonlights, have two reactors running, one with RowaPhos GFO and one with Triton AL99 PO4 Remover. I turn them on and off as needed to keep PO4 between .05 - .08. Nitrates are at 4ppm (Red Sea Kit). Even though I run the triton system (@Triton US, @twilliard ) I've still been vacuuming the sand bed and doing 15-20 gallon water changes about once a month to try and battle all these reef mongers.
I have so much flow though I'm not sure how it takes hold. I have a gyre 130 @ 75% and two MP10's @ 100% in reef crest mode. I've been battling all sorts of things lately and hoping it all ends soon. I've cut my lighting period down to 8 hrs total with no moonlights, have two reactors running, one with RowaPhos GFO and one with Triton AL99 PO4 Remover. I turn them on and off as needed to keep PO4 between .05 - .08. Nitrates are at 4ppm (Red Sea Kit). Even though I run the triton system (@Triton US, @twilliard ) I've still been vacuuming the sand bed and doing 15-20 gallon water changes about once a month to try and battle all these reef mongers.
paraletho
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No I haven't but I do have a photo of diatom. Diatoms are present in just about everyones reef. It's only when conditions (usually silicates) are right that we physically see them. I am a biological tech for a state agency that monitors marine life. We track Red Tides (Karenia brevis) and Golden algae and other killers. I have a little bit of cyano in a low flow spot. I will try to get a pic and post it with the diatom.
How very very cool.
check this out.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dinos-or-something-else.237231/page-2#post-2774801
I get cyano in high flow too.
djbetterly
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Just tested a few minutes ago, I'm at .0105.
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ReelRednekReefer
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Ok so the algae has Ben much improved over the last couple week. Noticed however that 2 old prices of dead coral are covered in it and it's growing pretty fast. Seems to be isolated to these rocks for the moment. A couple light small patches here and there but you have to hunt for them.
Here is what they looked like this morning
Out of the tank. Before treating
After poring peroxide and scrubbing and rinsing in RO. NO FIZZING OR FOAMING OCCURRED TO MY SURPRISE???
After rinsing well in RO I put them back in the tank. That's when they started releasing bubbles a lot of bubbles. So I pulled them and they are in fresh RO. Noticed zaos closed up some but are opening back up just minutes later. I will reintroduce the rocks later.
Here is what they looked like this morning
Out of the tank. Before treating
After poring peroxide and scrubbing and rinsing in RO. NO FIZZING OR FOAMING OCCURRED TO MY SURPRISE???
After rinsing well in RO I put them back in the tank. That's when they started releasing bubbles a lot of bubbles. So I pulled them and they are in fresh RO. Noticed zaos closed up some but are opening back up just minutes later. I will reintroduce the rocks later.
very interesting. Thanks for the update.
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ReelRednekReefer
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Thinking the peroxide treated rocks which were only in the tank maybe 90 seconds have claimed my anemone. It's been very full and colorful until this afternoon. All shrimps snails and corals including zoas are fine.
It's deflated and appears to be puking something. Should I wait and see I the morning or pull it before it dies so it doesn't pollute the tank?
It's deflated and appears to be puking something. Should I wait and see I the morning or pull it before it dies so it doesn't pollute the tank?
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No don't pull it we don't have a single anemone death documented across 200 pages. They are listed as peroxide sensitive due to the angry behavior. Give time in my opinion. The test rocks are done to prevent stresses to the full tank until the response time can be charted from the test rocks. Rocks treated and rinsed externally can't import peroxide back in the tank they are just test runs to check for regrowth.
It is ideal not to scrub the test rocks we already know scrubbing removes the target, these tests are to see which mode of peroxide may impact it
You would mini model in your test rocks what you'd do to the big tank, before doing it. Solely to check for which version of application sustains the kill..if it turns out a light dousing with peroxide really clears the target alone, then the scrubbing won't hurt at all.
Another test rock might go in a five gallon bucket of saltwater, heated and bubbled, with the 1:10 diluted ratio of peroxide added to the water, this is a test for what whole tank dosing might do to your target, the more varied test inferences the better and none of them are impacting your tank. All test rocks are rinsed before return. Lysmatas are the most sensitive creature in reefing to peroxide, if lysmatas are alive not much has gotten into your water in the dt during the test.
It is ideal not to scrub the test rocks we already know scrubbing removes the target, these tests are to see which mode of peroxide may impact it
You would mini model in your test rocks what you'd do to the big tank, before doing it. Solely to check for which version of application sustains the kill..if it turns out a light dousing with peroxide really clears the target alone, then the scrubbing won't hurt at all.
Another test rock might go in a five gallon bucket of saltwater, heated and bubbled, with the 1:10 diluted ratio of peroxide added to the water, this is a test for what whole tank dosing might do to your target, the more varied test inferences the better and none of them are impacting your tank. All test rocks are rinsed before return. Lysmatas are the most sensitive creature in reefing to peroxide, if lysmatas are alive not much has gotten into your water in the dt during the test.
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ReelRednekReefer
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Nem seems fine this morning. Even after putting rocks back in the tank. When I tried to pull it out( before reading the above post.)It still has a very strong footing on the rocks. So it must've been irritated but otherwise ok.
I scrubbed the rocks thinking that it would remove the bulk. Then hit again with peroxide the treat the "roots" then compare regrowth rate as compare to scrubbing alone. However the isolated test you describe would be more indicative of actual full tank dosing effects. Will run that test next time.
I scrubbed the rocks thinking that it would remove the bulk. Then hit again with peroxide the treat the "roots" then compare regrowth rate as compare to scrubbing alone. However the isolated test you describe would be more indicative of actual full tank dosing effects. Will run that test next time.
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That growback potential to me is so important to gauge even more than the initial kill. Nothing is more frustrating to large tank owners than spending a weekend to remove X and then in three mos it's all back. Mini modeling things is so handy in reefing
I think this species is susceptible and will die off within 48 hours of an external test douse we've had this a few times on our p threads.
But I'd keep that rock isolated in its own eco bucket a week or two and not in the main tank where more of the target exists to cross-seed and confound the regrow test.
if that test rock either as the bucket dosed or external direct dosed maintains its kill in the eco bucket you are good for whole tank work using the mini model as a time waste preventer. I predict your whole tank fix can be ascertained from a bucket
One thing is certainly in your favor even though this seems daunting:
This invader is an obligate hitchhiker that emerges and sustains independent of nutrients. That doesn't mean altering one nutrient param this or that way couldn't phase shock it into death, it means that nutrient controls aren't the exclusive kill option. If you can pre-demo any method in a bucket to work, then upscale that to your tank, once this biomass is killed off literally the only biological way you can ever see it again is if you do not quarantine. This angle allows you to attack directly with a predicted sustain.
In our tank correction threads we find green algae families and cyano families as the persistent ones that always get in, always seem to potentitate from the rocks if we make one or more mistake with a tank (feed heavy weekend, too many white LEDs etc)
Pretty much everything other than those two groups are obligate hitchhikers and we're saving fifty tanks a month working solely from that unique angle... that direct attack on the invader is the ideal kill and sustain method when dealing with obligate hitchhikers.
We are not seeing obligates like valonia or invasive caulerpa come back after true eradication unless via import. The porosity of the live rock is truly being cleaned out, the distinction of obligate hitchhiker vs ubiquitous traveler is a powerful one when identifying tank invaders. the more thorough the mass kill, the longer the sustain that's the rule of obligate hitchhiker wars.
I think this species is susceptible and will die off within 48 hours of an external test douse we've had this a few times on our p threads.
But I'd keep that rock isolated in its own eco bucket a week or two and not in the main tank where more of the target exists to cross-seed and confound the regrow test.
if that test rock either as the bucket dosed or external direct dosed maintains its kill in the eco bucket you are good for whole tank work using the mini model as a time waste preventer. I predict your whole tank fix can be ascertained from a bucket
One thing is certainly in your favor even though this seems daunting:
This invader is an obligate hitchhiker that emerges and sustains independent of nutrients. That doesn't mean altering one nutrient param this or that way couldn't phase shock it into death, it means that nutrient controls aren't the exclusive kill option. If you can pre-demo any method in a bucket to work, then upscale that to your tank, once this biomass is killed off literally the only biological way you can ever see it again is if you do not quarantine. This angle allows you to attack directly with a predicted sustain.
In our tank correction threads we find green algae families and cyano families as the persistent ones that always get in, always seem to potentitate from the rocks if we make one or more mistake with a tank (feed heavy weekend, too many white LEDs etc)
Pretty much everything other than those two groups are obligate hitchhikers and we're saving fifty tanks a month working solely from that unique angle... that direct attack on the invader is the ideal kill and sustain method when dealing with obligate hitchhikers.
We are not seeing obligates like valonia or invasive caulerpa come back after true eradication unless via import. The porosity of the live rock is truly being cleaned out, the distinction of obligate hitchhiker vs ubiquitous traveler is a powerful one when identifying tank invaders. the more thorough the mass kill, the longer the sustain that's the rule of obligate hitchhiker wars.
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