Can you ID this algae for me?

[TWYOUNG]

I flooded my tank with diatoms a few months ago to eliminate prorocentrum dinos. I now have this fuzzy green algae primarily on my gravel. CUC is doing pretty good on the rock but this stuff on the gravel returns in about two weeks if removed. I suspect it could be GHA bc I have that growing in my fuge and on rock but it look different. Microscope pics are at 500x.

 

[vpierce3]

I can’t see very well. But I’d say green hair algae. In the microscope pics I can see a few dinos too.
I’m just about finished killing Prorocentrum too. I did it by getting my phosphates back up to where they needed to be by slowly dosing trisodium phosphates. Turned the white, red and green spectrums off on my lights. Lowered lighting intensity by 30%. Cleaned all my circulation pumps and made sure no dead spots. Heavily dosed Microbacter7. Kept rocks blown clean and regularly siphon dinos off of sand. Note: I did not do a water change….I syphoned the dinos through a filter sock in my sump. Once I started to get some green film algae on my glass, I added tisbe pods and started dosing Oceanmagik from Algae Barn. After two weeks, the dinos are 80% gone and I never did dose SI to induce diatoms.
Now that I have my nutrients up to a reasonable (but still low) level and are well balanced (phosphates are roughly 1/10th of nitrates, and now that biodiversity is affirmed, I will start my new UV filter to finish the dinos off and to avoid cyano and gha afterwards. And yes, Prorocentrum do swim at night if starved of light….not as much as osteo, but they do swim….especially if you stir the sand bed just before lights out.
My philosophy towards dinos has changed. I don’t try to kill them, I try to build up the the stuff that will overwhelm them. I strive for balance and health instead of attacking. I have found that this approach defeats the dinos much much faster and avoids the ugly consequences (cyano, gha, diatoms, etc) afterwards.
A little long winded but I hope this helps.

 

[vpierce3]

One more thing. I also ran a lot of fresh activated carbon. That will protect your corals and fish from the toxins released by the dinos as they die off.

 

[TWYOUNG]

One more thing. I also ran a lot of fresh activated carbon. That will protect your corals and fish from the toxins released by the dinos as they die off.

No corals yet. My system is 8 months old and is just starting to grow coralline. I dose MB7 and AF LifeSource weekly, TONS of phyto and pods which I'm culturing. Just as you said when siphoning the sand I filter through a 10 micron sock and don't change water. Is there anything else I should be doing about the stuff on my sandbed?

 

[vpierce3]

It’s probably just the after effects of killing off your dinos. If you heavily dosed SI it will take a bit to be used up.
What are your no3 and po4 levels?
Keep your nutrients in check, but not too low.
Keep removing the algae manually. Don’t let the algae just die in the system because it will just release all the nutrients it took in back into your system.
It will take a little time but once you have your water balanced out, the problem will resolve itself.
I would stop the Lifesource until you have corals. Right now it’s feeding the algae.
I would dose the Microbacter7 everyday until you see improvement.
And you can dose some 3% food-grade hydrogen peroxide every few days. That will help with the algae. Look at the Dino forums regarding dosage (I think it was 5ml per 20 gal of water). But double check.
You may want to consider a good quality, oversized UV filter when you are able.
Hope this helps.

 

[TWYOUNG]

It’s probably just the after effects of killing off your dinos. If you heavily dosed SI it will take a bit to be used up.
What are your no3 and po4 levels?
Keep your nutrients in check, but not too low.
Keep removing the algae manually. Don’t let the algae just die in the system because it will just release all the nutrients it took in back into your system.
It will take a little time but once you have your water balanced out, the problem will resolve itself.
I would stop the Lifesource until you have corals. Right now it’s feeding the algae.
I would dose the Microbacter7 everyday until you see improvement.
And you can dose some 3% food-grade hydrogen peroxide every few days. That will help with the algae. Look at the Dino forums regarding dosage (I think it was 5ml per 20 gal of water). But double check.
You may want to consider a good quality, oversized UV filter when you are able.
Hope this helps.

I'm using a 40w Pentair UV at 170-200gph in my 130gal tank. Nitrate levels are being maintained 5-15 and phosphates 0.05-0.15 but that requires a constant infusion of sodium phosphate. When I siphon off the algae I've been rinsing the gravel in tank water, filtering through a 10 micron sock and returning the gravel and water to the tank. I worry I could be returning unwanted "stuff" even after filtering but don't want a water change since I struggle to keep nutrients up. The Lifesource is prophylactic tx to increase biodiversity and avoid a return of dinos. H2O2 use concerns me as I've heard it can have negative effects on inverts and I have a large cuc including three shrimp. An ATI water test January 1st showed a silicate level of 6000 about a month after I stopped dosing. I plan a repeat test in early April to see where I stand.
I think that covers everything you mentioned and I want to add that I also have a "fuge". Chaeto initially grew well but stopped and was overgrown with GHA. I've converted the fuge into a sort of algae reactor with coarse mesh for the algae to grow on and then I power wash it about every two weeks. Water enters through weirs on the bottom left and comes up through Marinepure blocks and mesh.
Thank you for whatever advice you can provide. I've had sw fish for 30+ years but have been out of reefing for 25 so it's a whole new game.

 

[vpierce3]

I would still suspend the Lifesource if I were you and just stick with the trisodium phosphate for now.
increase the flow in your UV to 500 gph or so. And continue to be diligent with manual removal.
Also double check your lighting spectrum and intensity.

 

[TWYOUNG]

I would still suspend the Lifesource if I were you and just stick with the trisodium phosphate for now.
increase the flow in your UV to 500 gph or so. And continue to be diligent with manual removal.
Also double check your lighting spectrum and intensity.

Thanks. I have three G5 Radion XR 30's running the AB+ program at 30% intensity which yields a PAR of 100-250 throughout most of the tank. I realize I don't "need" the light currently but felt I want the tank to adjust to the light it will eventually require. If algae grows NOW I can get a handle on it. Otherwise I fear adding coral, then cranking up the PAR and having algae choking out my corals.(Algae overgrowing corals was largely responsible for me abandoning reef keeping in the past.

 

[vpierce3]

Thanks. I have three G5 Radion XR 30's running the AB+ program at 30% intensity which yields a PAR of 100-250 throughout most of the tank. I realize I don't "need" the light currently but felt I want the tank to adjust to the light it will eventually require. If algae grows NOW I can get a handle on it. Otherwise I fear adding coral, then cranking up the PAR and having algae choking out my corals.(Algae overgrowing corals was largely responsible for me abandoning reef keeping in the past.

Those are already pretty high PAR levels. And I run the AB+ too.
To help beat the dinos and other uglies I would turn off the whites, reds and greens. And reduce the intensity by another 30%.
Remember that as long as conditions are right, the algae will stay. It’s not something you can just get it over with (except the initial uglies at start up).
Once the algae and dinos are gone you can slowly ramp your PAR up.
Remember too that you can do more damage to coral with too much light than not enough. It’s best to proceed in a conservative manner.

 

[TWYOUNG]

Those are already pretty high PAR levels. And I run the AB+ too.
To help beat the dinos and other uglies I would turn off the whites, reds and greens. And reduce the intensity by another 30%.
Remember that as long as conditions are right, the algae will stay. It’s not something you can just get it over with (except the initial uglies at start up).
Once the algae and dinos are gone you can slowly ramp your PAR up.
Remember too that you can do more damage to coral with too much light than not enough. It’s best to proceed in a conservative manner.

When you say to reduce the lighting another 30% I'm not sure what you mean since I'm only running 30% now. Did you bring those other spectrums back in after you started adding corals?

 

[vpierce3]

So with my AI Hydras I can adjust the level of each light spectrum individually and I can also adjust the overall lighting level (all colors at once) too.
So while fighting dinos, cyano and algae, I turn the white, red and green totally off. Once the problem is dealt with, I slowly bring those colors back up. Not everyone agrees, but there is good evidence that the corals really only need the UV and blues. The nuisance algaes love the whites, yellows, reds and green.
As for lowering another 30%, I mean that if you have (as an example) 100 PAR, lower it to 70 PAR.

 

[TWYOUNG]

So with my AI Hydras I can adjust the level of each light spectrum individually and I can also adjust the overall lighting level (all colors at once) too.
So while fighting dinos, cyano and algae, I turn the white, red and green totally off. Once the problem is dealt with, I slowly bring those colors back up. Not everyone agrees, but there is good evidence that the corals really only need the UV and blues. The nuisance algaes love the whites, yellows, reds and green.
As for lowering another 30%, I mean that if you have (as an example) 100 PAR, lower it to 70 PAR.

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