Green Algae - Need ID and Recommendations please

[Xavier434]

Hello,

I have had an algae bloom on my sand for about a month now. It keeps getting worse. I think it might be green slime Cyano, but I want a more seasoned pair of eyes to ID it for me before I explore solutions. Below are pictures including under my microscope as well as a video and my tank parameters.

Tank: 190 gallon with sump including UV, biopellet reactor, GFO bag, refugium, skimmer.
Livestock: Stocked with a variety of fish, one torch, and a small colony of zoas.

Salinity: 35
pH: 8.09
Alk: 8.58
CA: 549
MG: 1315
Nitrate: 46.5
Phosphate: 0.12


Once I get an ID, I would like recommendations on solutions to get rid of it. The only thing that I have done so far was add Chemiclean yesterday on 4/23 following the instructions on the packaging. I have not seen any positive results yet.

Video - Algae Under Microscope

 

[Dan_P]

Hello,

I have had an algae bloom on my sand for about a month now. It keeps getting worse. I think it might be green slime Cyano, but I want a more seasoned pair of eyes to ID it for me before I explore solutions. Below are pictures including under my microscope as well as a video and my tank parameters.

Tank: 190 gallon with sump including UV, biopellet reactor, GFO bag, refugium, skimmer.
Livestock: Stocked with a variety of fish, one torch, and a small colony of zoas.

Salinity: 35
pH: 8.09
Alk: 8.58
CA: 549
MG: 1315
Nitrate: 46.5
Phosphate: 0.12


Once I get an ID, I would like recommendations on solutions to get rid of it. The only thing that I have done so far was add Chemiclean yesterday on 4/23 following the instructions on the packaging. I have not seen any positive results yet.

Video - Algae Under Microscope

@taricha, I am wondering if this beautiful round cell is a cyanobacteria.

 

[Xavier434]

Assuming it is Cyano, what are the most highly recommended methods of fighting back these days? It has been several years since I read up on them. I read the following post so far:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/battling-cyano-new-reefers-please-read.964133/

Is all of the above what people recommend or is there something more or different as well?

Also, I decided to suck as much of it out of the tank as I could this evening. I figure I should keep doing that but what I really am hoping to achieve is a more beneficial bacteria dominating the tank instead. I just do not know the best approach to making that happen.

 

[taricha]

@taricha, I am wondering if this beautiful round cell is a cyanobacteria.

so we've seen this (or very similar) a few times.
here's one that also appeared with green sand growth
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/a...croscope-images-included.973077/post-11168943

and here's another that showed the same sticky accumulation pattern
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/algae-id.845893/post-9174414

I do like the single-cell cyano tentative identification.

The only thing that I have done so far was add Chemiclean yesterday on 4/23 following the instructions on the packaging. I have not seen any positive results yet.

Do let us know how it responds (or not) to chemi-clean.

 

[Xavier434]

Will do. The Chemi-clean 48 hour period ends tonight at 10pm which is when I plan to initiate the 20% water change. Last night, I sucked almost all of it up with a siphon and the lights do not turn on for another hour. Tank presently looks clean so I am curious about what it looks like after a few hours of light today.

Additionally, here are some more facts & observations:

• The mats clearly become less dense almost as soon as the lights go out. Much like what I have witnessed with Dinos. They come back full force once the lights turn back on which at least suggests to me that the cells are not retreating into the water column. Or if they do then they are not being killed by my UV.
• They have not touched my rockwork at all yet.
• This is the first time I have ever had this algae visible and blooming like this in my tank. The tank is going on 3 years.
• Nothing appears to be eating it and nothing appears to be harmed by it yet. That includes urchins.
• The tank parameters that I cited are normal for my tank with exception of the phosphates which are high, but normally those are around 0.07 instead so not THAT much higher and this is not a first.
• I just recently replaced all of my RO filters which were looking rough (100% my fault) and my RO membrane is old. I ordered a replacement membrane which arrives in a week. I suspect that the old membrane might be the real cause of this bloom, but I am not sure.

 

[Xavier434]

So today after my lights were on for about 8 hours I did not notice much of a change which I am considering a good thing. I sucked up at least 90% of all visible Cyano last night and none of it has returned yet. The remaining 10% is scattered and was visible while the lights were on, but now that they have been off for about 90 minutes I am unable to see any at all. It is possible that part of this outcome can be attributed to my use of Chemi-Clean, but I have no way to be certain. I also began my 20% water change this evening which should gradually complete itself by tomorrow.

Going forward, my intention is to try to properly dose beneficial bacteria so that it overwhelms the Cyano and also breaks down a hefty chunk of the current Nitrates and Phosphates without going overboard. My plan to do so is to use Dr. Tim's Waste Away following it's instructions on the label. However, I am open to other ideas on how to best accomplish this goal.

 

[Xavier434]

Just wanted to give an update. Sadly, nothing is working. I have sucked the stuff off of the sand several times. I have added Waste Away twice so far. If I do not suck it off the sand then it spreads rapidly over the course of just a few days.

I need more suggestions. Should I try more Chemiclean? How often can one use that stuff?

 

[Xavier434]

So I wanted to report back just in case anyone runs across the same species and is looking for a fix to this problem. I did fix it, but it took time to figure out the right combination of what was needed. It's completely gone now. My sand is white as snow. Here is what it took:

1. Dosing Dr. Tim's Waste Away using the dose amount instructed on the bottle once a week. As it states, I turned off my skimmer and UV for 24 hours after dosing.

2. Dosing the maximum instructed dose amount of Microbacter 7 daily for 3 weeks. I did not turn off any equipment for this dosing.

3. Sucking as much of it out as I could weekly, rinsing the sand that got sucked out with it till it was very clean, letting the sand dry just in case, then adding the sand back.

4. Scraping the sand/glass where the two meet daily since it always built up there first.

5. Using a pump to blow the surface of the sand where it was building up to force it to free float in the water. I did this once every 2-3 days. I think this helped force it through the UV more often instead of just at night.


After a few weeks of all of the above, it was gone. Prior to those 3 weeks, I was performing #1, #3, and #4 only, but it just kept coming back. That routine still might have helped though. Particularly #1 since it takes time for that good bacteria to grow and spread to the point where it overcomes the problem. As such, 3 weeks may not be enough for others who encounter this species, but if you do and you are reading this then do all of the above and be both diligent and patient.

Also, for the record, I did not use chemiclean again at all except the one time mentioned when I first created this post. It did not work at all then and I cannot say if additional attempts would have solved the problem or not, but I wouldn't recommend it for this species.

Good luck.