How to Id algae
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fragit
2500 Club Member
Set up will be a year in August. No real changes in like 3 months or more I think I would have to go back in my build thread to be certain. A few months back I had a small cyano bloom, then the diatoms showed up shortly after.
Never had a green stage with this tank. Went through a very short diatom bloom when it first was set up.
MmmmBalf
Active Member
The fading away at night is typical of dinoflagellates. During the night they free swim around, then form back together under light. The only way to really ID them is through a microscope.
I've heard of the coffee strainer technique but never tried it. Apparently if you strain water with the dinos through coffee paper or similar strainer the dinos will then clump fairly quickly back together in the cup, but other algaes don't.
Have you tried blacking out? I did a 72 hour total blackout and got rid of mine, but it depends on the type of dinos (if in fact they are dinos). Worth trying before other drastic action.
I've heard of the coffee strainer technique but never tried it. Apparently if you strain water with the dinos through coffee paper or similar strainer the dinos will then clump fairly quickly back together in the cup, but other algaes don't.
Have you tried blacking out? I did a 72 hour total blackout and got rid of mine, but it depends on the type of dinos (if in fact they are dinos). Worth trying before other drastic action.
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fragit
2500 Club Member
I'm pretty sure it not Dino's as I have seen some snails eating it and they are unaffected by it. It also does not completely fade at night, and seems to be contained to the sand bed.
That sounds like(if its diatoms) a silicate introduction. weird.
hmmm
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fragit
2500 Club Member
Yeah, it didn't occur to me until just now. I did do some larger volume water changes though, and was using the DT water for my QT tanks. I was making a lot of water for a couple weeks straight so maybe it exhausted my DI/Silicon Buster canisters. Or maybe there is silica in the salt, or both.
possibly a small amount in the salt(prob normal), and yea maybe the Di is used up.
A few folks had luck running a slightly more aggressive gfo regimine. Reactor, small amount in bag on return pump. est. bot enough to affect nutrients hopefuly.
Jesse test it under a microscope. It looks like dinos to me too, not the part on the sandbed, but the rock. I saw some brown strands, and air bubbles.
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fragit
2500 Club Member
Vlad I'm pretty sure it's red cyano at this point as well as diatoms. It is the same stuff on the rocks and sand for sure. The strand and air bubbles were caused by me micro bubbling the night before the pics. I think I'm gonna give chemi clean a try over the weekend because I have it on hand. I also have a new RO membrane and DI and silicate filters arriving on Tuesday. I don't have access to a microscope unfortunately.
Send me a sample - I am more then happy to snap some pics for you under the scope.
Brown growth right below the snail in the pic, is it stringy? If it's red and not stringy - cyano. Brown and stringy, I would put it under microscope.
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fragit
2500 Club Member
I would say that it is in the brown side but on the rocks looks red. It all shows up at the same schedule and all looks the same except for the color. Any other way to test it other than a scope?
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fragit
2500 Club Member
I tried the paper towel test and I did end up with some brown slime in the container after I filtered through the towel. So I'm thinking it's dinos. I just started a 2/3 dose of chemi pure cause that's all I had left. Lights out for the 48 hours and see what happens. @nvladik what did you end up doing to get rid of your dinos. I would like to try and avoid reading the 100+ posts in the Dino thread.
If it's Dino's, all depends on the species you have.
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fragit
2500 Club Member
So I am on the back end now of my Chemi Clean treatment. To recap I did about 2/3 of the recommended dose as that's all I had. I used an air stone placed near my return pump plumbing to oxygenate and create micro bubbles. I used my baster to baste the sand and rocks daily. I also turned the lights off for the duration of the treatment. I ended up letting the treatment go for around 72 hours because of work schedule etc. So after a 25gal water change the recommended amount for my water volume I turned the lights back on. I was algae free for a whole 24 hours. As it started to reappear it seemed more "grainy" than slimy. On Wednesday it was back just like it was before the treatment. I have noticed that when I baste the rocks and sand it appears to blow off in more of a dust than anything else. Something that I had not noticed before. I also have been noticing that my PH has been running around 8.35-8.4 since the algae showed up. Immediately after finishing the treatment for the next 24hours the PH went back down to the 8.2 range (Wednesday). It is now back up to 8.4, and the algae has returned to it's previous splendor. I was reading another thread about a similar issue. I dosed Vibrant for a little while trying to combat some bubble algae and subsequently killed my Chaeto. I've been running an algae free fuge for a few months now. Any ideas from you folks?
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fragit
2500 Club Member
This morning before work I decided to shut the lights off on my tank. Came home and there is barely a trace of this algae. Yesterday I did not stir the sand or blow off the rocks. Almost the entire sand bed was covered, and most of the rocks. This morning there was slightly less algae on the sand and rocks. And then after lights out for 9 or so hours again barely a trace. What do you all make of this?
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