Sand bed algae help

[reeffreako]

Hi all,

Long time reader but first post in the hope some more experienced reefers can help me out. Many thanks in advance.

My RS Reefer 300XL is now 18 months old. Has run like a dream…. Until now. I was starting to think reefing was easier than was made out

Water parameter are stable:
PO4 0.03
Nitrate 5ppm
KH 8.1

Over the past 2 months I have been fighting Cyano.... or Dinos.... on the sand bed.

while RODI always has TDS of zero, membranes all changed in case silicates were getting in, no improvement.

while phosphates balanced and stable I tried phosguard to take away silicates. No change.

I run 20% monthly water changes / dose ATI Essentials Pro to maintain KH.

Given such a lack of progress and all parameters looks good, can anyone recommend some next steps to get things back on plan?

I’ve done lots of research which point to high phosphates, high silicates etc…. I don’t see that being my issue.

many thanks in advance.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Looks like diatoms
Do light siphoning and lower white light intensity a little
Snails such as cerith and nassarius will help break it up

 

[reeffreako]

Thanks will bring the whites down.

Have a sand sifting goby and plenty of snails so things should be moving. Oddly front is always whiter sand than the back of tank….

 

[shakacuz]

nerite snails can help with the diatoms on rock, and conches can help on the sand bed

 

[reeffreako]

have a couple of conches as well. they need to get out of bed earlier and work harder.
i'll up the numbers of snails and bring whites down and see how we get on.

many thanks for advice.

 

[reeffreako]

Hi all
still not seeing any improvement here with more snails and whites down 10%. and I’m now starting to get brown hair algae on back glass.
phosphates and nitrates still claim to be absolutely in control, if I believe my test kits….
any thought?
many thanks!

 

[olonmv]

That stuff kinda looks like cyano. Goin through the same problem for a while now. I noticed things goin downhill when I changed over to TM from blue bucket. Not sure if there’s a correlation but, it sure is suspicious that all the bad stuff started to happen when I changed salts.
Does it mostly go away at lights off?

 

[reeffreako]

I’m starting to think it’s more than diatoms as it shouldn’t be this hard….

stuff on the sand bed goes with lights off but not on the glass…

 

[TxReefer21]

Bump

 

[reeffreako]

Thanks for bumping?!
If you want an update, still the same..! PITA…!!

 

[jwaldbusser]

Hi all,

Long time reader but first post in the hope some more experienced reefers can help me out. Many thanks in advance.

My RS Reefer 300XL is now 18 months old. Has run like a dream…. Until now. I was starting to think reefing was easier than was made out

Water parameter are stable:
PO4 0.03
Nitrate 5ppm
KH 8.1

Over the past 2 months I have been fighting Cyano.... or Dinos.... on the sand bed.

while RODI always has TDS of zero, membranes all changed in case silicates were getting in, no improvement.

while phosphates balanced and stable I tried phosguard to take away silicates. No change.

I run 20% monthly water changes / dose ATI Essentials Pro to maintain KH.

Given such a lack of progress and all parameters looks good, can anyone recommend some next steps to get things back on plan?

I’ve done lots of research which point to high phosphates, high silicates etc…. I don’t see that being my issue.

many thanks in advance.

Do the Dino’s go away at night and come back when the lights come on ? If they do I great luck with dosing phyto and a UV.

 

[reeffreako]

My UV lamp in 8 months old so ordered a new one…. See if it makes a difference.

Can anyone ID this algae for me please?
Parameters still look spot on. PO4 0.015/ nitrates 5ppm

 

[landlubber]

Has anyone recommended to get a look under a microscope? Treating for diatoms could end up being terrible advice if they end up actually being Dinos.
Better to know ahead of treatment so you can use the right strategy and anyone that says they know just by looking at your photos is not helping.

 

[Cheeze]

Apologies if I'm misspeaking as I'm learning about the benefits of keeping a certain level of Nitrates for SPS corals, but could it be that your Nitrates of 5 ppm are too high and causing the outbreak?