It’s time… Id on this algae please!

LaxFrags

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Well, I tried to ignore it at first but it’s gotten too bad. I’ve got different kinds of algae growing in my 20 gallon mixed reef, and it’s starting to affect corals so it’s time to throw in the towel. I’ll attach pictures below, all algae grows back very fast. Frag plugs get little patchy algae that is hard to scrape off and some get longer stringy stuff that gets in between the polyps. I’ve tried hydrogen peroxide dip, it goes away but only for maybe a week at most. I have no cuc, I know that’s a problem but in the past all my hermit crabs, cleaner shrimps, and other shrimps all die on me and roll onto their back. Snails seem to live for a long time, I’ve got hundress of micro snails in my tank right now. I don’t see any type of die-off in the tank right now, bio load consists of one clown fish and a ton of coral. I have bio balls and use pillow fluff as a filter floss in the back chambers. Please help id and what can I do to fix this, I do weekly water changes around 5 gallons and do a ton of manual removal. It’s all back within a couple days! Thanks, anything is greatly appreciated. Bubbles are caught on some algae, I’ve seen this in pictures of dinos so that’s hopefully not what this is. The sand bed also gets a ton of matting algae, pretty much black or very dark green and I can pull it out in chunks at the end of the week. All my corals are growing good so I don’t want to do anything too drastic but still I want to fix this. Thanks for reading and taking the time to help!

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LaxFrags

LaxFrags

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Didn’t forget the parameters!

Alk- 6.7 dkh

Calcium- 370 ppm

Magnesium- 1400 ppm

Phosphate- 0

Anything else needed?
 

Uzidaisies

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Looks like you’ve got a dinoflagellates bloom unfortunately. Also, I think corals act as a nutrient sink, and wouldn’t be counted towards the bio load. But maybe I’m mistaken.
 
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LaxFrags

LaxFrags

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Looks like you’ve got a dinoflagellates bloom unfortunately. Also, I think corals act as a nutrient sink, and wouldn’t be counted towards the bio load. But maybe I’m mistaken.
Dang that’s what I thought too. What can I do for this? Could a skimmer be something that would help or an media reactor? yeah didn’t mean to say bio load for that stuff
 

Uzidaisies

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Should phosphate be higher? I was under the assumption that it was supposed to be low
From what I’ve read, low is good, but letting it bottom out presents an opportunity for dinos to bloom, as they can thrive in a low nutrient environment whereas other competing organisms do not. I’ve also read a study that mentioned that dinos can be stimulated with phosphate supplementation. So it seems to me that adding phosphates after they’ve already gotten the upper hand and are out competing the other organisms, would just feed the dinos. But as I said this is a lot of speculation and assumption on my part. I don’t know for sure what works and what doesn’t to get rid of it.
 
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LaxFrags

LaxFrags

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Okay thanks for the info I’ll look more into it too, I’d love for someone whose experienced it to pitch in too! Thanks for all the help
 

Rmckoy

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Water change or dose cal and alk a little higher .
Here are my values
Alkalinity 7.5
Cal around 425
Nitrates 5-10ppm
Phosphates 0.04
 

Mikedawg

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Sure look like dinos to me, altho you'll need a microscope to confirm. Syphon some out into a cup and see if they reconstitute in 15 minutes - one indicator of dinos.

Good luck
 
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LaxFrags

LaxFrags

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Sure look like dinos to me, altho you'll need a microscope to confirm. Syphon some out into a cup and see if they reconstitute in 15 minutes - one indicator of dinos.

Good luck
I’ve got a microscope I’ll take some pics of the algae with it tomorrow. Any tips on how to grt rid of it
 
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