Weird black light sensitive algae

mexuus · Jan 1, 2023

Hey! So I have this weird blackish thin algae that keeps growing. It grows it seems in the low flow spots but I have so much flow in my tank so idk how it’s possible. It can be starved out by light but once the light goes on it is back within a day. It doesn’t t look like cyano, it’s black and stringy and flowy. It first starts in the sand bed and kind of makes a mat and then slowly goes to the rock. I’ve tried Phosgard and GFO and nothing. Recently got a protein skimmer for my water box 20g so hoping that will work but can anyone help me? I’ll post pics when I get a chance

homer1475 · Jan 1, 2023

Could be dinoflagelletes, or dino's as we call them. Pictures are worth a thousand words.

mexuus · Jan 1, 2023

I’ll share a pic when I get home. But I don’t believe it’s dinos. It be had them before in another tank and very different but hopefully with the pic it’ll be better

mexuus · Jan 1, 2023

Ok. So I googled some more and found other nonspecific photos that are somewhat similar to what I have. The color is black and only black. When it’s in the rock, it’s like a carpet but on the sand bed it’s a carpet with long tentacles like the 3rd pic.

brittp21 · Jan 1, 2023

It looks like Dinos. I had it. I had to buy a cheap amazon microscope to find out what type of algae I had. Once I put it under the microscope I figured out the type I had. I bought a uv sterilizer and cut my photo period and dose MB7. I think if you put it under a microscope and figure out what type you have then you'll know what steps you need to take to eradicate it.

mexuus · Jan 1, 2023

brittp21 said:
It looks like Dinos. I had it. I had to buy a cheap amazon microscope to find out what type of algae I had. Once I put it under the microscope I figured out the type I had. I bought a uv sterilizer and cut my photo period and dose MB7. I think if you put it under a microscope and figure out what type you have then you'll know what steps you need to take to eradicate it.

So I’ve dozed nearly 2 bottles of microbacter 7 and it has not helped at all. I’ve even done the turbo start from the beginning

mexuus · Jan 2, 2023

UPDATE! Pics
It’s not too big or growing as I recently tried to clean it all out

brittp21 · Jan 2, 2023

mexuus said:
So I’ve dozed nearly 2 bottles of microbacter 7 and it has not helped at all. I’ve even done the turbo start from the beginning

what I did was take a toothbrush and brush the algae off the rocks if it was any on there. It mostly was on the sand bed. I would do a "water change" not an actual water change but I would put filter floss over the end of a hose to catch the algae. Then I would dump the water back in. I keep doing that and it went alway. Along with all the other steps I mentioned above. I think I reduced my photo period to 6 hours it was 12.

mexuus · Jan 2, 2023

brittp21 said:
what I did was take a toothbrush and brush the algae off the rocks if it was any on there. It mostly was on the sand bed. I would do a "water change" not an actual water change but I would put filter floss over the end of a hose to catch the algae. Then I would dump the water back in. I keep doing that and it went alway. Along with all the other steps I mentioned above. I think I reduced my photo period to 6 hours it was 12.

So. Right now I don’t have the light on and it was still growing. Idk what to do lol

Andreas' Reef · Jan 2, 2023

Pretty sure its dinos

It also could be black cyano but pretty sure its dinos

brittp21 · Jan 2, 2023

mexuus said:
So. Right now I don’t have the light on and it was still growing. Idk what to do lol

Get a microscope. Without knowing the type you have its kinda like shooting in the dark. The kind I had was prorocentrum. It's a thread on here that list the different type of Dinos. Once you find out the type of Dinos you have its should help you come up with a plan to get rid of it.