Brown Algae problem

[tanooki]

Hey all,

I’ve got a bad outbreak of brown algae on my glass, substrate, and rock work. I’m guessing it’s diatoms but I wanted to make sure it’s not dinos.

My tanks been running since July. 40 breeder. No corals yet. I do a 5 gallon water change weekly.

 

[lapin]

Post a picture under white lights

 

[EnterName]

If the brown slime grows/shrinks throughout the day/night cycle this is an indicator for a dinoflagellate species. The absolute best way to identify is by finding someone with access to a microscope (a cheap one will already do) and taking a look at the slime.

There are also test kits to measure silicate (SiO₂/SiO₄) levels. They only measure quite elevated levels but you need quite a bit of silicate to make diatoms cover your rocks, they usually stick to substrate and glass before covering the rocks.

Just to be sure: Is your tank new by any chance? If so, it's probably just the ugly phase and absolutely expected. There isn't much you could (or even should) do in this case.

 

[tanooki]

If the brown slime grows/shrinks throughout the day/night cycle this is an indicator for a dinoflagellate species. The absolute best way to identify is by finding someone with access to a microscope (a cheap one will already do) and taking a look at the slime.

There are also test kits to measure silicate (SiO₂/SiO₄) levels. They only measure quite elevated levels but you need quite a bit of silicate to make diatoms cover your rocks, they usually stick to substrate and glass before covering the rocks.

Just to be sure: Is your tank new by any chance? If so, it's probably just the ugly phase and absolutely expected. There isn't much you could (or even should) do in this case.

Here’s the photos. The algae doesn’t seem to shrink or grow based on the day/night cycle.

I tried uploading earlier a bunch of times before but the app kept timing out.

 

[tanooki]

And yeah, to answer your question it’s a new tank I started it in July.

 

[Uncle99]

What’s the parameters run and what’s the flux?
Looks like some instability in water chemistry.
Pest stuff loves that.

 

[EnterName]

If the brown slime grows/shrinks throughout the day/night cycle this is an indicator for a dinoflagellate species. The absolute best way to identify is by finding someone with access to a microscope (a cheap one will already do) and taking a look at the slime.

There are also test kits to measure silicate (SiO₂/SiO₄) levels. They only measure quite elevated levels but you need quite a bit of silicate to make diatoms cover your rocks, they usually stick to substrate and glass before covering the rocks.

Just to be sure: Is your tank new by any chance? If so, it's probably just the ugly phase and absolutely expected. There isn't much you could (or even should) do in this case.

Here’s the photos. The algae doesn’t seem to shrink or grow based on the day/night cycle.

I tried uploading earlier a bunch of times before but the app kept timing out.

Then congratulations to the new tank and welcome to a finally arriving ugly phase. Nothing really you can (or should) do about it. Green hair algae will follow and once it's gone the tank is ready for the first robust corals.

I assume you started with dry rock and sand?
Have you added any nutrients like ammonia or are you adding food or so?