Algae ID Help Please

[jam5146]

We have a 40B that has been up for about 8 months. We've had this algae start to show up in the sandbed in the last few weeks or so. Whenever we vacuum the sandbed, it just comes back in a day or two. For flow, we have a 1k gyre, a 3k gyre, and the return pump. If we could get some insight as to what it is and how to get rid of it, it would be appreciated.

Parameters are as follows:
Salinity: 1.026
Temp: 78.1
pH: 7.71 (trying to raise it)
Alk: 9
Ammonia: .2
Calcium: 425
Magnesium: 1260
Phosphate: 0
Nitrate: 18ish
Nitrite: .05

 

[Scotty Buttons]

Your picture links didn't show up

 

[jam5146]

 

[Scotty Buttons]

It looks like cyno, but the only true way to ID it is to put a sample under a microscope. If your able to snap a photo of it under a microscope and post it here someone can positivity ID it. You can get cheap hobby grade electronic microscopes online for $25. Sorry I can't be of more help!

 

[lapin]

Is it red, brown or green?

 

[jam5146]

Is it red, brown or green?

It's a brownish red, stringy, and has bubbles coming up through the sandbed.

 

[jam5146]

We have done two water changes since starting this thread and it still has not helped. It actually seems to have gotten worse. However, when we are vacuuming the sandbed, the stuff just swirls around in the gravel vac and doesn't get taken out. I haven't gotten a microscope to look at it yet. Is that the only way to ID the algae? If so, I will try to find a cheaper one but I hate to go buy something that might get used once or twice. Just to describe it a little more, it's a rust color with stringy hairs and bubbles. It's starting to grow on the corals which is getting more concerning. To us, it looks like dinos, but we don't have that much experience with anything other than Cyano and diatoms.

 

[jam5146]

Despite attempts to get rid it, whatever it is, continues to grow. After ordering a microscope, we got the video I linked to.

https://imgur.com/a/OpwH4kp?fbclid=IwAR2lRmbuvD2e2R4hj_l2sELrJ3rqTcJmW8MQkYIu8Sc5luEaYP8Ev8Ka568

 

[jam5146]

Sorry for the double post but forgot to add that whatever this is seems to be starting to choke out some of our corals. Any help from #ReefSquad ?

 

[tupes]

According to this your tank is still cycling and that's why you still have algea growing.


How long has this tank been setup?

Parameters are as follows:
Salinity: 1.026
Temp: 78.1
pH: 7.71 (trying to raise it)
Alk: 9
Ammonia: .2
Calcium: 425
Magnesium: 1260
Phosphate: 0
Nitrate: 18ish
Nitrite: .05

Highlighted items should be ZERO.

 

[tupes]

Double post

 

[Ron Reefman]

tupes is right about the ammonia and nitrite. In a tank that is 8 months old you should have zero for both of those.

From the first photo I thought cyano (like Scotty Buttons in post #4). But the second photo is MUCH better (and helpful... thank you) it looks like dinoflagellates. Does it breakdown and 'fall apart' when you try to remove it.

This is a type of algae that can be quite difficult to get rid of and it is messy. Try netting it out with a VERY fine fishnet which you will need to do over and over for many days. This stuff tends to breakdown when you try to remove it.

I netted it out of my tank, I went 3 weeks running just blue leds (rather than a 3 day blackout) and I ran some Chemi-pure.

 

[jam5146]

Thank you for all of your input. Our tank did completely cycle over a period of about 7-8 weeks before we put any livestock in. At that time the nitrites and ammonia spiked and went to 0. It has been 0 since then for 6ish months. Then we got our algae bloom, which has since went away. Our tank was great for a while. We thought we were having a nitrate problem, turns out it was a test kit problem. Did we somehow start another cycle?

As for the algae, yes, it breaks down as soon as it's touched. We did run Chemi-Pure because it looked like Cyano at first. But the skimmer has been going crazy since we added it, despite water changes. We also added some copepods and ordered Ocean Magik to help with the dinoflagellates. We'll definitely try blues only for 3 days to see if that helps.