Dino’s or diatoms?

[Chad_P]

I’ve had this algae for a few months. Goes away at lights out and begins to come back when light hits tank. Dosing NoPox and here are parameters
NO3: 10
Phos: 0.07
Alk: 8.3
Ca: 420
Salinity: 1.025

I see bubbles in certain parts. Also added a couple of dry rock pieces but I’ve had this issue before then. Tank is about 8 months old.

Any ideas?

 

[KJ]

Diatoms

 

[Coralreefer1]

I believe it’s dinoflagellates. Can you reduce your lighting duration and coloration away from the red end? Do a water change after siphoning out the buildup. Try increasing water flow to the benthic area of your tank. Minimize nutrients, add Sand Sifting inverts for maintainance...
See if these tricks work...

 

[marlinmon]

Only way to be sure is microscope

 

[RFL]

+1 for guessing dinoflagellates.

 

[Chad_P]

For those that think Dino’s, can that be even though I’ve got nitrate and phosphate readings above 0?

 

[marlinmon]

For those that think Dino’s, can that be even though I’ve got nitrate and phosphate readings above 0?

I’ve had Dino’s before with phosphates present. My guess is they sucked my nitrates to zero

 

[Chad_P]

Only way to be sure is microscope

Any cheap microscope?

 

[Chad_P]

Definitely diatoms just can’t get a positive ID

 

[Chad_P]

Based on some pics from a thread on here I’m betting either one of these bc I can see the little “circle” on them. It tends to be on the outer edge, not necessarily centered like in these pics tho.

 

[Chad_P]

Should I stop my NoPox dosing and focus on getting nutrients higher? Turned back on my UV last night as well

 

[Chad_P]

So a couple things have happened.

Dino’s appear to be sticking to the sandbed. No where else.

I dosed H2O2...a lot. Actually overdosed 1ml/gallon on accident, complete mind slip. Anyways, everything in the tank including fish, clams, anemones (bta, gig, mag), and SPS were fine. Within the hour the anemones were not happy and Both then and the SPS began dumping zoox. I did do a 40 gallon water change to help dilute it a bit.

Fast forward and everything bounced back. It seemed to have an impact on the Dino’s as they appeared to retreat a bit. At the same time I started dosing PO4 and am now up to 0.15. Previously was as low as 0.02. Nitrates were right around 15 ppm but I feel better that the NO3 and PO4 is getting better balanced. At least nothing is bottoming to 0.

Sandbed is looking better everyday.

 

[Chad_P]

Also forgot to add that I dosed stability and microbak7 to try and add some additional bacteria.

 

[Chad_P]

Hello white sandbed!!! [emoji2956]

 

[Chad_P]

Not sure if I can claim victory yet, or if I know exactly what has the Dino’s on the run but here’s what I did and when I saw results. Keep in mind mine were strictly on the sandbed. I also was dosing stability and microbak7 in attempts to add bacteria.

Day 1: Dosed H2O2 1ml/gallon. Overdose, won’t do that again. Did a 40 gallon water change asap. Corals (mostly SPS) and anemones were not happy. Still dealing with some STN on a few pieces because my dkh and ca uptake has decreased and I’ve been trying to mitigate the swings. Anemones bounces back within a few hours. Fish and clams were never impacted. Dino’s were definitely impacted. I also decided to starting raising PO4 and began dosing brightwells neophos, thinking ice hot and NO3 and PO4 imbalance. NO3 and PO4 were at 10 and 0.02.

Day 2: Kept dosing neophos and also began dosing brightwells silica in hopes to outcompete the Dino’s.

Day 3: Still noticed a decrease in Dino’s. Still saw areas where my sand was clumpy indicating they were there but not as much dirty sand look. PO4 was at 0.11. Kept dosing silica.

Day 4: Kept dosing neophos and got PO4 up to 0.15. Stopped dosing. Sandbed continued to improve. And also kept dosing silica.

Day 5 and 6: sandbed still clean no clumpy areas and no browsing look. Still dosing silica.

Day 7: Sandbed looks like it did a few months ago. Stopped dosing silica as I’m starting to get a little green algae on the sandbed. PO4 is at 0.1.

I will wait to do any water changes until next week and will likely keep PO4 in the 0.6-0.1 range for a while. NO3 still at 10. My SPS seems to not be doing as well, I’m guessing die to the PO4 swinging up and also the ca and dkh swings. I’m guessing the H2O2 ticked off the corals and they stopped taking in dkh. So my dkh has increased from 8.5 to 9.7 even with me trying to get ahead of.

Will update again here in another few days.

 

[Chad_P]

Day 8: NO3 is dropping down to 2.5. Makes sense why I’m losing some SPS and my mag anemone is angry. Dosed some brightwells neonitro to start bringing it up to around 5. PO4 is 0.04. Began dosing brightwells neophos to bring it up to around 0.06. I don’t trust the low range of the Hanna checker as with the error rate you could be getting a higher reading that actuals (I know it goes either way, but that’s what I feel like got me here with this issue). I’d rather be on the higher end but no more than 0.1.

 

[Chad_P]

Quick update, no signs of Dino’s. Have to admit I’ve seen to eliminated them faster than I thought would be possible.

Once I raised my PO4 and dosed silicate, my sand bed looks brand new. After most of the Dino’s were eliminated I couldn’t tell if I had a slight film on my sand or if that was the beginning of diatoms establishing themselves. Haven’t dosed silicate in over a week and the sand bed is pure white

 

[Hwsreef]

any updates @Chad_P ?

 

[Hwsreef]

So Any updates @Chad_P ?

 

[Chad_P]

So Any updates @Chad_P ?

Yes, still no Dino’s. I had a very minor case of diatoms which I’m guessing was due to my dosing silicate.

I’ve also added some additional live rock and completely quit any dosing of NOPOX or running of GFO. Trying to bring down my nutrient levels by manual water changes and lightening my bioload.

The only thing I’ve noticed is on my rocks I’m getting what look like so bubbles on some places on top of the rock. I’ll try and snag some pics but these don’t look like Dino’s and aren’t stringy, they are just right on top of rock. I’m guessing nitrogen bubbles or oxygen due to photosynthesis. No brown stringy stuff just bubbles that float away when blown. They tend to arrive later in the photo period.

Coraline algae is taking over most of my rock and I don’t see any brown stringy stuff or cyano anywhere. Also took my UV offline a couple of months ago.