Brown algae growing on coral tips and skin.

kaceyo

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I'm trying to figure out what type of algae this is on my coral. there's also some on the pumps and rock. Not a lot, but way too much, since it's killing the corals it's on, very slowly. A local reef shop owner has said his best guess is that it's a type of dino. He's suggested using Vibrant, GFO and cutting back on nutrient input, possibly a 3 day blackout if that doesn't take care of it. Thing is, it doesn't grow rapidly or in abundance, just enough to cause problems with the coral.
I wasn't getting a reading on my Nitrate or phos tests for a while, so I started adding extra food and even dosing a bit of nitrate. I over did it and now my N03 is 20ppm and P04 is 0.15. That's what started the problem algae I think. There were other types of pest algae first but I managed to get them in control, but I'm having more trouble with this. It wasn't till I started trying acro's that I got so focused on adjusting the nutrient levels and things went down hill.
Any ideas on how I should approach this?
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dwest

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I'm trying to figure out what type of algae this is on my coral. there's also some on the pumps and rock. Not a lot, but way too much, since it's killing the corals it's on, very slowly. A local reef shop owner has said his best guess is that it's a type of dino. He's suggested using Vibrant, GFO and cutting back on nutrient input, possibly a 3 day blackout if that doesn't take care of it. Thing is, it doesn't grow rapidly or in abundance, just enough to cause problems with the coral.
I wasn't getting a reading on my Nitrate or phos tests for a while, so I started adding extra food and even dosing a bit of nitrate. I over did it and now my N03 is 20ppm and P04 is 0.15. That's what started the problem algae I think. There were other types of pest algae first but I managed to get them in control, but I'm having more trouble with this. It wasn't till I started trying acro's that I got so focused on adjusting the nutrient levels and things went down hill.
Any ideas on how I should approach this?
It’s hard to tell, especially without pics. I would maintain a consistent alkalinity, do weekly 10% water changes and NOT add vibrant, GFO, or cut back on nutrients. Let nitrates and phosphates come down naturally. I would consider getting a cheap microscope to see if you have dinos.
 
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kaceyo

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It’s hard to tell, especially without pics. I would maintain a consistent alkalinity, do weekly 10% water changes and NOT add vibrant, GFO, or cut back on nutrients. Let nitrates and phosphates come down naturally. I would consider getting a cheap microscope to see if you have dinos.
I just added pics so there is more to go on than my week description.
 
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kaceyo

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It’s hard to tell, especially without pics. I would maintain a consistent alkalinity, do weekly 10% water changes and NOT add vibrant, GFO, or cut back on nutrients. Let nitrates and phosphates come down naturally. I would consider getting a cheap microscope to see if you have dinos.
Also, it's VERY hard to do nothing and change nothing while my corals that were growing are being killed. I already do 15% wc's weekly without a missed wc in the last year.
 

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Also, it's VERY hard to do nothing and change nothing while my corals that were growing are being killed. I already do 15% wc's weekly without a missed wc in the last year.
I see the pics. They could be dinos. However, I think the tips might have burnt with a combination of higher alkalinity and lower nutrients. Then the dinos or algae were able to take hold. That’s how it started for me.

I would research microscopes if you don’t have one. I could ID my dinos with a $15 microscope from amazon, but I believe there are better options now.

I would also run some GAC for now to help reduce dino toxins.
 
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kaceyo

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I see the pics. They could be dinos. However, I think the tips might have burnt with a combination of higher alkalinity and lower nutrients. Then the dinos or algae were able to take hold. That’s how it started for me.

I would research microscopes if you don’t have one. I could ID my dinos with a $15 microscope from amazon, but I believe there are better options now.

I would also run some GAC for now to help reduce dino toxins.
Actually the growth of the...whatever it is, has started first in most cases. You can see it best on the green acro that has splotches of the stuff all over it. There were never any bare spots anywhere on it when the brown death started, and it didn't start at the tips on that one.
 

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If you could take some pics with only white light on we might get a better look..
Do you have a uv sterilizer? And yes run carbon..
 
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kaceyo

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If you could take some pics with only white light on we might get a better look..
Do you have a uv sterilizer? And yes run carbon..
No UV sterilizer. I am setting up some carbon Tuesday when I can get some fittings for the reactor. I will get some whiter pics going tomorrow.
Thanks,

Kacey
 

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Also, it's VERY hard to do nothing and change nothing while my corals that were growing are being killed. I already do 15% wc's weekly without a missed wc in the last year.

Water changes plus low nutrients creates a breeding ground for Dino’s which like to “attack” coral and will suffocate them ? How to fix , install UV and feed more / less water changes
 

nano reef

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Also, it's VERY hard to do nothing and change nothing while my corals that were growing are being killed. I already do 15% wc's weekly without a missed wc in the last year.
The exact same thing is going on with my corals. I have these brown tips but I also have something coating my sand bed and walls. I havnt had success with chemiclean but did i with one tank! Its is coming back in that tank though, I dont understand how it went a way and came back if it wasnt cyano! I am doing a second treatment now and funny thing is today after I started treatment last night , the stuff looks worse! Last time I cleaned it out and it didint appear back until water change 2 days ago. On my other tank its always there and dosnt recede after lights out but it looks exactly like the same thing. Just a mat growing, not webby like dinos! Anyway, How much magnification do I need to get an ID? I am going to post some pics of it once I get the microscope. This stuff is driving me batty! lol It totally defies logic!
 
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kaceyo

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Yes, I no longer have the brown algae on the corals. I slowly brought the nutrients up, increased the cuc and flow. Then brought them, slowly, back down using gfo and NoPox, adding small amount of Acro power and trace elements. Since then I have gotten better color and growth on the acros. That has been doing well for quite a while, but I decided to add some gravel so I could have a few burrowing critters like gobies w/shrimp and jawfish. I am now dealing with a matt of short green algae, looks like a lawn, which grew on the brown coating (diatoms?) that grew on the new gravel. So...I'm like, what now? Remove gravel or work on eliminating the newer greener algae?
 

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I see the pics. They could be dinos. However, I think the tips might have burnt with a combination of higher alkalinity and lower nutrients. Then the dinos or algae were able to take hold. That’s how it started for me.

I would research microscopes if you don’t have one. I could ID my dinos with a $15 microscope from amazon, but I believe there are better options now.

I would also run some GAC for now to help reduce dino toxins.
what is GAC?
 

nano reef

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You story is exactly like mine. My nitrates shot up after I won a bunch of corals and added to many at once. Then I got them down with nopox. My po4 was always ok because I was using chemipure elite. After the nopox They bottom o ut. I started dosing no3 and feeding more. Not changing filter socks often so now they are creeping up to high. No3 is 12 po4 is 0.16. Debating on what to do. Probably nopox but this time not so much.
After the nopox is when I started getting this mat covering my sand bed and walls, wavemakers ect I have passed so many coffee filter tests for dinos and cyano didint work. It may just be algae because it dosnt look like dinos from pics I have seen, nor does it look like cyano. It looks like Diatoms but my tank is a year old. Its also clumps together when I try to remove it. Not sure if it slime or what.

It also gets worse after a water change which supposedly is a sign of dinos. I am baffled! I bought a microscope on amazon last night so I cant wait to get it on Monday.

My corals are staring to die. I just blew almost all the dead skin on my biggest coral. A gorgeous big lobo! UGHH! How do you know when you need to add trace elements? I have never done that. I have had some problems with alk, so maybe thats what effecting my corals. Its started dropping like mad, maybe from sick corals? I had stopped testing it often because I stopped 2 part. I just dose here and there because my alk is so weird. It will stay the same for days on end then start dropping like 0.3 a day. Its so random. I cant fiqure it out and I am still pretty much a newbie as well. I dont see a way to dial in a dose when its so random. I feel like I need to test daily. Thats what I have been doing but sure dont want to keep doing this forever!

I wish you luck and hope you get it figured out! Thanks for the advice!
 

nano reef

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Granular Activated Carbon
oh, ok. Yep I use that. BRS ROX 0.8 Premium activated carbon. Guess thats the same thing right? I just changed t out because my water is getting so cloudy! Didint help at all. I am wondering also If my corals are light starved. They arent reaching up or anything but I keep it at 8 whites and 65 blues (I have 2 -90 watt noopsyches on a 36 gallon)I keep them low because of the light making whatever is growing worse. I got to try to get my seneye going. I have no idea of the par espially with the cloudy water now.

Does dosing alk cause water to cloud up when you first start? I use BRS soda ash. What do you recommend for that? I use to use purigan and water was always crystal clear.
 

dwest

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oh, ok. Yep I use that. BRS ROX 0.8 Premium activated carbon. Guess thats the same thing right? I just changed t out because my water is getting so cloudy! Didint help at all. I am wondering also If my corals are light starved. They arent reaching up or anything but I keep it at 8 whites and 65 blues (I have 2 -90 watt noopsyches on a 36 gallon)I keep them low because of the light making whatever is growing worse. I got to try to get my seneye going. I have no idea of the par espially with the cloudy water now.

Does dosing alk cause water to cloud up when you first start? I use BRS soda ash. What do you recommend for that? I use to use purigan and water was always crystal clear.
BRS ROX is a great carbon. Certainly adding soda ash too fast can cause cloudy water. Are you measuring your alkalinity before you add soda ash? You certainly want to do that. If your corals are struggling at the moment, you might not need to add soda ash. I would target an alkalinity of about 8 dKH and adjust very slowly with soda ash as needed.
 

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