Nasty brown stringy stuff - algae or bacteria?

[gte539f]

So I've been dealing with this stuff for the past 2 months, but it really blossomed when I was gone the past 2 weeks and couldn't do usual maintenance. Anybody have a clue on what it is?

<a href='http://s951.photobucket.com/albums/ad358/gte539f/?action=view&current=IMG_0002.jpg' target='_blank'><img src='http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad358/gte539f/IMG_0002.jpg' border='0' alt='Photobucket'></a>

<a href='http://s951.photobucket.com/albums/ad358/gte539f/?action=view&current=IMG_0001.jpg' target='_blank'><img src='http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad358/gte539f/IMG_0001.jpg' border='0' alt='Photobucket'></a>

It likes to form on the glass and the PH's, basically where there is good water flow. I run GFO/carbon, use RO/DI water with TDS 0. Water parameters are all in check, and I only have a pair of clowns I feed every other day.

I did a WC today and plan to keep the lights off the next 3 days. Does anybody knows what the source of this stuff is? I want to tackle the root cause rather than constantly scrape this crud out during WC's.

 

[cmdmd]

Algae

Algae

I think that's a dinoflagellate bloom.

 

[JEFFRO33]

I agree dino.You have a battle ahead of you!

 

[Cahooligan]

yea definitely looks like dinoflaggellates to me. NOT gonna be fun. first off, nothing eats it, and even if something did, it would kill it. many many ways to deal with it. many people recommend siphoning as much as possible, reducing the amount of time of the lights, and running carbon/phosphate removers. if there is coral in the tank, it will be harder to do. I dealt with this problem for MONTHS with absolutely no success. i tried everything. my only solution was to put activated carbon, and phosphate removers in an aquaclear, turn ALL the lights off for around 2 weeks(i dont know if this is any good for the tank, but it worked), and do no water changes at all with wet skimming. eventually it will just go away, then slowly start putting the lights back on. the object is to essentially get ALL of the nutrients out of the water so that the dinoflaggellates die off...i hope it doesnt take you as long as it took me...hope this helps at least a little...good luck

 

[dublo8]

Looks like you have a fighting chance though. The only coral I saw in that pic is a GSP and that can be a pain just like dino. good luck too you as it sounds like it's lights out for a while.

 

[gte539f]

Ok so lights out it is. In addition to the GSP I have a small zoa frag and a sunset monti, how long can they go w/out light?

Also Cahooligan suggested no WC's, is that a good idea?

 

[dublo8]

No water changes. WC's renew the nutrients in the water. You basically want the dino to starve. Unfortunately I think you should move your coral to another tank or ask a friend to hold them for you. Maybe now's the time to set up a 10g nano....lol. I like GSP but it's a pain in the rear. It will grow and take over everything unless you keep it on it's own little gsp island. Mine is taking over 2 of my zoa colonies as we speak due to poor planning on my part. I think the gsp might survive the lights out though. it's tough stuff.

 

[OneReef]

What causes this stuff and where does it originate in a tank?

 

[gte539f]

Ok I'm confused, I thought excess nutrients come from over feeding, not WC's.

And as OneReef asked, where do dinos come from? Have they always been in my tank and just bloomed suddenly? Or were they introduced with a frag or something? BTW I dip any new frag in revive before putting it in my tank.