Brown algae spreading very quickly, corals very unhappy.

[Thomasreef]

Parameters have been stable. I’ll get an icp test result tommorow

I’m worried it might be dinos

 

[tbrown]

Parameters are stable, but what are they?

If I had to take a guess, phosphates are at 0?

Looks like a possible Dino outbreak. Does it blow off the rocks easily?

Some forms of Dinos actually have a form of coral warfare they use against corals.

If it's Dinos, there's a couple of steps that work for several of the more common varieties:

If your nitrates are 0, try to raise them to around 5-10. If your phosphates are 0, try to raise them to around 0.05-0.1. I like mine to ride around 0.15 phosphates and 15 nitrates - usually they're higher though.

If you have filter floss sheets, cut a square off and hang it in a high flow area. Blow the rocks off as frequently as you can to keep them suspended and they'll attach to the filter floss. Rinse the floss a little bit before the lights come on (or before you leave for work) and again a little after lights out (or a little before you go to bed).

If you have UV, run that in the DT if possible.

Usually, after whichever nutrient was zero comes back up, it'll take a day or two and you'll start to see improvement. They're often gone within a week or two.

In my little 8 gallon, I can go from Dinos to clear in 2-3 days just by dosing a little nitrates and phosphates and blowing off the rocks and Macroalgae. In my 79, the filter floss helped a TON.

 

[dvgyfresh]

That looks like cyano not algae

 

[RoanokeReef]

Looks more like cyano to me also. Run some Chemiclean.

 

[dvgyfresh]

If not wanting chemicals , seems like some type of filtration changed or is lowered. Increase flow , oxygenation, and get rid of more organic waste and it should go away on its own.

 

[landlubber]

I have to agree with the dino assessment but truthfully, to know for sure it's best to get a sample on a slide and under a microscope.
I also agree that testing nutrients is a priority due to the possibility that they're bottomed out.

 

[mmorrison55]

It may be both Dino’s and cyano…

If it does end up being cyano, what worked for me after a few weeks of manual removal via siphoning and water changes was to dose coral snow and mix in some bacteria in a bottle like microbe special lift. Add immediately after the cleaning and water change was completed.

I also worked on getting my nitrate and phosphate in check. The water changes and adjusting my feeding.

If that had not worked, chemi clean was next on the list to try, but luckily it did work with my nuisance algae.

 

[Thomasreef]

Icp test.

 

[Thomasreef]

Looks like faulty RODI, but it doesn’t explain why some of my corals are having tissue necrosis

 

[CHSUB]

Algae and slimy stuff grow because aquarium is dirty. No real need to test anything because we are not testing what that algae and slimy stuff are consuming. Life of Earth is not some mysterious organisms that survive or grow without nutrients, it is really very simple. Clean and you will see improvement. Much of that algae and slimy stuff happens to be toxic to corals.

 

[Thomasreef]

Algae and slimy stuff grow because aquarium is dirty. No real need to test anything because we are not testing what that algae and slimy stuff are consuming. Life of Earth is not some mysterious organisms that survive or grow without nutrients, it is really very simple. Clean and you will see improvement. Much of that algae and slimy stuff happens to be toxic to corals.

So diatoms is toxic?

 

[PacoPetty]

I just had the exact same problem and put a uv sterilizer on my tank and in less than 24 hours it was completely clear.

 

[CHSUB]

So diatoms is toxic?

Someone will always point out the algae symbiosis with corals, however the fact is environments with high levels of algae are not ideal for corals; regardless of the type of algae.

 

[Science/G]

Blow it off with a turkey baster, net it out or siphon it out. Change out your filter floss or socks often during the process. The best way without chemicals, is to increase your flow a little bit, and add coral snow and microbacter7.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/extreme-water-clarity-and-cyano-eradication-made-easy.916381/

 

[PacoPetty]

I just had the exact same problem and put auv sterilizer on my tank and in less than 24 hours it was completely clear.

 

[sgdnycct]

It looks like cyano to me. If so best thing to do is siphon it out regularly. Check your parameters NO3 and PO4 are low but above 0. Feed more if at 0.

How old is the tank? What kind of rock did you use to start the tank?

This is common for new tank. The root cause is usually too low of variety in the microfauna. This is why people are starting to think that starting a tank with bare rock is not a good idea. It’s actually fine but you need to seed the tank with variety of microfauna to get the biome balanced.