Brown Sludge? Algae? on Live Rock - 2 Day Blackout

[diecast9]

I posted a week or two ago about having chrysophytes overtake my reef tank. I suspect silicates are leaking from live rock.

In any case, the chrysophytes usually grow on top of this brown substance on my live rock. At first I was thinking it may be just diatoms. As such, I recently placed my tank under a 2 day blackout.

Below are pictures of the before and after.

Before:


After 2 days blackout:



It seems the 2 day black out has had no effect on removing the brown substance.

Any one have any recommendations on how I can get rid of them? Should I continue with day 3 of black out? I want my coraline algae to take over it - but it seems this brown stuff prevents that.

Thanks in advance for all your help!

 

[whosurcaddie]

I had this for over a year and it was the bane of my existence. The problem is there is very little information out there about this strain of algae.

A lot of people think attacking it the same way you attack dinos is the best method, all I can tell you is how I beat it.

I went the route of starving the tank of nutrients and it worked. It took a very long time though. Granted my outbreak looked much worse than yours so you may be able to jump on this now and get ahead of it before it gets worse. My rocks were completely covered with long strands of chrysophytes blowing in the current.

So first thing was I upped water changes. went from changing 20 gallons every two weeks in my 120 to 30 gallons a week. I added a bio pellet reactor with only a small amount of pellets maybe 200ml then I added some Phosgaurd. I'm not a fan of Phosguard because of its tendency to leach aluminum into the water, but I was desperate at this point. It reduces phosphate extremely fast and then starts to pull silicate. I also reduced feeding to once every two days and at every water change physically removed as much of the algae as I could. The stuff I couldn't get out I scrubbed off the rocks with a toothbrush. I added filter socks after each water change so the strands wouldn't make it into the sump.

The last and final step I used was a product from Aqua Forest. Called Pro Bio S its a sludge reducing bacteria strain that I think was the entire key to me winning this battle.
https://smile.amazon.com/Aquaforest...TF8&qid=1486954027&sr=8-1&keywords=aquaforest

I dosed the Pro Bio S directly next to my biopellet reactor and this got them kicked off extremely fast. My Skimz Monster skimmer was pulling like it never had before, all in about a weeks time. I wish I had a picture of it, the foam was literally moving the skimmer cap off of the cup.

If you decide to use the Aqua forest product start with a half dose. This stuff is potent and could strip nutrients too fast.

It took about two months using these methods and I was finally free of it. At the two month mark I was able to physically remove the algae without it coming back.

Below is a picture when it first popped up. Sorry I don't have a picture at the worst of the outbreak it was much worse than what you see in the picture.

Don't stress out you will beat it. Good Luck.

 

[whosurcaddie]

Oh and the black outs did nothing for me as well. I went 3 days multiple times with no difference in the growth each time.

 

[diecast9]

Thanks so much for ur help! I'm currently using seachem remediation. I hope it has the same effect as your aqua forest. How often did u change the phosphate? I do about 10 to 20 percent water change weekly. And I feed once every other day. I didn't think I had much phosphate or nitrate since Api test kits all tested zero. Wil silicates alone cause this?