Diatome outbreak

[Reef Homer]

I'm a bit at a loss here. For about three weeks I'm battling the mother of all Diatom outbreaks. The problem is that I can't understand why it happened in the first place.
The tank (1600l/425g) is running now since 7 months without any problem. I have currently about 15 fish in the tank. My NO3 is 0 and my PO4 is 0.05. This nutrient level is the same since months now. I'm running a refugium with macro algae for nutrient control, ozone and carbon on my tank as well as a Nyos 220 skimmer. My lights are on for 8 hours a day. I haven't changed anything or introduced anything new to the tank in months either. Usually I would suspect a high silicate level (ICP test is on its way), but I wouldn't know where this should come from all of a sudden.
So if you guys have any thoughts or recommendations please let me know.
pH 8.1
Alk 8dKh
Cal 450
Mag 1350
Sal 35ppt

 

[Dr. Reef]

i think its chrysophytes (golden brown algae). it have many species and some need silica some dont some are photosynthetic and some can be heterotrophic. its hard to say which type you may have. my guess would be that 7 months later and no recent addition of any sort most silica should already have been long gone so i would lean towards photosynthetic species. try cutting lights out for few days and see what it does, also to get a head start siphon or pull as much as you can off out of the tank then do the lights off.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Yep, doesn't look like diatoms. Looks like dinoflagellates or chyrsophytes.

 

[Brew12]

I would love to see this under a scope but my gut feel is that it is actually a type of cyanobacteria. Or more likely, two strains of cyanobacteria growing together.

If you want to run a quick test, take some out and put it in a small container. Add a little hydrogen peroxide to the container and see if the water turns red.

 

[Dr. Reef]

I would love to see this under a scope but my gut feel is that it is actually a type of cyanobacteria. Or more likely, two strains of cyanobacteria growing together.

If you want to run a quick test, take some out and put it in a small container. Add a little hydrogen peroxide to the container and see if the water turns red.

I honestly thought the same as I can see some red in the pics in 2 different spots. Good idea to test it for being sure. Either way no lights will kill most of it.

 

[tenurepro]

Hate to say this but they look like Dino’s
Would need a scope to confirm.
Have a look here if Dinos

 

[Reefer40b]

I'm in the same boat... Went on vacation for 5 days came back and Had a big colony of blue tenuis straight RTN/some others looking stressed browning out and what looks to be Dino's blooming bad need to confirm it... yet all of my parameters are the same as before I left... ;Rage

 

[Reef Homer]

He Guys, thanks for all that advice. I'll definitely are going to look into that. I'll let you know what I have found out.

 

[Reef Homer]

i think its chrysophytes (golden brown algae). it have many species and some need silica some dont some are photosynthetic and some can be heterotrophic. its hard to say which type you may have. my guess would be that 7 months later and no recent addition of any sort most silica should already have been long gone so i would lean towards photosynthetic species. try cutting lights out for few days and see what it does, also to get a head start siphon or pull as much as you can off out of the tank then do the lights off.

They come off super easy. I can easily just blow them of the rocks with a turkey baster. It comes off like dust. Would that be same with Dinos or Chrysophytes?

 

[EmptyWallet]

I had a brutal nuisance algae outbreak (brown filamentous) despite 'perfect water conditions'. I turned down the intensity of my DT lights (radions) and put the h380 over my fuge on for 18 hours a day. Within a week all nuisance algae grew furiously in the fuge only. Add 10 trochus snails to the fuge and my algae problems are ancient history. chaeto easily doubling weekly. point being nuisance algaes generally grow where light is strongest so an option is to 'cheat' and grow it outside of your DT, even just to slow it down and buy some time

 

[Brew12]

They come off super easy. I can easily just blow them of the rocks with a turkey baster. It comes off like dust. Would that be same with Dinos or Chrysophytes?

How does the stuff on the sand bed respond? Does it blow off like dust, also?

You may have diatoms on your rocks but a different issue on your sand bed.

 

[Clueless Reefer]

Thank you for the replies on this thread since this looks like a similar problem that I was posting on. You do have a different filtration method than I have; in my case it seems that my chaeto grow light has positive affects on the chaeto and then also grows this negative algae as well. The brown that you have on your sand is what I have on my rocks and I have diatom's on the sand I believe.

 

[Reef Homer]

How does the stuff on the sand bed respond? Does it blow off like dust, also?

You may have diatoms on your rocks but a different issue on your sand bed.

No, it's definitely the same on the rocks as well as on the substrate. It comes of the substrate just as easy.

 

[Reef Homer]

So as promised here is an update on my diatom problem.
In the meantime I did an ICP test which my tank past with flying colours. Meaning there is absolutely nothing in or missing in my water that would explain the problem I'm facing. Since I wanted to really try everything I also did a three day black out and also gave my tank a ChemiClean treatment. Yesterday I spent approximately 6 hours on going over my rocks with a tooth brush and give it a good clean while at the same time siphoning out what ever came off my rocks. I also vacuumed the sand. So far it seems that it has helped to reduce the problem dramatically. I know, by doing multiple treatments more or less at the same time, it makes it harder to actually find out what the problem is/was in the first place. But I'm at a point where I really don't care anymore and just want this brown menace gone.

 

[EmptyWallet]

Sounds brutal. I trust you have an army of Trochus Snails in your tank helping out? I've got 10 in my 8 foot and they keep it squeaky clean - brown nuisance algae there favourite treat (green not so much)... Prior to that I was spending hours with a toothbrush each week, slowly breaking my will to live!

 

[Reef Homer]

Sounds brutal. I trust you have an army of Trochus Snails in your tank helping out? I've got 10 in my 8 foot and they keep it squeaky clean - brown nuisance algae there favourite treat (green not so much)... Prior to that I was spending hours with a toothbrush each week, slowly breaking my will to live!

You bet. They're working tirelessly, but were outnumbered by what ever was growing in my tank.

 

[Reef Homer]

So a few months went by and I have to admit that at some stage I just gave up on trying to figure out what was wrong. I also talked to a very seasoned fellow Reefer in my area and his advise also to just wait it out and that it is most likely just an ugly phase my (still young) tank has to go thru. Well, it seems that he was right, because since a couple of weeks now all of a sudden I noticed that the Diatoms got less and less and now I can say they are practically gone. So on-wards from here. I also added a (crappy) photo.