rporter996
Active Member
Been fighting some algae for a bit now. Any ideas on what this is? Pulled it off my rock.
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Algae ID help
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Been fighting some algae for a bit now. Any ideas on what this is? Pulled it off my rock.
Been fighting some algae for a bit now. Any ideas on what this is? Pulled it off my rock.
Cyano mixed with (what appears to be)
Ostreposis Dino’s. Get your phosphate level up slowly about .02 ppm daily. Deploy carbon and UV if you confirm ID, because these are very toxic. @saltyhog can you confirm?
OP
OP
rporter996
Active Member
My phosphate is actually at .09ppm and my nitrates are at 0.0. I've been running UV for a bit now and I have a thing of carbon in my media caddy.
Definitely Ostreopsis dinos. What is your UV size, flow through it and how is it plumbed?
OP
OP
rporter996
Active Member
I have a 20g innovative marine AIO tank. I've been running there 9w UV sterilizer for a while now with the Mightyjet 326 return pump in the return chamber. I also always have carbon in my media basket. I just started dosing microbacter7 and NeoNitro to raise my Nitrates hopefully. (Just started this last night). Corals have definitely been unhappy and I just lost a Pencil Urchin yesterday.
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You will need to change your carbon often with these guys....like every few days. I have not found the in the rear chamber UV's made by IM to be effective in treating dinos (probably related to flow but possibly other issues). I would get a conventional UV with the pump in the display and the output from the UV back in the display. UV's for this size tank are not too common but AquaUV makes a good hang on UV that's easy to plumb. I would couple it with a very small pump (like a Sicce Micra) and keep flow under 60 gph.
resortez
Active Member
It’s a natural reaction to the tank starving at 0.0 NO3s. The cyano & Dino is a reaction in the absence of more complex & highly efficient filtering organisms. Those complex organisms can’t find a source of nutrients to feast on & reproduce at 0.0 NO3 so they starve & wither away. In its place, by default, comes in simple single cell organisms, cyano & dinos to pick up the slack & provide some consumption of the scarce nutrients available in the system. These single cell are also photosynthetic & can survive & reproduce by feeding off of light as well, the combination makes them a stubborn problem but nature has engineered it that way for that specific reason. If you really look into it, it’s pretty genius, we just don’t like looking at it because it’s not attractive. The single cell have no competition & begin to take over your system. They will also feast & survive off of pockets of detritus in your sand bed & rock, understanding how & why it feeds on detritus will give you a clear path of attack. The key is to eliminate that source of detritus while simultaneously feeding your system to raise nutrient levels, reintroduce a plethora of pods, copepods, amphipods, etc once you break past 5ppm of NO3, believe me 5 is harmless. More harm is caused at 0.0 NO3. The entire system is alive & it must feed like all living things, hence the term living reef. As of now, your system is lethargic, malnourished. Phyto feast will help in bringing it back to life, some marine snow, Red Sea aminos, essential trace elements, foods that feed the micro fauna in your system & build a healthy rich vibrant environment full of life. Pods will eventually colonize the system & everything else will flourish. As always, takes lots of patience. Just like a sickly dog that’s been starving & malnourished, takes time to heal & recover back to good health & reefs are no exception to the rule, it’s a rule that applies to all living things on earth. Set weekly routines to bring the tank back to life & within roughly 8-10 weeks, the tank will be in good health. Hope it all makes sense. Good luck
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