Algae ID

[TylerJaid]

So today I tested all my parameters:
Salinity- 1.025
Temp- 79
Ph- 8
Alk- 8.1
Magnesium-1350
Calcium- 410
Nitrate- 0 (undetectable by api and salifert kits did them both twice)
Phosphate- .02 (measure same with salifert and hanna checker)

I have now shut my refugium light off but my skimmer is still on, should I leave it run and pull the cup so it doesn’t removing anything? Filter sock keep in or remove?

I know I need to get more nitrates in the tank, so should I dose it or remove this stuff offline, what I thought has been gha this whole time is more than likely dinos… what do we all think? Thanks everyone

Pics of this stuff growing in overflow box, it also gets on corals and on top of gha or some kind of algae, it doesn’t mat in the sand or clear up at night!

I've not gone through the entire thread so it's hard to tell for me if adding nutrients is really beneficial at this point, but if you really want to increase nitrate you should dose ammonia: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-ammonia-dosing-for-low-nitrate-systems.987087/

Nitrate has to be converted back to ammonia before it can be properly assimilated by coral (and algae). This requires trace elements and energy and is only done when there is no better nitrogen source. Adding small amounts of ammonia fixes this issue and provides a direct benefit to corals.

You can do the same with phosphate if needed: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-phosphate-dosing-recipe.1109919/

That being said: Increasing nutrients while experimenting algae growth will probably just feed the algae.

To identify dinoflagellates with certainty I would recommend a cheap/used compound microscope with at least 200x, better 400x magnification. I can help with the identification once you provide images

I am going to read into this, I have been told to fix my nutrient issues before than deal with algae after, it’s just hard because there are so many different ideas, thoughts and opinions on the internet on what to do, and I am just trying to find the best way to tackle my problem, that has been around for well over a year. The manual removal and cuc doesn’t seem to work for me like everyone say I have been doing it along time and have had “0” nitrates the whole time.

I want to buy a microscope but have been spending a lot on the tank trying to beat this stuff as I just put in a sump a few weeks ago, new skimmer, fuge so about 1500$ and I think my wife may be catching on lol. But I do know your right and that is the only way to truly know what it is.

Also side note my sea hare who has been in there for about three weeks has done little to nothing against whatever kind of algae this is, the hermit crabs do seem to keep it at bay wherever they tend to stick around so maybe I should get a bunch more of them? I’m honestly almost at a loss but don’t want to give up!

 

[EnterName]

I am going to read into this, I have been told to fix my nutrient issues before than deal with algae after, it’s just hard because there are so many different ideas, thoughts and opinions on the internet on what to do, and I am just trying to find the best way to tackle my problem, that has been around for well over a year. The manual removal and cuc doesn’t seem to work for me like everyone say I have been doing it along time and have had “0” nitrates the whole time.

I want to buy a microscope but have been spending a lot on the tank trying to beat this stuff as I just put in a sump a few weeks ago, new skimmer, fuge so about 1500$ and I think my wife may be catching on lol. But I do know your right and that is the only way to truly know what it is.

Also side note my sea hare who has been in there for about three weeks has done little to nothing against whatever kind of algae this is, the hermit crabs do seem to keep it at bay wherever they tend to stick around so maybe I should get a bunch more of them? I’m honestly almost at a loss but don’t want to give up!

I understand your frustration, but I'm sure there will be a solution that works, even if it is a chemical one in the end. I often recommend going "all approaches" after another, due to the large amount of different and contradicting suggestions you can find online.

1. First an ICP-MS test and adjusting all elements to the desired levels. This sets the foundation of all treatments.
2. Nutrient reduction, manual removal of nuisance algae, frequent and large water changes (preferably with salt that does not contain organics like amino acids). It's easier to add nutrients than to remove them, so I would try this approach first.
3. If this didn't work for quite a while, you can try the "increase nutrients" approach by dosing ammonia and phosphate. I don't recommend overfeeding or similar as this increases organics as well and can lead to other issues along the way.
4. If there is still no change, I would try the more experimental approaches like silicate dosing against dinoflagellates, ozone, bleach dosing etc. This obviously requires a proper identification of the underlying issue. If you confuse chrysophytes for dinoflagellates and start dosing silicates you will just make the issue worse
5. When everything else failed, I would start throwing nukes: Fluconazole for actual algae (e.g. green hair algae), Fauna Marin DinoX (now DinoM) or similar products for dinoflagellates, antibiotics for cyanobacteria.

You will find used compound microscopes for $50 or $100 (sometimes even new ones) that can go up to 200 or better 400x magnification with sufficient quality, so you don't have to spend too much, but I absolutely understand that it's not a necessity for the hobby and you can't just throw money at things to hope it gets better.

I assume you have multiple nuisance algae issues at the same time which makes this especially frustrating. The mucus that gets caught in between what I suppose to be GHA could very well be Dinoflagellates. This might also cause the hair algae to be a bit off-color. Chrysophytes sometimes also grow into something that looks similar, so I wouldn't completely rule them out. Have you checked the TDS of your RO/DI by any chance?

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Besides the obvious algae issue you might want to take a look at the large yellow spot in the photo.

As someone said earlier, this is most likely a sponge. It's probably an encrusting one that won't be scraped off easily (and doing so won't help much as they recover fast). If it is spreading aggressively you will need to take the rock out sooner or later to apply a proper treatment. Sponges cannot be treated within the tank and require you to nuke the rock with hydrogen peroxide or bleach.