massive stringy outbreak

[jeffysro]

ive noticed that about a month or two after adding fish, a brown hooked looking type of algae started growing everywhere and now im wondering what it is and how to get rid of it

 

[Gumbies R Us]

#reefsquad

 

[EnterName]

I'm not quite sure yet, but maybe others will have an easier time helping you if you answer following questions:

1. For how long has the tank been running?
2. Can you provide nitrate, phosphate, and maybe alkalinity parameters?
3. It looks full of detritus, does it release a lot of "dust" when you blow at it with a pipette?
   • If so, are you sure there is enough water flow/current in your tank?
   • Don't suddenly crank it up or you might release a lot of bad stuff at once, though
4. For how long has this stuff been bothering you?
5. Have you tried manual removal, like siphoning it through a tube?
   • Does it get loose easily or is it holding on to the ground it is growing on?
6. Do you have access to a microscope and could place a little sample under it?

 

[Rocks reef]

I'm not quite sure yet, but maybe others will have an easier time helping you if you answer following questions:

1. For how long has the tank been running?
2. Can you provide nitrate, phosphate, and maybe alkalinity parameters?
3. It looks full of detritus, does it release a lot of "dust" when you blow at it with a pipette?
   • If so, are you sure there is enough water flow/current in your tank?
   • Don't suddenly crank it up or you might release a lot of bad stuff at once, though
4. For how long has this stuff been bothering you?
5. Have you tried manual removal, like siphoning it through a tube?
   • Does it get loose easily or is it holding on to the ground it is growing on?
6. Do you have access to a microscope and could place a little sample under it?

^This
I agree on needing more information as some of it appears to be dinos on the back glass.

 

[Reef Jedi]

Is your cuc eating it?

 

[tbrown]

Definitely looks like part of the new tank uglies kicking in. Maybe a bacterial bloom or Dinos/Diatoms starting up.

As others have asked, how old/new is the tank? You mentioned you recently started adding fish so I'm assuming you're only about 3 months in, maybe 4?

 

[jeffysro]

I'm not quite sure yet, but maybe others will have an easier time helping you if you answer following questions:

1. For how long has the tank been running?
2. Can you provide nitrate, phosphate, and maybe alkalinity parameters?
3. It looks full of detritus, does it release a lot of "dust" when you blow at it with a pipette?
   • If so, are you sure there is enough water flow/current in your tank?
   • Don't suddenly crank it up or you might release a lot of bad stuff at once, though
4. For how long has this stuff been bothering you?
5. Have you tried manual removal, like siphoning it through a tube?
   • Does it get loose easily or is it holding on to the ground it is growing on?
6. Do you have access to a microscope and could place a little sample under it?

1. its been about 3 months after cycling
2. nitrate : 10 ppm
phosphate 0.03
3. in some parts of it yes
4. ever since i added new liverock which was 3 weeks ish ago
5. its not loose, i either have to scrub at it or my hermits pick at it
6. i dont have one

 

[jeffysro]

Is your cuc eating it?

my hermits do eat some parts of it

 

[jeffysro]

Definitely looks like part of the new tank uglies kicking in. Maybe a bacterial bloom or Dinos/Diatoms starting up.

As others have asked, how old/new is the tank? You mentioned you recently started adding fish so I'm assuming you're only about 3 months in, maybe 4?

3 months in. surface algae is also pretty persistent in my tank

 

[EnterName]

Actually needing to scrub it off it doesn't sound like dinoflagellates or bacterial growth to me... More like algae or something else like some weird hydroid species.

I would probably just scrub it off, siphon it out and combine that with a water change. You might need to do this more than once but cleaning up a little shouldn't hurt. It's possible it's just some very pale/bleached green algae that is part of your tank's ugly phase and you wouldn't need to do this, but getting rid of some nitrate won't hurt.

I know people like to have some nitrate in their system which is totally fine, but all that weird growth should have eaten up the system's nutrient resources which means there is more nitrogen available than the tests can currently detect.

 

[jeffysro]

Actually needing to scrub it off it doesn't sound like dinoflagellates or bacterial growth to me... More like algae or something else like some weird hydroid species.

I would probably just scrub it off, siphon it out and combine that with a water change. You might need to do this more than once but cleaning up a little shouldn't hurt. It's possible it's just some very pale/bleached green algae that is part of your tank's ugly phase and you wouldn't need to do this, but getting rid of some nitrate won't hurt.

I know people like to have some nitrate in their system which is totally fine, but all that weird growth should have eaten up the system's nutrient resources which means there is more nitrogen available than the tests can currently detect.

if i scrub it off wouldnt i be releasing a bunch of detritus in to the water?

 

[EnterName]

Actually needing to scrub it off it doesn't sound like dinoflagellates or bacterial growth to me... More like algae or something else like some weird hydroid species.

I would probably just scrub it off, siphon it out and combine that with a water change. You might need to do this more than once but cleaning up a little shouldn't hurt. It's possible it's just some very pale/bleached green algae that is part of your tank's ugly phase and you wouldn't need to do this, but getting rid of some nitrate won't hurt.

I know people like to have some nitrate in their system which is totally fine, but all that weird growth should have eaten up the system's nutrient resources which means there is more nitrogen available than the tests can currently detect.

if i scrub it off wouldnt i be releasing a bunch of detritus in to the water?

I mean, it's already in the water, but this way your skimmer and filters can actually get the detritus out of the system. If you simply let it rot in your tank it will only feed more algae growth. A CUC does basically the same. They break down algae back into detritus which then releases the nutrients back into the water. The only benefit is that there is a second chance for those nutrients to end up in the skimmer.



You can also siphon the stuff out while scrubbing it off to get rid of the detritus directly. If the chunks are large enough you can also catch it with a small fishing net. Try to get as much out as you can and if you are worried about sudden nutrient spikes do it in multiple smaller sessions instead of turning the whole tank upside down at once.