Algae ID

[Jables]

Can anyone ID this for me? I'm having a hard time figuring out what it is, and I have a lot of it all of a sudden. It seems like algae to me but may also be a type of cyano? Is it dinos? Any help would be appreciated.

[heathlindner25]

Not sure, but I would start siphoning it out.

[Martini5788]

Yeah same as heather, don't know what it is but I don't like the looks of it. Attack it with fire

[heathlindner25]

Originally Posted by Martini5788

Yeah same as heather, don't know what it is but I don't like the looks of it. Attack it with fire

Heath....lol

[Jables]

I don't like the look of it either! Its loosely attached to the rocks, and ive tried siphoning it out but it just ends up going everywhere. Which, I'm worried is just spreading it.

[Martini5788]

Originally Posted by heathlindner25

Heath....lol

Haha I'm sorry! My phone must have autocorrected and I didn't realize it!

[Martini5788]

Originally Posted by Jables

I don't like the look of it either! Its loosely attached to the rocks, and ive tried siphoning it out but it just ends up going everywhere. Which, I'm worried is just spreading it.

Do you have a hob filter you can put filter floss in? Grab up the loose particles you can't get with a net?

[pyithar]

i would turn off all the pumps and siphon it out. also add more flow to the tank. maybe it's not getting enough flow in those areas.

[Jables]

Originally Posted by Martini5788

Do you have a hob filter you can put filter floss in? Grab up the loose particles you can't get with a net?

I don't have a hob lying around. I do have a filter sock in the sump

[Jables]

Originally Posted by pyithar

i would turn off all the pumps and siphon it out. also add more flow to the tank. maybe it's not getting enough flow in those areas.

I've thought maybe more flow would help, but there is some growing in a pretty high flow spot so I'm not sure that would help. I should actually be getting a wavemaker soon so we will see if that helps

[Bpb]

Dinoflagellates. Not technically an algae

[Jables]

Originally Posted by Bpb

Dinoflagellates. Not technically an algae

That sucks. Shouldn't they have bubbles though? I don't see any with this stuff. I just want to be sure of what I'm dealing with, I know that can be hard though

[Martini5788]

Originally Posted by Jables

That sucks. Shouldn't they have bubbles though? I don't see any with this stuff. I just want to be sure of what I'm dealing with, I know that can be hard though

I thought dinos were more stringy, but I have never had to deal with them so I have no idea. Dinos would make sense though, they do look like snot

[pyithar]

i had very similar looking stuff in my clownfish broodstock tank which had sandbed and some corals. i had them on the sandbed not on rocks. maybe different kind of algae/ bacteria but they look very similar. i siphoned them out during water change, put phosguard, and added a powerhead. it's been more than 4 months and it hasn't come back.

[Jables]

Originally Posted by pyithar

i had very similar looking stuff in my clownfish broodstock tank which had sandbed and some corals. i had them on the sandbed not on rocks. maybe different kind of algae/ bacteria but they look very similar. i siphoned them out during water change, put phosguard, and added a powerhead. it's been more than 4 months and it hasn't come back.

I will hope that happens. I just added a jebao rw-8, have a lot more flow. I'll be getting as much off as I can next water change. I just can't seem to get this tank to settle down. Before this I had a massive pink macro algea outbreak. I'm running a gfo reactor but can't seem to keep it from clumping up. Nitrates are around 5-10ppm. Not sure what else to do.

[Grumpyfish1701]

I think I have the same thing in my tank. I've been scrubbing the rocks with a toothbrush and siphoning out the loose bits. Also started running GFO and doing bigger water changes, which seems to have slowed it. My next step is to add more flow.

[Jables]

Originally Posted by Grumpyfish1701

I think I have the same thing in my tank. I've been scrubbing the rocks with a toothbrush and siphoning out the loose bits. Also started running GFO and doing bigger water changes, which seems to have slowed it. My next step is to add more flow.

I'm doing that every water change, I guess I could try bigger water changes. But it just keeps coming back, it does seem a little slower this time though. I feed very small amounts of food and have a low bio load, I just don't understand why I keep having so many nutrient issues.

[A1t2o]

What do you have for nutrient export? Algae will always grow unless something else takes those nutrients. I prefer an ATS, but chaeto helps too.

[MNOcean]

That's exactly what I had in my tank. I'm no expert, but I think It's dino. I started using Dino X and blacked out my tank for two days. In my case, I think my lighting was way to intense and the root cause of the problem. I have since turned down the LEDs. I'm on day 8 and I've seen a noticable improvement. Like i said, I'm no expert, but this is what's helped me.

[Jables]

Originally Posted by A1t2o

What do you have for nutrient export? Algae will always grow unless something else takes those nutrients. I prefer an ATS, but chaeto helps too.

I just use skimming and large water changes bi weekly, vacuuming the sandbed and blowing off the rocks. I read a lot about fuges and decided not to have one. But wondering now if that was a mistake, but I don't have room for one.

[Jables]

Originally Posted by MNOcean

That's exactly what I had in my tank. I'm no expert, but I think It's dino. I started using Dino X and blacked out my tank for two days. In my case, I think my lighting was way to intense and the root cause of the problem. I have since turned down the LEDs. I'm on day 8 and I've seen a noticable improvement. Like i said, I'm no expert, but this is what's helped me.

I'm running two 165 watt chinese led units, I feel like I don't have them too high but maybe will try turning them down more

[Jables]

Anyone else have any ideas on this stuff? I have read a lot on dinos and I'm just not 100% sure these are dinos. They look the same in the morning after no lights all night as they do in the evening. There are only a couple bubbles here and there. Its only growing on the rocks, no where else. I know there are a lot of different types of dinos so its hard to tell, and it seems like the tactics used to get rid of them are a little different than regular algea so I just want to be sure of what I have.

[Jables]

Well if anyone was curious I have mostly gotten rid of this stuff. Did a 3 day blackout and scrubbed off the rocks. My nutrients were just too high. Did some large water changes and a little carbon dosing to get nitrates down and they really haven't come back yet. I see one little tiny patch starting to develop but it's definitely not exploding like it did before. Now I just have to keep nutrient levels lower.

[garyinco]

Never seen dinos that looked like that. Dinos look like cyano when they first start, usually in high flow areas. To me the tell-tale sign is when they form long snotty strings near the end of your light cycle that seem to disappear during the lights off cycle. Repeats every day. Only positive way I know to confirm with a microscope. Let's hope that's not what it is, and I doubt that it is. They are challenging to get rid of, or get into remission.

[Jables]

Originally Posted by garyinco

Never seen dinos that looked like that. Dinos look like cyano when they first start, usually in high flow areas. To me the tell-tale sign is when they form long snotty strings near the end of your light cycle that seem to disappear during the lights off cycle. Repeats every day. Only positive way I know to confirm with a microscope. Let's hope that's not what it is, and I doubt that it is. They are challenging to get rid of, or get into remission.

Yeah I didn't think they were either, from what I read anyways. They still haven't come back so I think it was just some type of brown algea. I am thankful they weren't dinos for sure.