Help ID algae (with microscope).

[fr3n0z]

Hi guys, someone can help me Id this algae. It comes during the day and go away and night until it get worst and worst and stay at night too. I vacuum sandbed regularly.

 

[KING KONG]

Hi guys, someone can help me Id this algae. It comes during the day and go away and night until it get worst and worst and stay at night too. I vacuum sandbed regularly.

My guess is red slime algae or starting of cyanobacteria

 

[brandon429]

ID does not matter in invasion battles. the dinos thread spends four hundred pages meticulously ID'ing invasions, and the rates of invasion fix + tradeoff sustained invasions such as red cyano/green hair algae remain unchanged the last 5 years or so


ID does not change the way you battle a given invasion especially in nano reefs

how many gallons is this setup


*Im aware of the running theory that certain strains of dinos are pelagic vs benthic/ ID helps to know species but if we just read the thread, dino's usually win the landslide of the time regardless of ID> in fact, cures are rare (it's in the thread) and tradeoff invasions are the absolute wining pattern (lose dinos, but get cyano and GHA for 2 years running)

nanos have a special trick to win that large tanks do not have, how many gallons is your setup/it does not look like a huge tank in the pic, was curious of gallonage. if small/40 gallons or so you have an easy win option.

 

[fr3n0z]

ID does not matter in invasion battles. the dinos thread spends four hundred pages meticulously ID'ing invasions, and the rates of invasion fix + tradeoff sustained invasions such as red cyano/green hair algae remain unchanged the last 5 years or so


ID does not change the way you battle a given invasion especially in nano reefs

how many gallons is this setup


*Im aware of the running theory that certain strains of dinos are pelagic vs benthic/ ID helps to know species but if we just read the thread, dino's usually win the landslide of the time regardless of ID> in fact, cures are rare (it's in the thread) and tradeoff invasions are the absolute wining pattern (lose dinos, but get cyano and GHA for 2 years running)

nanos have a special trick to win that large tanks do not have, how many gallons is your setup/it does not look like a huge tank in the pic, was curious of gallonage. if small/40 gallons or so you have an easy win option.

is a small AIO 60 liters (55 net)

 

[brandon429]

thats right on the cusp where this type of work isn't too prohibitive:

completely fixed nano reefs, not one ID not one test for a param ran, just manhandling back to clean (rip cleans):

Algae Identification

Any opinions on what type of algae this is growing on my rocks and sand bed?

www.reef2reef.com

 

[brandon429]

look at their before + after pics, shocking. ruby clean at the end, so clean you can't even tell water is in the tank.

 

[brandon429]

you don't have to use that right now, even though it works best. feel free to try less work ways, and then you have a fallback when needed. rip cleans do not hurt your tank, they make it live longer. I have the oldest pico reef on earth due to about 100 rip cleans, cheating it to be that old lol.

without them, it would be dead of red cyano like that above in about 2009.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi guys, someone can help me Id this algae. It comes during the day and go away and night until it get worst and worst and stay at night too. I vacuum sandbed regularly.

Im seeing cyano here and not dino. I would assume your nitrates, phosphates or both are elevated? Also you will notice its lesser in morning and comes back even more during the day.
Cyano blooms typically start when water nutrient concentrations of phosphate, nitrate and other organic compounds are too high.
Some of the most common causes include:
- Protein skimmer which fills water with tiny air bubbles. As bubbles form from the reaction chamber, dissolved organic compound molecules stick to them. Foam forms at the surface of the water and is then transferred to a collection cup, where it rests as skimmate. When the protein skimmer does not output the best efficiency or you do not have the suitable protein skimmer to cover the tank, the air bubbles created by the skimmer might be insufficient. And this insufficiency of air bubbles can trigger the cyano to thrive.
- Overstocking / overfeeding, your aquarium with nutrients is often the culprit of a cyano bloom
- Adding live rock that isn’t completely cured which acts like a breeding ground for red slime algae
- If you don’t change your water with enough frequency, you’ll soon have a brightly colored red slime algae bloom. Regular water changes dilute nutrients that feed cyanobacteria and keeps your tank beautifully clear
- Using a water source with nitrates or phosphates is like rolling out the welcome mat for cyano. Tap water is an example
- Inadequate water flow, or movement, is a leading cause of cyano blooms. Slow moving water combined with excess dissolved nutrients is a recipe for pervasive red slime algae development

I recommend to reduce white light intensity or even turn them off for 5-7 days. Add liquid bacteria daily for a week during the day at 1.5ml per 10 gallons. Add Hydrogen peroxide at night at 1ml per 10 gallons. Add a pouch of chemipure Elite which will balance phos and nitrate and keep them in check.

After the week, add a few snails such as cerith, margarita, astrea and nassarius plus 6-8 blue leg hermits to take control.

 

[fr3n0z]

thats right on the cusp where this type of work isn't too prohibitive:

completely fixed nano reefs, not one ID not one test for a param ran, just manhandling back to clean (rip cleans):

Algae Identification

Any opinions on what type of algae this is growing on my rocks and sand bed?

www.reef2reef.com

ok so i should vacuum all the sand, clean it and put it back... what if i put brand new sand? (i have already bought few kilos since i was tinking of remove/replace all the sandbed.... rocks a part from the small one on the sandbed aren't affected)

 

[fr3n0z]

Im seeing cyano here and not dino. I would assume your nitrates, phosphates or both are elevated? Also you will notice its lesser in morning and comes back even more during the day.
Cyano blooms typically start when water nutrient concentrations of phosphate, nitrate and other organic compounds are too high.
Some of the most common causes include:
- Protein skimmer which fills water with tiny air bubbles. As bubbles form from the reaction chamber, dissolved organic compound molecules stick to them. Foam forms at the surface of the water and is then transferred to a collection cup, where it rests as skimmate. When the protein skimmer does not output the best efficiency or you do not have the suitable protein skimmer to cover the tank, the air bubbles created by the skimmer might be insufficient. And this insufficiency of air bubbles can trigger the cyano to thrive.
- Overstocking / overfeeding, your aquarium with nutrients is often the culprit of a cyano bloom
- Adding live rock that isn’t completely cured which acts like a breeding ground for red slime algae
- If you don’t change your water with enough frequency, you’ll soon have a brightly colored red slime algae bloom. Regular water changes dilute nutrients that feed cyanobacteria and keeps your tank beautifully clear
- Using a water source with nitrates or phosphates is like rolling out the welcome mat for cyano. Tap water is an example
- Inadequate water flow, or movement, is a leading cause of cyano blooms. Slow moving water combined with excess dissolved nutrients is a recipe for pervasive red slime algae development

I recommend to reduce white light intensity or even turn them off for 5-7 days. Add liquid bacteria daily for a week during the day at 1.5ml per 10 gallons. Add Hydrogen peroxide at night at 1ml per 10 gallons. Add a pouch of chemipure Elite which will balance phos and nitrate and keep them in check.

After the week, add a few snails such as cerith, margarita, astrea and nassarius plus 6-8 blue leg hermits to take control.

Ok, in order.
1) i don't tink the skimmer, mine is the magwheel nano dc and is probably even oversized for my 60l.
2) i feed what i tink is very lightly: once a day dry or frozen, once a day/2 days phyto. My tank has 2 ocellaris, 1 amboniensis, 1 anemone, 10/15 frags (small), about 5 nassarius 1 turbo mexican, 5 astrea/trochus
3) I did inserted a couple months back few small rocks with frags that were coming from a heavily abandoned (and infested) tank with lots of ciano.

4) I DO try to never change water, i have setup a 1,4% daily AWC (10% weekly) ...that is considered as never change water?

5) i have a jebao mlw5 + the return head is quite strong, movement i didn't think is an issue. I did added last week a jebao sw2 to stirr things more if that was the problem.

I was dosing no3 (sodium nitrate) and po4 (sodium phosphate) since they were always pretty low, i've dosed heavily on po4 since i coulkd not get reading (i was told from RHF that could be the rocks absorbing them)...i have a chaeto reactor but i've stopped last week to dose no33 and po4.

 

[brandon429]

we need to customize it here

per that thread, nobody vacuums sand out with water in the tank, they're 100% takedown cleanings, sand comes out last after everything else removed. I'm going to go edit that warning early on in the post to fix future reads ( a bulky thread like that conceals lots of details for sure )

highlights, then if you want to do this we can customize your build right here live time. I'm confident you'll like the results:

-no bottle bac is used, this is all skip cycle work including your new sand. We do this to make a point to the masses that we aren't dependent on retail bottle bac sales for everything, like they currently have us trained to believe. strictly no bottle bac in these jobs

-we have you catch fish and corals as much as you can initially, place them into covered but aerated holding containers, likely heated too this time of year for the fish holding and the shrimp(s) so that they're isolated away from sand. you can be pulling rocks too at the start, holding them elsewhere and not with the fish and shrimp. only cleaned rocks, with no detritus stuck to the bottom is placed back in the tank.

-read the section on rock preps for algae/rasping. rocks are rinsed clean with saltwater to protect their bacteria, sand (including your new sand) is rinsed as we show in that thread. the tap water rinsing of your sand, new or old, is the single most important part of the entire process even though that seems so against the rules.

-a 50 gallon setup will require about ten hours of work to complete, one full day. at the end you just bought your reef X number of months/years boosted lifespan by ejecting all the organic waste from the sand and rocks...this waste feeds a lot of invasions we see.

- a rip clean does not permanently fix algae or cyano or diatoms, those are cyclic invasions that come back one day. a rip clean greatly reduced their power and buys you several weeks/months of clean running, low to no glass cleaning required etc. eventually as fish food goes back in the tank + animal waste it all fills up again. some folks decide to go bare bottom vs have any sand to avoid this headache again. I myself like sand, it's easy to clean in a tiny pico reef so I'll keep mine.

-we would for sure rinse your new sand exactly the same, for hours and hours in sections in tap water, then final rinse in saltwater to eject the tap water, all prepped for complete cloudless installation back in the tank. cloudless sand, that you pre verified in a clean glass of water for each section to ensure it's cloudless.

-dosers, UV, all kinds of things can simply burn that invader/likely red cyano out of the tank but those methods don't export the dead cells. dead cells fill up rock interstices, sand spaces, and contribute to tank aging / advances old tank syndrome.

a rip clean reverses old tank syndrome at the expense of all the calories you'll burn enacting a perfect rip clean.


to ease any doubt in the method, here's 300 more rip cleans the exact way. we do a LOT of these

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

If you are reading this thread to cure a tank invasion from a link I sent you, we do not need to identify your type of invasion here we do not need you to test anything at anytime regarding nitrate, phosphate etc Above all, we do not need to see a microscope slide picture of your invasion at...

www.reef2reef.com

In my opinion since your tank is on the larger side of the jobs we do, you should spend today reading up on examples, their takedown method and reassembly method, to really know the approach. Then tomorrow we could customize your build exactly matched for your tank.

 

[brandon429]

You can indeed install brand new sand instead of your old sand, rinse it the exact same way. use no bottle bac at all.

if you want to leave sand out and be bare bottom, you can, sandbed bacteria are bioload in reefing that competes against fish for oxygen/resources and they emit collective waste acids like fish do...being free of reef sand bacteria is positive, not negative for a reef tank, which is why our tap rinsing harms no reefs.

now if we killed your rock bacteria, that'd be bad. just not sand bacteria, it's bulk bioload we don't even get to enjoy.

 

[fr3n0z]

You can indeed install brand new sand instead of your old sand, rinse it the exact same way. use no bottle bac at all.

if you want to leave sand out and be bare bottom, you can, sandbed bacteria are bioload in reefing that competes against fish for oxygen/resources and they emit collective waste acids like fish do...being free of reef sand bacteria is positive, not negative for a reef tank, which is why our tap rinsing harms no reefs.

now if we killed your rock bacteria, that'd be bad. just not sand bacteria, it's bulk bioload we don't even get to enjoy.

My problem is that rockwork is stuck in tank. I epoxy-ed all just last week. If vacuuming sand and put in new one isnt possible then unfortunately the ripclean isnt an option

 

[brandon429]

good deal at least you found the preventative before beginning the vacuum.


one day you'll be breaking that rock stack to save your entire investment from dying. inaccessibility leads to tank crashing, but not immediately.

it will take multiple animal loss to motivate that forced clean condition. as of now, just some light cyano on the books and no need to enact change just yet.