Brown Hair Algae or Cyano or WHAT IS THIS ???

[nmpopp]

Ive been battling algae in a certain spot in my tank since I started this bad boy (6 months ago not including 3 month cycle). I call it algae, but I have absolutely no idea what this stuff is.

Allow me to explain the best I can:

This nuisance began growing after my initial cycle (I cycled this baby for about 3 months because it just took that long). I was very patient with it, and didn't rush into anything because I wanted to avoid any type of algae.

After adding my first fish to the tank (2 small clownfish) results were very typical. Nitrates slowly rose over the next week from approx 2.5-5 ppm to approx 10 ppm (New Salifert Nitrate kit). Phosphates never changed much on my Salifert kit (always looked to be 0). After getting an ultra low range Hanna checker, the reader gave me a reading of .06.

The algae began right after the addition of the fish. I know this can happen, Ive seen it happen with every tank Ive had. I did water change after water change and could not get my nitrates or phos to go down.

I began dosing NoPoX. This did WONDERS to my nutrients. It brought my Nitrates down to 1 - 2.5ppm and my Phos to .002. However this "algae" did not go away. I have done water changes, added marine pure blocks, scrubbed, scraped, you name it.

HERE IS MY TANK INFO

28 gal. all in one Biocube w AI Prime Light

Reef saver rock

Filtration: GAC, Protein Skimmer, Marine Pure Blocks, Daily Dose of 1 mL of NoPOX (haven't missed a day since I began 2 months ago dosing)

Fish: 2 Clowns and 1 Fire Fish (eat very small amounts of frozen food)

CUC: No clean up crew as they have annoyed me in the past, and I have found them to not do much but get in the way

Parameters:

Nitrate: < 2.5ppm
Phos: My last reading on Hanna read 0 (first time reading 0 waiting for more tests to arrive)
Temp: 78
Salinity: 1.025ppm
pH: 8.1

This "algae" is not like any hair algae I've ever had before. Its brown (almost a rust color) and very weak. I can blow a lot of this off with a turkey baster. It grows on the glass and in a few spots on the sand bed and also on a few areas on the rock. I used a glass cleaner to clean the glass today and this "algae" REEKS. The smell is extremely "spicy" like it burns my nostrils. When I touched some of it it almost disintegrated into a dusk and stuck to my finger, so I smelt it lol. It compares to the smell of loose change (metallic).

What is this stuff, and what can I do to get rid of it? (it looks like Lyngbya when it grows in the glass)

 

[Big G]

Yes, I had the stinky stuff in both my DT and coral qt. Added a Starry Blenny in the DT and the stuff is GONE. Coral qt is fishless, so I vacuum, scrub, w/c as needed. Man does that stuff smell bad or what. It's hard to get the smell off my fingers. Yikes

 

[timnem70]

Can we get a FTS? If that tank is 9 months old and still appears the way those few pics look, something is wrong. I see zero Coraline or any type of maturation. What are your parameters? The duncan looks okay though and with some more info we may be able to help. If, as you've stated it is occurring in "certain parts" of your aquarium, it may be a flow issue or lighting but generally, an underlaying problem exisits. Let us see the whole thing.
Thanks

 

[timnem70]

Also should have asked. Are you using RODI? It could be the filter membranes are not getting the harmful "crud" out and it is manifesting in an algae outbreak.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It's pretty hard to identify many pests from such pictures, but it looks like stuff folks commonly get. It might be cyano.

 

[nmpopp]

Yes I use RO/DI water always. I can’t make any right now because of temperatures outside so I buy it from my LFS who I trust.

 

[nmpopp]

Yes I use RO/DI water always. I can’t make any right now because of temperatures outside so I buy it from my LFS who I trust.

 

[timnem70]

Yes I use RO/DI water always. I can’t make any right now because of temperatures outside so I buy it from my LFS who I trust.

There's nothing wrong with that tank. The 1st year or more will bring these outbreaks. Just keep vaccumimg the sand, lower the light exposure and feeding and do water changes. Do you have any chaeto or culerpa in the fuge chamber to outcompete some of that? Just keep doing what you're doing. Best of luck.