Seeking an expert on algae...

[rsigler]

Hey gang,

Last week I posted some pictures of my tank. What I thought was cyano turned out to be dinoflagellates. The bubbles were very prominent, and the Dino was a rust color. It was all over everything....killing most of my zoas.

So...I blacked out the tank. No light for 72 hours.

When I turned the lights back on, it looked better, but now, after a day of light, the tank is covered in what looks like cyano. There are no bubbles in it. Even my shrimp gets covered.

So, is it possible that the Dino algae is gone and this IS cyano? Can Dino turn into cyano?

By big question is...whatever it is, what do I do? My once massive frogspawn is not opening...neither is my hammer...my Pulsing Xenia are gone.

Water parameters are normal...phosphates read as 0 with my Hannah checker,but how can this be correct? Same for nitrates.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Rob

 

[Tahoe61]

This is what worked for me.

Complete black out of 4 days.
Short lighting periods after the 4th day.
Removal of algae daily by blowing it off with a turkey baster and then cleaning mechanical filtration after the water cleared/settled.
If I saw even a hint of the brown algae with bubbles start to form off went the lights for the rest of the day.
Kept pH around 8.2-8.4 24/7.
I stopped doing routine water changes for a couple months.

It took roughly 2 months to finely clear up. The Dino killed off my zoanthids though. All other corals and inverts were not adversely affected by the reduction in photoperiod.

 

[beadlocked450r]

If it looks like cyano I would start by trying to suck it all out with a small 1/4 tube. Try not to stir it up, if it is cyano it's not an algea but a bacteria. And by string it up it can spread it more. Have you checked your phosphates? How old are your lights? Is your food expired? Have you received any new frags yhat could have brought it into your system?

 

[mike007]

Most all nuisance algae's are caused by excess nutrients. That means your nutrient export is not keeping up. All the above suggestions will help but you must find the source of these excess nutrients. Most of the time it is caused by overfeeding. Test results can be confusing because the algae is consuming these nutrients in order for them to grow.