Half of my aquarium looks good. The other half ... I’m not sure.

[TinyChocobo]

Looks like a type of chrysophyte. Was Carib Sea live sand used in this tank?

No. Argonite sand - but not live.

 

[TinyChocobo]

If it is chrysophyte - physical removal the only solution? I checked my algae reactor and I had a ton of this stuff in there.

I rinsed off my chaeto algae really well and put the reactor back together.

I was hoping to set up a 25 watt UV on the tank which I think should help with the motile stage of the chrysophytes if that is what it is.

I can take better microscopic pictures Friday as I have a small microscope camera coming.

 

[reeferfoxx]

If it is chrysophyte - physical removal the only solution? I checked my algae reactor and I had a ton of this stuff in there.

I rinsed off my chaeto algae really well and put the reactor back together.

I was hoping to set up a 25 watt UV on the tank which I think should help with the motile stage of the chrysophytes if that is what it is.

I can take better microscopic pictures Friday as I have a small microscope camera coming.

Actually, I think your pictures are fine.

@mcarroll @taricha What do you think? I think it looks like chrysos.

Yes manual removal is best and the UV would help.

 

[taricha]

Actually, I think your pictures are fine.


@mcarroll @taricha What do you think? I think it looks like chrysos.

Yes manual removal is best and the UV would help.

Woow. Yes, some of the chrysophytes I looked through earlier had something like this. All the chrysophytes seem to create a clear gelatinous goo around them. Most of the ones we've seen before in people's tanks had no real structure to the mucous goo.
But there are others that have more structure, some even organise into macroscopic shapes looking almost like "leaves" on a macroalgae.
Anyway, definitely not cyano. And I lean pretty hard toward chrysophytes.

I assume the shot showing the individual round golden brown cells is pretty high magnification?

 

[TinyChocobo]

I think it was 1000x but I don’t remember. I’ll take some better pics regardless.

 

[TinyChocobo]

I checked my Chaeto Reactor and it was packed full of these chrysophytes.

I'm thinking I may pull the Chaeto out and just float it in my sump and then siphon off as much of the chrysophytes as I can from the rocks/tank and then run GFO in that reactor for 24 hours.

I have been doing a lot of reading that the chrysophytes will get taken out of the water column by the GFO and/or that the GFO will remove the sillicates they need to create their cell walls/shells.

I'm open to any and all suggestions though.

 

[reeferfoxx]

I checked my Chaeto Reactor and it was packed full of these chrysophytes.

I'm thinking I may pull the Chaeto out and just float it in my sump and then siphon off as much of the chrysophytes as I can from the rocks/tank and then run GFO in that reactor for 24 hours.

I have been doing a lot of reading that the chrysophytes will get taken out of the water column by the GFO and/or that the GFO will remove the sillicates they need to create their cell walls/shells.

I'm open to any and all suggestions though.

Yes the GFO with 3 day black out works but will give a nice cyano bloom. If you were planning on UV, I would still go that route before anything else.

 

[TinyChocobo]

Yes the GFO with 3 day black out works but will give a nice cyano bloom. If you were planning on UV, I would still go that route before anything else.

I don't have the UV yet - probably won't for a month - budgetary issues .

 

[reeferfoxx]

I don't have the UV yet - probably won't for a month - budgetary issues .

No worries. Patience is a bonus in this hobby. Which UV we're you going for?

 

[TinyChocobo]

No worries. Patience is a bonus in this hobby. Which UV we're you going for?

AquaUV 25 watt

 

[TinyChocobo]

Chrysophytes are definitely going to town. I've ordered a reactor and some GFO from @MarineDepot and I think they should be here Wednesday or Thursday.

I'm going to go ahead and do a manual water change this evening and will siphon out as much of this as I can and then when the reactor comes in I'll do another siphon and then I'll install the GFO reactor for 24 hours and go lights-out. I'll likely swap out the GFO after 24 hours so that I have 48 hours of GFO taking silicate out and then I'll keep the lights out for another 24 hours.

That said - on the lights-out period - do I need to try to keep *all* light from the tank [i.e. wrap something around the tank / put something over it] or is just having the direct tank lights off. The room is usually pretty dark - enough to see - but not what I would call bright with no direct light hitting the tank without the tank lights on - just diffuse light - the room has dark walls.

 

[TinyChocobo]

The chyrsophytes have totally covered a smaller rock at the back and have spread a bit to a couple of others. This smaller rock looks like a chrysophyte forest... I just went to take a picture of it to post here .... to find my pincushion urchin sitting on that rock eating them. I guess he was hungry.

Will have to look here in a few hours and see if he really did clean them up a bit - or if he just happened to be moving across that rock - but what I can see right now - it looks like he's cleaning it up.

 

[TinyChocobo]

Yeah the pincushion is definitely making clean spots on this rock covered in chrysophytes...