HELP...how can I destroy this algae???

[bobpiker]

I've got a slimy brown/green algae with lots of bubbles appearing all over my tank suddenly and it seems to be getting worse. In some places its accumulated enough that it has gotten stringy...on powerheads, glass, rocks, sand and corals. Is it cyano and should I try a cyano killer additive with skimmer off? It's definitely not true green, nor is it red...it actually quite brown.

None of my corals are opening as they used to and are acually shrinking away because they are getting covered slowly, too. I've already lost a few acro frags so I know I'm in trouble. Zoas aren't opening. Anthelia is shrunken. Xenia is very shrunken. My toadtool won't polyp anymore and just about everything else is looking poor.About 2 weeks ago I upgraded my lights to a 60" 6-T5 ATI with 3 blue, 1 blue plus, 1fiji red, and ge daylight. Before that I had a Current 6-T5 48" with the same bulbs.

I believe I'm a little overdo changing out the first 2 filters on my 4-stage rodi, so the last 2 of my 10% plus weekly water changes likely didn't have the purest water. I'm hooking up an inline tds today with new filters, so this shouldn't be a factor any longer.

Mine is a 112 gallon, 5 ft long tank, 24" high and my lights are now about 10" above my tank. I've always ran my lights for about 12 hours a day and I'll be reducing that to 9 this afternoon. My skimmer is rated for 175g and continutes to fill weekly with deep green muck. All of my parameters are exactly where they should be, so I'm confident it isn't a chemistry issue.

What can I do to remove this stuff? I'm reducing lighting by 30%, have reduced feedings to 1 cube from 2 per day of mysis, and will change filters today in my rodi. I'm planning a 10% water change each day for at least 3 or 4 days, too, now that I'll have new filters.

Please help!!!

Thanks, Bob

 

[Aquaman101]

Sounds like it may be dinoflagellates. Do a search on that to see if it resembles what you have in your tank.

 

[NanoReefWanabe]

i can assure you if you have algae problems you have water chemistry problems too...
i would reduce the feeding as you have done and reduce the lighting a bit too...

it sounds like diatom algae...or dino's...the bubbles are likely trapped O2 as the algae photosynthesizes

i dont think your skimmer is big enough to effectively remove all the waste prior to it becoming NO3...2 cubes of mysis sounds like you either have a high bioload of fish your feeding or your over feeding...for a high bioload i am pretty sure the skimmer isnt big enough..

a bunch of water changes and manual removal are you best bets...perhaps some blue leg hermits to help clean it up a bit too..

 

[bobpiker]

I think you are right...it sure looks like I have an infestation of dinos. I know my chemistry was on target before this all started, but I'm sure you are absolutely right that I do have a chemistry issue now with phosphates. I'm hoping to have that fixed shortly, though.

I'm sure my bioload is a bit high. I'm using a SWC 160 and it is rated for a 175 gallon with a high bio-load, so mine being a 112 with a 40b sump and a total volume of roughly 150 gallons minus rock and sand space I think I'm ok on the skimmer, but down the road I may still upgrade to something larger. I raised my lights about 6 inches, lowered my light time from 12 hours to 9 hours per day, reduced my feedings from 2 to 1 cube of mysis per day along with a a chunk of nori each day, too. I've lowered my water temp to 79 as it was fluctuating between 80 and 81. I'm doing a daily 10% water change each day this week, too, to flush out as much as possible. I have a few hermits and will take that advice for sure and pick up a bunch more hoping they will also help.

I've also turned off all lights and am on day 2 now. After some reading, I found someone who had success getting rid of all of his dinos after a 3 day period without lights, so I'm very hopeful I'll have success here. From what I can see without lights, my sand looks completely clean once again so so far so good. The guy who had success by turning off his lights for 3 days said it didn't affect his corals or anemones so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

If anyone has any additional advice I woudl sure love to hear it.
Thanks, Bob

 

[Toke23]

the lights out thing works pretty good...this past week i had an unintentional lights out i left for vacation and between me or my brother one of us turned the timers off and the lights were off for 5 days. turned them back on and most everything was clean as a whistle, few spots in the sand were still crudy and i think some of my corals are taking a few days getting back used to the light but no harm no foul

 

[bobpiker]

Well, I tried the lights out for 3 days along with everthing else. At first the problem appeared to be solved but a day later the dinos were coming back, so for the past 2 days I've been stirring up the sand and brushing off the rocks to get as much of the junk into the water column as possible where my algae eaters (pacific blue and spotted rabbit) seem to eat a bunch. It comes back later, though, after it resettles and grows again throughout the day. I've just added an Escopps filter sock mechanism to my sump to catch and remove as much as possible after stirring up the water and it does appear to be getting a lot. I'm cleaning the sock every other day now.

I checked my water params across the board this morning. Nitrites, 'trates, ammonia, and phosphates were 0. My ph was a bit low at 7.8, though.

Now, I'm going to try raising my ph. As I said, it's at 7.8 as of this morning and I'm likely to shoot for a 9 and hope for the best. Someone had suggested making a pickling lime slurry but of course my grocery doesn't carry the stuff. Any ideas as to where else I can find it or for another source?

Anymore ideas and I am truly all ears at this point. I've lost some frags already due the dino coverage and my large toadstool seems to be really sagging sideways because it gets covered, too, until I brush the gunk off with a toothbrush. But the stuff keeps coming back so I'm not really making any headway yet.

Bob

 

[reefgeezer]

Assuming nutrient levels including dissolved organics are low and you are not carbon dosing, it will take several lights out cycles to get rid of dinos. Shorter photo periods, as little as two hours, will also be required between the lights out periods. It took several months to do rid my tank of this pest and I didn't have it as bad as you describe.

 

[aecasasus]

3 days dark-out(slowly increase lighting until desired lenght of time afterwards), daily manual removal, daily cleanup of powerheads, skimmer, filtering systems and sump, raise PH and Magnesium, up your GFO and GAC changes(reactor is not a bad idea), monitor O2 levels at night, stop dosing of nutrients, make sure you have enough flow in the tank so it can't adhere to rocks or sandbed.

Good Luck! Keep us posted!

 

[bobpiker]

Hello and thanks for the tips. I'm not carbon dosing and I have a sock getting as much as possble out after stirring things up 3 or 4 times a day. Everything that should be 0 shows 0 as of yesterday morning. I'm trying to get my ph up from 7.8 now with slow slurry additive of calcium hydroxide daily, too. I'm hoping for 8.5 ph shortly. I'm trying no mysis for a few days with just a clip of nori each morning in an attemp to get my herbivores to eat as much of the dino as possible because so far it keeps coming back. I think my next attempt will be to go lights off for another 3 days with the higher ph and hope like heck I get the dinos kicked. I've got over 5,000 gph with 5 Tunze powerheads, not including return flow from my sump so I think I've got plenty of flow but the stuff still wants to accumulate on the sand and rocks. Man, what a pain. I understand how this stuff can get a person to want to start all over again or quite entirely, but I'm trying like crazy to beat the stuff. I've lost a lot of frags and apparently my toadstool but the fish and anemones don't seem to be bothered at least. Here's hoping for good luck!
Thanks, Bob

 

[bobpiker]

I'm still battling the dinos and am changing my filter sock in my sump daily. I've found that just stirring up the dinos gets them into the water column but most just settles back and grows again. So, my new tactic (started this morning), after raising my ph to 8.3 now (will still go higher if needed) is to siphon right off of the rocks and sand directly into one of my overflows so the dinos will be taken completely out with my sock. It worked like a charm this morning so I'll keep at it with very reduced feedings, only atiinics for a week, and running a very wet skimmer.

After some more reading, I've found it recommended not to do water changes for awhile, but my rodi is still testing at 0, so I'm not sure how water changes can contribute to nutrients. Should I stop water changes until the dinos are gone?

 

[aecasasus]

I'm still battling the dinos and am changing my filter sock in my sump daily. I've found that just stirring up the dinos gets them into the water column but most just settles back and grows again. So, my new tactic (started this morning), after raising my ph to 8.3 now (will still go higher if needed) is to siphon right off of the rocks and sand directly into one of my overflows so the dinos will be taken completely out with my sock. It worked like a charm this morning so I'll keep at it with very reduced feedings, only atiinics for a week, and running a very wet skimmer.

After some more reading, I've found it recommended not to do water changes for awhile, but my rodi is still testing at 0, so I'm not sure how water changes can contribute to nutrients. Should I stop water changes until the dinos are gone?

You're on the right track!

Keep cleaning your DT daily and your filtering system. Catch as much as you possibly can either by syphon, net or sock (a combination of all will help) and you will conquer the battle.

As of water changes, it's your choice. It's a 50-50 when it comes to dyno's. By doing whe water changes, you can remove dynos from the water column but you will add nutrients to the tank that will feed the ones you don't remove. By NOT doing the water changes, you will not remove as many from the water column, which eventually die, and will end up becoming food for the live ones. 50-50 chance...Definitely! It's up to you and your plan of attack...

 

[bobpiker]

Thanks for giving me some assurances. Since my inline at my rodi still shows 0 after changing out all my filters a few weeks ago I can't imagine how water changes could be putting in nutrients but I'll try the no water change for a week and see if there is a noticeable improvement. I can tell already that siphoning right into my overflow where the water then gets filtered in a 200 micron sock at my sump is making a big difference because this morning, for the first time since this all started, I'm not seeing nearly as much new growth of dinos. And my toadstool appears to be making a comeback, too, little by little with som polyps once again. I'll keep at it and let everyone know my progress as things improve. If I can offer any insight to the next person with a similar battle after my own mini education on dinos then I'll gladly do so.

Thanks again.

 

[aecasasus]

Thanks for giving me some assurances. Since my inline at my rodi still shows 0 after changing out all my filters a few weeks ago I can't imagine how water changes could be putting in nutrients but I'll try the no water change for a week and see if there is a noticeable improvement. I can tell already that siphoning right into my overflow where the water then gets filtered in a 200 micron sock at my sump is making a big difference because this morning, for the first time since this all started, I'm not seeing nearly as much new growth of dinos. And my toadstool appears to be making a comeback, too, little by little with som polyps once again. I'll keep at it and let everyone know my progress as things improve. If I can offer any insight to the next person with a similar battle after my own mini education on dinos then I'll gladly do so.

Thanks again.

Great to hear you see some improvement! :thumbsup:

Also, as for the water changes, the nutrients won't be in the water but in the salt mix. Most of them have nutrients along with all the other common stuff like mag, calcium, etc.

Hopefully your Dyno's will disappear soon... Keep us podted!

 

[JANOtheMANO]

ive gone through this as well what a pain in the a**. Do what your doing. except no water changes, you are just adding nutrients. No water changes, do another 3 day lights out and add a bag of chemi pure elite into your filter sock, youll be free of the plauge in a week

 

[bobpiker]

Thank you for the chemi pure idea. I'm doing that this weekend and will stop on the water changes, too, now that I know the nutrients are included in the salt.

Have a great weekend! The battle is on!

 

[SushiGirl]

So, my new tactic (started this morning), after raising my ph to 8.3 now (will still go higher if needed) is to siphon right off of the rocks and sand directly into one of my overflows so the dinos will be taken completely out with my sock. It worked like a charm this morning so I'll keep at it with very reduced feedings, only atiinics for a week, and running a very wet skimmer.

After some more reading, I've found it recommended not to do water changes for awhile, but my rodi is still testing at 0, so I'm not sure how water changes can contribute to nutrients. Should I stop water changes until the dinos are gone?

We didn't manage to really get a handle on ours, then get rid of it a few weeks later, until we stopped doing water changes. Actually at that point we only ended up skipping one (we were doing them every 2 weeks) and that seemed to be the turning point after months of short lighting period and siphoning off into the overflow to be caught by our sponge pad we have in there.

 

[rocking]

i have a canster filter that was just laying a roung i took a old gravel vac and a scraper that i taped to the vack and hooked to the canster with a 300 gal flow on it and slowley scraass off with it on and the return line i have a 200 micron sock on the end of it going into my sump so that i can remove over 80% of what i had on my glass it worked grate
give that a shoot

 

[bobpiker]

Will do, rocking. My siphoning into my overflow has worked well but I want some more pull, so the vac idea will be a big help. I've added a chemi pure bag to my sock and clean my sock every 2 days now. I've got 2 more socks coming to make it a bit easier, too. I'll beat this stuff eventually! Hopefully sooner than later, but it sure is looking a lot better already. Don't give up on this stuff because it can be beat! Thanks everyone.
Bob

 

[bobpiker]

I beat it finally! After its initially outbreak and trying lights out a couple of times for 3 day periods I can safely say that it is all gone. I don't believe it will be back either with my ongoing reduced lighting from 12 to 8 hours per day and half reduced feedings. I'm sure I was overfeeding anyway, so half reduced is likely just right.

Boiling it all down, my recommendations for anyone who may also experience a dino outbreak are:
1. reduced lighting after a 3 or 4 day blackout.
2. cut feedings way down
3. add a filter sock to your sump (hugely important) and swap/clean it every day
4. Most importantly, manually remove as much as you can. I siphoned rocks, sand and corals directly into my overflow where it was immediately caught and removed by my sock. I did this twice per day and it had the greatest immediate effect. Just getting it into the water column wasn't nearly enough as most would settle before reaching my overflows, so definitely siphon it up for the greatest impact.

It took nearly 3 weeks to eradicate the crud but I can't find a stich left, sump or otherwise and I'm continuing wiith a sock change 3 times per week just to be safe.

Thank you everyone for all of your suggestions.
Bob

 

[aecasasus]

I beat it finally! After its initially outbreak and trying lights out a couple of times for 3 day periods I can safely say that it is all gone. I don't believe it will be back either with my ongoing reduced lighting from 12 to 8 hours per day and half reduced feedings. I'm sure I was overfeeding anyway, so half reduced is likely just right.

Boiling it all down, my recommendations for anyone who may also experience a dino outbreak are:
1. reduced lighting after a 3 or 4 day blackout.
2. cut feedings way down
3. add a filter sock to your sump (hugely important) and swap/clean it every day
4. Most importantly, manually remove as much as you can. I siphoned rocks, sand and corals directly into my overflow where it was immediately caught and removed by my sock. I did this twice per day and it had the greatest immediate effect. Just getting it into the water column wasn't nearly enough as most would settle before reaching my overflows, so definitely siphon it up for the greatest impact.

It took nearly 3 weeks to eradicate the crud but I can't find a stich left, sump or otherwise and I'm continuing wiith a sock change 3 times per week just to be safe.

Thank you everyone for all of your suggestions.
Bob

Congrats!!!! :thumbsup: :bounce1:

Now........ Don't stop monitoring it. You see something similar pop out in the next few days/weeks, attack it IMMEDIATELY!

Dyno's are a bit hard to conquer BUT, not impossible!

Enjoy! :beer: