infamous brown matt algae

[dustbust_1]

I most recently had an outbreak of a brownish blackish algae on my substrate. I am trying to figure out the cause. Cause 1 - I topped off with tap water. Cause 2 started dosing iodine, Cause 3 added some Red Gracillaria to my refugium which now that I have been researching, petco gave me either dead or dying. To help what is the best scavenger to help correct this problem?
Thanks

 

[Fish_wiz2]

I think it is the tap, i would never use tap for a reef i would only use RO water to top-off and change water

 

[dustbust_1]

ya I normally go to walmart ang get culligan RO water. I was a little scepticall how much it mattered so i was lazy one day and did a top off with tap.

 

[harsh12ka4]

if the tank is new its part of the algae cycle but most likely the cause may be the tap water. and if you are interested in keeping corals than best would be to buy a ro/di unit.

 

[Tswifty]

If it's anything like what I'm dealing with here's what I'm trying.

First this:

If that doesn't work... then this:

and if THAT doesn't work...

Good luck!

 

[sminker]

i may be a newb. but i just added a lawnmower blenny and a flame angel and after about 4 days my diatom algea on my substrate is nearly gone. not to mention they cleaned the walls and all the rocks.

i didnt realize lawnmowers ate algea off the substrate. i can literally sit there and watch my blenny grab mouthfulls of sand. no, he is not a dragon goby. he spits it back out his mouth

this is in a 125 with 120 lbs of aragonite sand and 120lbs of live rock. now my diatom outbreak could be just receding by itself since just about all the rock i acquired was covered in coraline.

tank is one month old.

 

[SteveNMegz]

we get that stuff everyonce in a while, we use r/o water and seem to think it may be because of overfeeding, could be wrong though

 

[Tswifty]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13226586#post13226586 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sminker
i may be a newb. but i just added a lawnmower blenny and a flame angel and after about 4 days my diatom algea on my substrate is nearly gone. not to mention they cleaned the walls and all the rocks.

i didnt realize lawnmowers ate algea off the substrate. i can literally sit there and watch my blenny grab mouthfulls of sand. no, he is not a dragon goby. he spits it back out his mouth

this is in a 125 with 120 lbs of aragonite sand and 120lbs of live rock. now my diatom outbreak could be just receding by itself since just about all the rock i acquired was covered in coraline.

tank is one month old.

diatoms are fueled by silicates, once the silicates are consumed, it will regress on it's own.

Which is why if you are using tap water, you will notice them predominately after water changes.

 

[sminker]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13226810#post13226810 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Tswifty8
diatoms are fueled by silicates, once the silicates are consumed, it will regress on it's own.

Which is why if you are using tap water, you will notice them predominately after water changes.

i started the tank with tap water, but everything since has been RO/DI

 

[crvz]

agreed with tswifty (yet again! so wise), if you had diatoms I imagine the addition of fish was merely a coincidence to their disappearance.

Dusty, sounds like you've got cyanobacteria. I don't think a critter is the solution to your problem, look up some of the ways of handling this problem. I'd also request a picture to give a better ID, as it may be something entirely different.

 

[Tswifty]

:lol:

Like I said earlier, I'm currently going through this in my tank (6 months old). You can take a peek at my thread to confirm the ID if you like.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1456785&perpage=25&pagenumber=6

 

[scottyh]

I have the same stuff, is it diatoms or cyanobacteria ?

 

[dustbust_1]

my tank is 2 months old so it could be just part of the algae cycle also I've been reading and it sounds like the tap is the main source. Won't ever do that again.
It looks exactly like Tswifty8 's pics.

 

[Tswifty]

I have cyanobacteria, not diatoms.

I've never anything but RO/DI water on my system. I believe I can trace the cyano back to when I was offering more feeding per day to my tang in order to combat an ich breakout.

Once cyano takes hold it is capable of sustaining solely by photosynthesis... which is why turning out the lights should kill it, or at least cripple it to the point of regression.

I cannot comment on how easily tap water can fuel a cyano outbreak, but I believe it is more commonly associated with low flow (dead zones), overfeeding, or a combination of both.

 

[seapug]

I've had it pop up in high flow zones only in my tank. It really seems to come and go for no real reason. When I start to see it I usually change my RO filters and GFO media and it usually disappears within a few days. Cutting back on the food inputs is probably a good idea too.