Microscopic pictures and an interesting video

Coinzmans Reef

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I am trying to get confirmation that this is Green hair algae and some diatoms. Here are sample pictures of my sand bed under 4x and 40x magnification. I threw in some other non related pictures of Copepods and Nematode for your pleasure. The later pictures are after adding H202 to the slide. With in five minutes the cell walls seem to be effected by the H202. Anyone want to take a crack at what type of algae we are looking at? The last in the series is a short video of something producing gas/oxygen after being exposed to the H202 ?????

I need to know my enemy so I can formulate a plan on reducing this nastiness. I am tired of looking at a sand bed with algae, the rocks are well maintained by fish and cleanup crew no issue there. I am dealing with a Goni that had a small dead spot when purchased 6 months ago however the algae is residing there forcing the Goni to recede. I am on my second H202 dip that seems to help short term. I want to rid the system of this menace. I am adding a 25 watt UV light tomorrow. I have not taken the time to understand the Redfield ratio yesterday was the first I have heard of it. So I am looking for classification of the Algae and a method to eradicate it or at least reduce their numbers greatly.

Red Sea Reefer 525xl at 10 months old, no mods.
R.S. 300 skimmer
3 R.S. led 90's 12 hours on 1 hr. ramp up 1 hr. ramp down 80% blue (65% white for 2hrs, rest of day is ramp up and down)
100lbs dry Caribsea Life Rock
40 lbs. Caribsea live sand
Chaeto in Fuge that's dwindling from Mag or nuisance algae growing on it. Tunze light 12 hours at night. with couple turbo snails in Fuge.
3 med Tangs, 1 Mandarin, Royal Gramma, clown, 6 line Wrasse and two blue damsels. I have a host (30 - 40 mixed) of hermit crabs, 2 Emerald crabs turbo ECT.
Coral load is medium with SPS and LPS good growth on all but three SPS. Polyp extensions just ok and coloration is getting better.
Feeding heavy from frozen to fresh shrimp, pellets, Nori and live Phyto, pods and brine shrimp ECT
Red Sea foundation A,B and C dosed with Kamoer dosing pumps
Red Sea trace elements A,B,C, and D 5Mil weekly
Broadcast Red sea Reef energy 20 mil three times a week mixed with oyster feast.
1/2 TBS Reef Roids twice a week target fed.

Temp 76.3F am 77.8F pm
DKH 9.5
salt 34.9 / 33.8
calcium 420 / 440
mag 1400
PH 8.2
Nitrates >.05
Phosphates ULR 6
water changes 10% monthly
4 socks changed weekly one with Chemi-pure ultimate
Sump and sand bed vacuumed every other month

Currently waiting for ATI water sample results. One last note the Tangs eat the algae off the sand all day long and it grows better in the shadows.

027[722].JPG 028[723].JPG 029[724].JPG 033[738].JPG 034[739].JPG 037[727].JPG 045[728].JPG 046[729] - Copy (2).JPG 052[732].JPG

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Pistondog

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I am trying to get confirmation that this is Green hair algae and some diatoms. Here are sample pictures of my sand bed under 4x and 40x magnification. I threw in some other non related pictures of Copepods and Nematode for your pleasure. The later pictures are after adding H202 to the slide. With in five minutes the cell walls seem to be effected by the H202. Anyone want to take a crack at what type of algae we are looking at? The last in the series is a short video of something producing gas/oxygen after being exposed to the H202 ?????

I need to know my enemy so I can formulate a plan on reducing this nastiness. I am tired of looking at a sand bed with algae, the rocks are well maintained by fish and cleanup crew no issue there. I am dealing with a Goni that had a small dead spot when purchased 6 months ago however the algae is residing there forcing the Goni to recede. I am on my second H202 dip that seems to help short term. I want to rid the system of this menace. I am adding a 25 watt UV light tomorrow. I have not taken the time to understand the Redfield ratio yesterday was the first I have heard of it. So I am looking for classification of the Algae and a method to eradicate it or at least reduce their numbers greatly.

Red Sea Reefer 525xl at 10 months old, no mods.
R.S. 300 skimmer
3 R.S. led 90's 12 hours on 1 hr. ramp up 1 hr. ramp down 80% blue (65% white for 2hrs, rest of day is ramp up and down)
100lbs dry Caribsea Life Rock
40 lbs. Caribsea live sand
Chaeto in Fuge that's dwindling from Mag or nuisance algae growing on it. Tunze light 12 hours at night. with couple turbo snails in Fuge.
3 med Tangs, 1 Mandarin, Royal Gramma, clown, 6 line Wrasse and two blue damsels. I have a host (30 - 40 mixed) of hermit crabs, 2 Emerald crabs turbo ECT.
Coral load is medium with SPS and LPS good growth on all but three SPS. Polyp extensions just ok and coloration is getting better.
Feeding heavy from frozen to fresh shrimp, pellets, Nori and live Phyto, pods and brine shrimp ECT
Red Sea foundation A,B and C dosed with Kamoer dosing pumps
Red Sea trace elements A,B,C, and D 5Mil weekly
Broadcast Red sea Reef energy 20 mil three times a week mixed with oyster feast.
1/2 TBS Reef Roids twice a week target fed.

Temp 76.3F am 77.8F pm
DKH 9.5
salt 34.9 / 33.8
calcium 420 / 440
mag 1400
PH 8.2
Nitrates >.05
Phosphates ULR 6
water changes 10% monthly
4 socks changed weekly one with Chemi-pure ultimate
Sump and sand bed vacuumed every other month

Currently waiting for ATI water sample results. One last note the Tangs eat the algae off the sand all day long and it grows better in the shadows.

027[722].JPG 028[723].JPG 029[724].JPG 033[738].JPG 034[739].JPG 037[727].JPG 045[728].JPG 046[729] - Copy (2).JPG 052[732].JPG

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I vote for gha.
Thanks for the pics!
Keep them coming
 

Uncle99

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ULR phosphorus reading of 6ppb is really low but so are your nitrates, so balanced.
But maybe it only reads 6 because your chaeto and algae is consuming much of what is in the column.
Algae must have two things, light (reds/yellows favorites,) and food, nitrogen, phosphate.
Your lights are reef type lighting and you have no nutrients, so that mystifies me.
 

Pistondog

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ULR phosphorus reading of 6ppb is really low but so are your nitrates, so balanced.
But maybe it only reads 6 because your chaeto and algae is consuming much of what is in the column.
Algae must have two things, light (reds/yellows favorites,) and food, nitrogen, phosphate.
Your lights are reef type lighting and you have no nutrients, so that mystifies me.
I'm sure you've heard this before, some claim the algae converts nh3 directly before bacteria can convert.
 
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Coinzmans Reef

Coinzmans Reef

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ULR phosphorus reading of 6ppb is really low but so are your nitrates, so balanced.
But maybe it only reads 6 because your chaeto and algae is consuming much of what is in the column.
Algae must have two things, light (reds/yellows favorites,) and food, nitrogen, phosphate.
Your lights are reef type lighting and you have no nutrients, so that mystifies me.

You and me both?
 

Pistondog

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vibrant is an algae consuming bacteria, so it will take out the chaeto for a few weeks too, after you stop dosing .
 
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Coinzmans Reef

Coinzmans Reef

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I'm sure you've heard this before, some claim the algae converts nh3 directly before bacteria can convert.


No, this is new to me. No matter how many times I remove the algae from the sand bed it is back in two or three days. I was wondering about silicates in the sand bed ? I have never tested them. I still need the algae identified to know what to fight. Silicates are I believe only related to Dinos and I think I am dealing with hair algae just waiting for someone to positively ID my pictures.
 
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Coinzmans Reef

Coinzmans Reef

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vibrant is an algae consuming bacteria, so it will take out the chaeto for a few weeks too, after you stop dosing .

Chaeto is gone! I removed the remaining ball tonight. I thought the algae in the tank took it over however after looking at under the microscope I can see most has just died off. Very few strands still intact. The sand bed algae is not a factor in the fuge, I was hard pressed to find a single strand that was identical.
 

Pistondog

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Is your tank near a window?
Even indirect sunlight can cause algae.
 
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Coinzmans Reef

Coinzmans Reef

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Is your tank near a window?
Even indirect sunlight can cause algae.

Very early in the morning the sunlight bounces off the neighbors house and indirectly hits my tank for two hours. This is not the problem as the algae grows on the opposite side just as well with no indirect light. As a side bar I think the Chaeto was destroyed by the 1400 Mag. The Chaeto ball was growing when the Mag was 1280-1380. This changed when I switched to Coral pro salt from the Red Sea Salt has higher mag by 170
 

Pistondog

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the only other common sense item I can offer is your fuge light must outperform the dt light. Since the water is the same, the par in the fuge must be higher to encourage chaeto growth vs dt algae. Both want the nutrients.
Your pics are green, it is algae.
 

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ULR phosphorus reading of 6ppb is really low but so are your nitrates, so balanced.
But maybe it only reads 6 because your chaeto and algae is consuming much of what is in the column.
Algae must have two things, light (reds/yellows favorites,) and food, nitrogen, phosphate.
Your lights are reef type lighting and you have no nutrients, so that mystifies me.

Algae has a wide mix of light that they can use depending on species. Zooxanthellae is algae, and therefore a reef light can grow algae very well.
 
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Coinzmans Reef

Coinzmans Reef

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the only other common sense item I can offer is your fuge light must outperform the dt light. Since the water is the same, the par in the fuge must be higher to encourage chaeto growth vs dt algae. Both want the nutrients.
Your pics are green, it is algae.

I hear you. But the DT lights are on a wave length not conducive to nuisance algae and the fuge light is meant to grow exactly that. I will concede that the fuge light is way to weak and when I replace the Chaeto I will take your advice and step up my game on fuge lighting. You can see the algae right behind the pink Goni this was at the onset much worse now.

IMG_4412.JPG
 
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Coinzmans Reef

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I am thinking a watchman will help. The rock was set before the sand so other than his landscaping I should be ok. I only have the two Gonis on the sand bed so he wouldn't burry any smaller corals.
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

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