brown stringy crap growing crazy

DSMchad · 04/29/2009, 10:26 PM

i cant get any really good pictures of this stuff, it grows off the glass from one dot, into long strands in a few hours, is brown and seems a littel slimy.
covers the sand, glass and LR within a day.
i have 0 nitrate,0 nitrite,0 amonia, SG is 1.024 as always, i cant test phosphate but i have been running a reactor for 3 weeks and chaning 15 gallons of water a week in a 55 gal, have cut back feeding bigtime,i have a huge ball of chaeto in the sump thats growing quite well and this brown crud grows like crazy still when the lights are on. its not red like cyano, im not sure what it is.
i use DI water also.
if i take a pump out of my tank and put it in my mix can, the crap will grow all over the inside of the new water within a day also. im about to give up on this mess here... anyone have some good pictures i can go through to see what it might be.
its so bad its growing on some of the fish untill they cross a powerhead to blow it off them.

singold · 04/29/2009, 11:20 PM

Sounds like a normal diatom algae tank goes through upon early months after setting up. Maintain good flow and light feeding.

jb61264 · 04/30/2009, 12:18 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by singold
Sounds like a normal diatom algae tank goes through upon early months after setting up. Maintain good flow and light feeding.

+1 What is the size of your return pump from the sump?...do you split the flow to two returns...what is the size of the powerhead inside the tank?...just one?

Sugar Magnolia · 04/30/2009, 07:21 AM

Sounds like dinoflagellates to me. A bear to deal with for sure. When you say you are using DI water, what's your water source?

returnofsid · 04/30/2009, 08:51 AM

The "Stringy" does sound like Dinoflagellates or Cyanobacteria, but not diatoms. There's an easy way to tell the difference between Dinos and Cyano. Observe it in the morning and afternoon. With Dinos, they'll all appear to die off when lights have been out, overnight. First thing in the morning, the tank will look great, but by afternoon, it is all back. Cyano won't change with lights off and on. Another thing to watch for are dead herbivores...lol. Dinos will kill snails and herbivorous fish, over time.

The 2 best methods of combating Dinos are to turn lights off, totally, for 3 days. After the 3rd day, lights should only be on for a short period of time, adding an hour a day until you're back up to the normal light period. This could take 6-8 days. If this doesn't work, there are methods of raising pH levels. The pH raise takes more testing and kalk additions, but is more effective than lights out. I recently had an issue in my SPS frag tank and used the lights out method. I was extremely worried about lights out for 3 days, but was at my wits end with the Dinos. After 3 days, Dinos were gone and SPS were all fine.

DSMchad · 04/30/2009, 04:34 PM

i have a mag 7 for a return pump, which for temporary setup i just put the return pipe into a hang on filter to drop into the tank on the opposite side of the overflow, i have a K4 powerhead on each side of the tank. the only thing i have noticed dying are my nassarius snails, this started sometime before the growing goop.
today when i went to work i left the lighs off all day, and the tank looks pretty good now, it seems to have disappeared quite a bit. since it started i cut the light sbakc to about 8 hours a day and it still takes off crazy. ill try leaving the lights off for 3 days and see how that way works out for me.

its definately not a red cyano, dino... maybe so, its brown and looks more like cob webs growing then starts to go into really long fuzzy strings. the turbo snails do eat it non stop off the glass. it smothers out the coraline thats growing if i dont keep it cleaned off also.... but ill give the 3 days lights off deal a try, seems like it did a huge difference just today

returnofsid · 04/30/2009, 07:38 PM

Brown, cobweb, snot....all perfect descriptions of Dinos. It sucks!!!

DSMchad · 04/30/2009, 08:38 PM

yea like snot... whats the best way to get rid of it?

Aquarist007 · 04/30/2009, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DSMchad
yea like snot... whats the best way to get rid of it?

IMO go with returnodsid's advice in a previous post

DSMchad · 04/30/2009, 09:36 PM

ok thanks everyone ill give ita shot. i have one day off so far and its definately died back bigtime already. is it ok to have the LED moon lights on or should i keep those off too? its pitch black in that room all day when im at work.

04/29/2009, 10:26 PM	#1
DSMchad Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: NE Ohio Posts: 109	brown stringy crap growing crazy i cant get any really good pictures of this stuff, it grows off the glass from one dot, into long strands in a few hours, is brown and seems a littel slimy. covers the sand, glass and LR within a day. i have 0 nitrate,0 nitrite,0 amonia, SG is 1.024 as always, i cant test phosphate but i have been running a reactor for 3 weeks and chaning 15 gallons of water a week in a 55 gal, have cut back feeding bigtime,i have a huge ball of chaeto in the sump thats growing quite well and this brown crud grows like crazy still when the lights are on. its not red like cyano, im not sure what it is. i use DI water also. if i take a pump out of my tank and put it in my mix can, the crap will grow all over the inside of the new water within a day also. im about to give up on this mess here... anyone have some good pictures i can go through to see what it might be. its so bad its growing on some of the fish untill they cross a powerhead to blow it off them.

04/29/2009, 11:20 PM	#2
singold Registered Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Lake Saint Louis, Missouri Posts: 1,827	Sounds like a normal diatom algae tank goes through upon early months after setting up. Maintain good flow and light feeding. __________________ "If there is no wind.....row." Current Tank Info: 75gal Reef w/29gal Refugium

04/30/2009, 07:21 AM	#4
Sugar Magnolia Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Northern VA Posts: 17,691	Sounds like dinoflagellates to me. A bear to deal with for sure. When you say you are using DI water, what's your water source? __________________ Adrienne The only thing to fear is fear itself....and spiders.

04/30/2009, 08:51 AM	#5
returnofsid Registered Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Spokane, WA Posts: 3,852	The "Stringy" does sound like Dinoflagellates or Cyanobacteria, but not diatoms. There's an easy way to tell the difference between Dinos and Cyano. Observe it in the morning and afternoon. With Dinos, they'll all appear to die off when lights have been out, overnight. First thing in the morning, the tank will look great, but by afternoon, it is all back. Cyano won't change with lights off and on. Another thing to watch for are dead herbivores...lol. Dinos will kill snails and herbivorous fish, over time. The 2 best methods of combating Dinos are to turn lights off, totally, for 3 days. After the 3rd day, lights should only be on for a short period of time, adding an hour a day until you're back up to the normal light period. This could take 6-8 days. If this doesn't work, there are methods of raising pH levels. The pH raise takes more testing and kalk additions, but is more effective than lights out. I recently had an issue in my SPS frag tank and used the lights out method. I was extremely worried about lights out for 3 days, but was at my wits end with the Dinos. After 3 days, Dinos were gone and SPS were all fine.

04/30/2009, 04:34 PM	#6
DSMchad Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: NE Ohio Posts: 109	i have a mag 7 for a return pump, which for temporary setup i just put the return pipe into a hang on filter to drop into the tank on the opposite side of the overflow, i have a K4 powerhead on each side of the tank. the only thing i have noticed dying are my nassarius snails, this started sometime before the growing goop. today when i went to work i left the lighs off all day, and the tank looks pretty good now, it seems to have disappeared quite a bit. since it started i cut the light sbakc to about 8 hours a day and it still takes off crazy. ill try leaving the lights off for 3 days and see how that way works out for me. its definately not a red cyano, dino... maybe so, its brown and looks more like cob webs growing then starts to go into really long fuzzy strings. the turbo snails do eat it non stop off the glass. it smothers out the coraline thats growing if i dont keep it cleaned off also.... but ill give the 3 days lights off deal a try, seems like it did a huge difference just today

04/30/2009, 07:38 PM	#7
returnofsid Registered Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Spokane, WA Posts: 3,852	Brown, cobweb, snot....all perfect descriptions of Dinos. It sucks!!!

04/30/2009, 08:38 PM	#8
DSMchad Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: NE Ohio Posts: 109	yea like snot... whats the best way to get rid of it?

04/30/2009, 09:36 PM	#10
DSMchad Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: NE Ohio Posts: 109	ok thanks everyone ill give ita shot. i have one day off so far and its definately died back bigtime already. is it ok to have the LED moon lights on or should i keep those off too? its pitch black in that room all day when im at work.