Brown hair algae impossible to beat!!

[Willbiker]

This is another sign of cyano rather than Dino’s.

If you decide to dose nitrate you can dose sodium nitrate or potassium nitrate.

Here is a good dosing calculator

James' Planted Tank - Dosing Calculator

Cyano Is usually red looking isnt it? And Dino is brown snot with bubbles. Mine looks like brown snot with lots of bubbles. Also Cyano, correct me if I'm wrong, usually appears as a result of elevated phosphate and nitrate and general poor maintenance? My levels are low/zero so I believe its Dinos....

 

[Willbiker]

See attached video. Is this a waste of time? My thought is that it doesn't disturb my sand bed too much but disturbs the dino making it waterborne for my uv to zap. What do you think?

 

[Ludders]

Seen it now, I don't think doing that will do any harm. Once the nutrients are elevated other things should out compete the dino's and they should go away, but it might take a bit of time.

 

[Willbiker]

not sure if it's just me, but the video isn't loading

How about now?

 

[Willbiker]

Yes OK thanks l. Ive upped the feeding to 3 times per day and have removed my gfo and fuge light. I will check to see if this raises the nitrate and phosphate in a few days time and if not ill dose. Thanks for the help

 

[SMSREEF]

Cyano Is usually red looking isnt it? And Dino is brown snot with bubbles. Mine looks like brown snot with lots of bubbles. Also Cyano, correct me if I'm wrong, usually appears as a result of elevated phosphate and nitrate and general poor maintenance? My levels are low/zero so I believe its Dinos....

Cyano can be many colors. Many people have problems when nitrate gets low and the cyano begins to form a mat. Cyanobacteria can actually fix nitrogen into a form of nutrient they need to survive.
Here is a good article. It also has some pics of brown cyano.

Nitrogen fixation and diversity of benthic cyanobacterial mats on coral reefs in Curaçao - Coral Reefs

Benthic cyanobacterial mats (BCMs) have increased in abundance on coral reefs worldwide. However, their species diversity and role in nitrogen fixation are poorly understood. We assessed the cyanobacterial diversity of BCMs at four coral reef sites in Curaçao, Southern Caribbean. In addition...

link.springer.com

Again, I am not positive on the cyano ID without the microscope pic. Could also be Dinos.

 

[Roytrolls247]

Try to introduce Vibrant dosing BRS did a entire Investigation series on it.. Along with manual removal vibrant should help.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Another question about GFO and carbon which I run in a duel reactor.

I'm worried about the toxins released when dinos die off. Should I stick to my normal carbon amount or should I up my carbon quantities ?

I have removed my GFO inorder to increase my po4. This allows me to up the flow rate of the carbon. My GFO was fresh in last week and I don't want to waste it. Can I keep it in a container of water until I'm ready to use it again or is this not a good idea?

Thanks

For toxins- that’s why you want to clean filters daily. I like filter socks or wool for this purpose

 

[B'sNano]

Is 0.08 too high for po4?

Some say that po4 should be 0.03, your po4 is probably higher then 0.08 , but due to the algea in the tank , the po4 is being used up to where you are only getting a 0.08 reading. Im not sure about Microbacter clean, but if you use Vibrant, you'll need to remove your chaeto cause Vibrant will kill that as well

 

[Silent]

Look at it under a scope and stop the guessing game. That is the best way to get things back on track,

 

[Willbiker]

You are right. I dug my crappy microscope out and here is a video... I cant zoom in any further than this.

 

[Ludders]

What's the verdict then?

 

[Willbiker]

Anyone?

 

[SMSREEF]

What's the verdict then?

Definitely dinos. @taricha and @ScottB are really good at IDing the type of Dinos. Hopefully one of them are online.

 

[takitaj]

Kinda hard to make a certain identification but judging solely on shape and movement it looks like Amphidinium (large or small) or Prorocentrum maybe. Too hard to say at that magnification. I did see a few "spinning" as well so there may even be some Ostreopsis mixed in as well. I attached a great pdf from member taricha here. I couldn't find the thread.

 

[ScottB]

You are right. I dug my crappy microscope out and here is a video... I cant zoom in any further than this.

Hard to say for sure, but shape and swim pattern closely matches LC Amphidinium as @takitaj suggested. Did you max zoom your phone too?

Assuming @taricha does not correct this ID, I have good news and bad.

Good news: they are not toxic; they just look bad.
Bad news: they are fairly persistent little buggers and treatment protocols are still kinda all over the place. Choose an easier species next time.

So here is a link to the main treatment thread. 68 pages detailing the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat with Amphids.

Amphidinium Dinoflagellate Treatment Methods

This thread is a spin-off from the @mcarroll very successful Dino thread The purpose is to discuss methods for removal and fighting against a particular strain of dinoflagellate - Large Cell Amphidinium. It seems to make up about a third of the cases of dinos. The reason this strain gets its...

www.reef2reef.com

Honestly, if your system is less than a year old, I would just treat them as another ugly phase that will pass. The "cure" is often more distressing to your animals than the pest itself.

 

[Willbiker]

Hard to say for sure, but shape and swim pattern closely matches LC Amphidinium as @takitaj suggested. Did you max zoom your phone too?

Assuming @taricha does not correct this ID, I have good news and bad.

Good news: they are not toxic; they just look bad.
Bad news: they are fairly persistent little buggers and treatment protocols are still kinda all over the place. Choose an easier species next time.

So here is a link to the main treatment thread. 68 pages detailing the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat with Amphids.

Amphidinium Dinoflagellate Treatment Methods

This thread is a spin-off from the @mcarroll very successful Dino thread The purpose is to discuss methods for removal and fighting against a particular strain of dinoflagellate - Large Cell Amphidinium. It seems to make up about a third of the cases of dinos. The reason this strain gets its...

www.reef2reef.com

Honestly, if your system is less than a year old, I would just treat them as another ugly phase that will pass. The "cure" is often more distressing to your animals than the pest itself.

Thanks Scott, I will have a good read of that. Ive had them for most months now so ill do anything to get rid! But I don't want to stress my livestock so won't take any harsh actions. Thanks again

 

[ScottB]

Thanks Scott, I will have a good read of that. Ive had them for most months now so ill do anything to get rid! But I don't want to stress my livestock so won't take any harsh actions. Thanks again

It is quite the read. While there are countless variations, I would generally group the methods in these buckets:

a) keep nutrient up (NO3 and PO4) and dose silicates to encourage competition. And wait for diatoms and cyano to suppress them.
b) Rip the sand bed out. Add it back little at a time several months later.
c) The Elegance Coral method (H2O2 and bacteria)
d) Drive yourself crazy vacuuming the sand for the rest of your life method.
e) The "it is just a phase" method.
f) The Add diversity method. Add old live rock. Add pods. Add media or sand from another system. Add mud to sump.

The Elegance method seems very popular, but if you read enough of the thread, anecdotally it is a 50/50 flip of the coin as to whether it works or not. And it is fairly intense intrusion into the biome.

Personally a fan of "a" and "f" at least for the long term.

<begin rant> I won't start a system without a ton of old live rock or aged marine pure block. Hitchhikers can be managed. Every hitchhiker has a predator except for dinos. Dinos need to be outcompeted with a nice wide variety of bacterial film, film algae, coralline algae, microfauna, etc. <end rant>

Good luck.

 

[rkpetersen]

I beat dinos by doing multiple daily water filtrations through a 1 micron filter sock, until they just stop coming back. You can get 1 micron socks on Amazon and probably elsewhere. I also adjust phosphate and nitrate levels up slightly if those are near zero. This has worked to eliminate all dinos within 2 weeks, once with ostreopsis, and a second time with prorocentrum.

 

[Jeffcb]

My tank is 7 months old and I've had an algae issue almost since the start. Its evolved from just diatoms on the sand to full on 2 inch long brown hair.

I had a very little bio load until the last 2 months. This didnt seam to make a difference. I even did 80 days fallow due to ich, the algae remained.

I first thought it was due to really high tds as a result of not changing ro membrane. I changed my carbon, prefilter, membrane and resin 2.5 months ago. Tds has since measured 0 but still the algae remains.

I do 15% water change per week. The algae remains

I introduced GFO and carbon reactors 3.5 months ago.. the algae remains.

I added chaeto to my sump and its been growing quite nicely for 4 months...the algae remains in the tank but nothing on my live rock in the sump. (Even though there is 24/7 grow light.

I had an all pond solutions skimmer which wasn't too good. I upgraded to a red sea c-skim 1800 2 weeks ago and it seems to be pulling out more junk. Too soon to know if this will help...

I added crabs and mexican turbo snails and they ate it all off the rock but remained on the sand. They then lost interest in it and it returned. I also added a yellow tang which doesn't touch it. Ive also got nas snails to turn the sand.....the algae remains. Ive added 30 more turbo snails 1 week ago...no sign of a reduction of algae yet.

I feed once per day and a small amount feed reef roids using a baster once per week. My lights are on 10 hours per day.

my phosphate po4 measures 0.08 and nitrate 0.

I cant remove my rocks easily but have scrubbed it off in the water. It comes off easily but returns almost overnight. Ive removed the top layer of sand and its returned almost overnight . The hair algae on the sand even catches the gas escaping!

I am at a dead end...what can I do? My fear is that my silica sand is releasing silicates. Is there a way to test this?

Any help would be greatly appreciated as im lost and at my whits end!!

Here are some pics

Try a UV filter.