Getting rid of brown/diatom algae

[ltkenbo]

Yeah I'm planning on building a new sump probably this next week over spring break when I have more time. I'm gonna use a 20 gallon long so I'll have more room for stuff like that. I'll maybe try some of that chemipure stuff like you and biff suggest.

 

[ltkenbo]

Well I have been reading all over the internet just to find different opinions and it also looks like this could possibly be dinoflagellates or cyano. Dinoflagellates seems more likely looking at this thread I found on google: Nuisance Algae Guide, A work in progress - MAAST Forums

 

[Tristan]

if its dinoflagellates then you have to do something quick because they contain a lot of toxins thats fatal to your fish and inverts. I read that it's caused by low Ph levels.

 

[ltkenbo]

well some dinoflagalates do, but that's what i'm wondering what your supposed to do about them. Anyone else care to chime in?

 

[andysgirl8800]

Check your pH levels. Its not so much that dinoflagellates appear when the pH is low, but that they really don't like higher pH levels (8.4-8.6) Tristan is correct in that you want to tackle it right away if it is dinos. I've already lost a number of fish and invertebrates as a result of a bad dino outbreak. I am in the process of getting it under control right now.

 

[Tristan]

You need to raise your ph levels high just like what andysgirl said ill go and look for an article for you

 

[Tristan]

this is the one ive read a few months back. it tells you how to treat it.
Problem Dinoflagellates and pH by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

 

[andysgirl8800]

There are a couple of different ways to get your pH up. I prefer to use kalkwasser mix and have had good results so far.

 

[AHill40]

I think yote had this problem a yr ago he would be able to help. Hes a good ol boy

 

[ltkenbo]

I'll check out that article but my pH stays at 8.4 whenever I've checked it, don't think I've ever seen it change. The only thing that is perhaps a little low now is alkalinity.

 

[ltkenbo]

Just checked my pH, calcium, and alkalinity. pH is at 8.4, calcium 429, and alkalinity 6. The only thing off here is the alkalinity.

 

[yote]

Itkenbo,Post a pic of the algae.
I really hope its not Dinos.If it is,you've got a hell of fight on your hands.
But just in case,here how I got rid of em.
I siphoned out as much of the dinos as possible.Then completely blacked the tank for a full 14 days.During that 14 days,all I did was keep the tank topped off and dripped kalk 27/7 to keep the PH at or above 8.6.The day I turned the lights back on,I did a 70-75% water change,siphoning everything the hose would pick up off the rock along the top 1/4" of sand.
I had made my mind up,that if that handt of worked,I was going to pull every one of the fish and ionverts out and dump a gallon of bleach in.

 

[andysgirl8800]

Just for the record, I am currently in the proccess of "Yote's Recipe for Dinoflagellate Eradication", minus 2 of the 14 days. Have a read, if you're interested : https://www.livingreefs.com/great-algae-genocide-war-2010-a-t24202.html

You really don't want your "little" issue to blossom into a huge outbreak, like me. You'll start losing animals. I agree that a photo would help us diagnose the algae problem though.

 

[ltkenbo]

So if I was going to do one of these blackouts, what do I do about corals, especially LPS?


Here's a pic, I'll try to take a better one tomorrow, this one was taken like last week or something:

Yeah, the picture doesn't do it justice either. Initially I noticed them appearing on the sand, then they became long and stringy and they stick to everything and if you try to grab them they disenegrate. They form bubbles later in the day and when I blow them off they will then float to the surface. They smell really funky too. They stick all over the soft corals and keep them from opening up.

 

[andysgirl8800]

Oh dear. I'm sorry to say, but your picture and your description makes me think Dinoflagellates. In terms of corals vs. blackouts. Most of your corals should be just fine. It is not sunny 365 days of the year on the reefs, Many of them get blacked out for weeks during hurricane season and such.

 

[PRC]

I'm not certain because I'm a newb, but those look to be diatom algae to me. I didn't read the whole thread, are you using tap water? Here is a picture of my diatom growth. By the time they were done, their were long stands of them...After approx. 4-5 days they're almost ocmpletely vanished on their own. Typically diatoms grow in new tanks at the end of the cycle or in a tank with a heavy bioload, low circulation, and the tank is letting to much waste settle in the tank... My diatoms looked exaclty like those pics that you posted. Have you added new rock to your tank? How many fish do you have? How many powerheads?

 

[daugherty]

well i just got done with a black out for my tank because of dinos and i did it for 3 days then gave it a day of light then 4 more days of no light and i turned my flow way dow for my main pump so that the uv would kill everything and it worked i have no more dinos. and from you pic those look like dinos diatoms do not get stringy like that.

 

[ltkenbo]

Plenty of powerheads, not using tap water, using RO/DI water, only 3 fish, plenty of snails and everything else. Yeah I was pretty convinced by now they are dino's. Anyways, so with the blackout, do I feed the fish at all during that time? Also don't the actinics not grow dinos? I could always run just those for a couple of hours a day.

 

[andysgirl8800]

I am doing a total black out with only 1 hour of light on for feedin, but lightly feeding.

 

[ltkenbo]

So maybe I'll do a black out with 1 hour of light with actinics, think that would be even better?