Algae ID and Advice

CritterC · 09/12/2016, 03:12 PM

This algae is killing me. Maybe dinos but I'm not sure.
I have this in 3 different tanks. One is a multi tank system around 1600 gallons. One is 240 gallons. One is 100 gallons. It only grows in really high light areas. It is totally non existent in the under 200 par range. I can kill it with a several day black out, but it comes back within a week. Phosphates and nitrates are near 0. On the 100 gallon system I added 2 Santa Monica algae scrubbers. They keep the pH super high which I thought would help if it were dinos but it doesn't. The stuff smothers my corals or kills them chemically I'm not sure which but if it lands on something it will burn a hole in it even on something like GSP. It's like snot, almost the exact consistency. It can be quite firm but isn't always and it does brush off very easily. Two of the tanks are in are bare bottom and kept very clean of detritus. Its growing under metal halides in one tank, LED's in another tank, and t5s in the other tank. I know it looks a lot like Dinos, I'm just not convinced it is. If anyone has had success beating this... let me know the strategy. Also as a side note, there is a tunicate in my system that spreads very rapidly, I don't think it's harmful but I've had some unusual losses that are suspiciously covered in the tunicate. It's black and white and visible on the stem of this coral. If anyone has experience with those I'd also be interested in hearing more.

mcgyvr · 09/12/2016, 03:44 PM

Looks like dinos.. Good luck..
Don't see tunicate either... I see a tube/feather worm or two which are harmless..

Maybe you mean vermetid snail though.. Those can bother corals,etc..

Stevarino · 09/12/2016, 03:45 PM

Chrysophytes would be my guess.

http://chucksaddiction.thefishestate.net/ (Info Links > Hitchhikers > Algae)

CritterC · 09/12/2016, 03:49 PM

The tunicate I believe is a variation of this...http://www.rimeis.org/species/botryllus.html looks identical other than white star instead of gold.

CritterC · 09/12/2016, 03:53 PM

CHRYSOPHYTES... I think you might be right. But what to do... I am already using a DI system from spectrapure reading 0 tds. It has been a while since I changed the resin though. I wonder how long its going to take to cycle out the silica.

HefeWeizen · 09/12/2016, 07:27 PM

More water changes.
Or
Add PO4 remover.
Or
Wet skim.
Or
Refugium.
Or
ATS(algal turf scrubber)
Or
Some/all the above.

CritterC · 09/12/2016, 07:35 PM

Thanks Dan,
Been trying all of the above. Tried Santa monica scrubbers for a few months now can't even get algae to grow in them because the nutrient levels are so low because of the heavy skimming and po4 removal. I have a 250 gallon fuge with mostly caulerpa. I wasn't sure about the water changes, I was doing them twice a week and it didn't make the problem any better so I stopped as I was worried about just introducing more junk through the salt mix.

Synden · 09/12/2016, 08:46 PM

I have had similar stuff in my tank, tried everything and the only thing that worked for me was to do:
3 days of lights out with doing 7 days of hydrogen peroxide dosing. (10 ml of over the counter hydrogen peroxide per 10g of tank water. )
This will raise oxygen levels and kill the dinos!

CritterC · 09/13/2016, 04:28 PM

Yikes, that would make me nervous on my 1600 gallon system. I might try it on the smaller tanks. Would ozone have a similar effect? Or maybe some sort of microbubbler in the fuge? I've heard of people doing that, but I'm nervous to do that as well because I had a big pump that made microbubbles all night due to an auto top off failure and all my fish died of gas bubble disease.

CritterC · 09/16/2016, 05:14 PM

Couple more clues.
The algae under a microscope. & close ups of the tunicate.

09/12/2016, 03:12 PM	#1
CritterC Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 19	Algae ID and Advice This algae is killing me. Maybe dinos but I'm not sure. I have this in 3 different tanks. One is a multi tank system around 1600 gallons. One is 240 gallons. One is 100 gallons. It only grows in really high light areas. It is totally non existent in the under 200 par range. I can kill it with a several day black out, but it comes back within a week. Phosphates and nitrates are near 0. On the 100 gallon system I added 2 Santa Monica algae scrubbers. They keep the pH super high which I thought would help if it were dinos but it doesn't. The stuff smothers my corals or kills them chemically I'm not sure which but if it lands on something it will burn a hole in it even on something like GSP. It's like snot, almost the exact consistency. It can be quite firm but isn't always and it does brush off very easily. Two of the tanks are in are bare bottom and kept very clean of detritus. Its growing under metal halides in one tank, LED's in another tank, and t5s in the other tank. I know it looks a lot like Dinos, I'm just not convinced it is. If anyone has had success beating this... let me know the strategy. Also as a side note, there is a tunicate in my system that spreads very rapidly, I don't think it's harmful but I've had some unusual losses that are suspiciously covered in the tunicate. It's black and white and visible on the stem of this coral. If anyone has experience with those I'd also be interested in hearing more.

09/12/2016, 03:44 PM	#2
mcgyvr Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: North Carolina Posts: 20,050	Looks like dinos.. Good luck.. Don't see tunicate either... I see a tube/feather worm or two which are harmless.. Maybe you mean vermetid snail though.. Those can bother corals,etc.. __________________ Who me?

09/12/2016, 07:27 PM	#6
HefeWeizen Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2015 Posts: 182	More water changes. Or Add PO4 remover. Or Wet skim. Or Refugium. Or ATS(algal turf scrubber) Or Some/all the above. __________________ Dan

09/12/2016, 03:45 PM	#3
Stevarino Moved On Join Date: Sep 2016 Posts: 24	Chrysophytes would be my guess. http://chucksaddiction.thefishestate.net/ (Info Links > Hitchhikers > Algae)

09/12/2016, 03:49 PM	#4
CritterC Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 19	The tunicate I believe is a variation of this...http://www.rimeis.org/species/botryllus.html looks identical other than white star instead of gold.

09/12/2016, 03:53 PM	#5
CritterC Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 19	CHRYSOPHYTES... I think you might be right. But what to do... I am already using a DI system from spectrapure reading 0 tds. It has been a while since I changed the resin though. I wonder how long its going to take to cycle out the silica.

09/12/2016, 07:35 PM	#7
CritterC Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 19	Thanks Dan, Been trying all of the above. Tried Santa monica scrubbers for a few months now can't even get algae to grow in them because the nutrient levels are so low because of the heavy skimming and po4 removal. I have a 250 gallon fuge with mostly caulerpa. I wasn't sure about the water changes, I was doing them twice a week and it didn't make the problem any better so I stopped as I was worried about just introducing more junk through the salt mix.

09/12/2016, 08:46 PM	#8
Synden Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2015 Location: Denver, CO Posts: 90	I have had similar stuff in my tank, tried everything and the only thing that worked for me was to do: 3 days of lights out with doing 7 days of hydrogen peroxide dosing. (10 ml of over the counter hydrogen peroxide per 10g of tank water. ) This will raise oxygen levels and kill the dinos!

09/13/2016, 04:28 PM	#9
CritterC Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 19	Yikes, that would make me nervous on my 1600 gallon system. I might try it on the smaller tanks. Would ozone have a similar effect? Or maybe some sort of microbubbler in the fuge? I've heard of people doing that, but I'm nervous to do that as well because I had a big pump that made microbubbles all night due to an auto top off failure and all my fish died of gas bubble disease.

09/16/2016, 05:14 PM	#10
CritterC Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 19	Couple more clues. The algae under a microscope. & close ups of the tunicate.