Algae or Cyano ID help

[dstrickland]

Found my rodi was producing 115 tds and I'm battling this algae or Cyano. It's on rocks and sand bed and goes away lights off and comes back. Blows off easy with baster but I don't see any air bubbles. Also in high flow areas. Any idea what it is and suggestions welcomed.

 

[RBU1]

Hard to tell with all the blue in the photo what color is the algae?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dstrickland]

Reddish brown no green

 

[RBU1]

I'm going to say cyano




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dstrickland]

I was thinking same just really stringing and not matting

 

[RBU1]

Do a chemi clean treatment see if it gets rid of it. Try to figure out your nutrient issue or it might come back.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dstrickland]

Will do, ordering a new rodi and using distilled water checked with tds meter. Thanks for the help

 

[RBU1]

Just make sure if
You do the Chemiclean you add an airstone and let your skimmer run just let
It overflow.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mcgyvr]

If you want a positive ID please retake the pictures with the blue channel of your lights off or way down...All that blue ruins color rendition and often results in focus issues.
Color and focus can be very important for a proper id and treatment plan..

 

[dstrickland]

I will post some later today

 

[drillsar]

Checking with a tds on RO maybe not enough as I just learned.

TDS checks for solids and
Silicate will not show up well on a TDS meter unless the pH is high enough to form silicate (Si(OH)3O-; pH above about 9). Otherwise, it will mostly be in the form of silicic acid, Si(OH)4, which is not conductive.

Therefore, if you have an algae problem could be that your high on Silicate which I am. I got my RO water tested by a lab and a whopping 506.8 µg/l and my TDS showed zero.

Get a test kit to check for Silicate like Salifert. I am going to make a video of my results soon.

I am going to try different methods to see whats best for my case. RO/DI it will have different results based on everyones water supply. The issue with Silcate it's hard to remove from RO alone so you may need a special resin or 2 or 4 DI to get it to 0. Spectrapure makes Silicon Buster

My current system has this:
1 micron sediment>1 micro carbon> 1 micron Chlorguard> 98% Membrane > Mixed DI Resin with this I get 506.8 ug silicon still getting through system. Ouch

I am going to change it to:
1 micron sediment>0.5 carbon>1 micron Chlorguard>99% Membrane>Silica Buster> Mixed Di Resin that is my plan.

 

[mcgyvr]

The only algae I know that uses silicates are Diatoms.
Regular blue-green,etc.. algae does not from what I understand.

But yes a TDS meter may not tell the whole story..

 

[dstrickland]

More pics

 

[dstrickland]

Looks worse after light on for awhile

 

[dstrickland]

Anyone think it's Dino's?

 

[mcgyvr]

Anyone think it’s Dino’s?

<----this guy does

 

[Ranarian]

Chemi clean treatment should be able to clean that.

 

[dstrickland]

Update
Did three day blackout and all clear 24 hours after lights on
Started UV Sterilizer and no return and I increased feeding and test results are nitrate 5 and phosphate 0.02