Dino? Cyano? Diatom?

[Beej1254]

I've got this horrible looking brown gunk on a couple of my rocks. I tried doing some searching around and now my guess is dinoflagellates but I'm not 100%. In any case I need to keep this under control because it looks terrible and obviously I don't want it to take over.

If anyone can help me identify this and help me with a course of action I'd be very grateful.


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[54seaweed]

What are your water parameters ?

frequent water changes along with lights out a few days should help to get it to go away

you most likely have some phosphates feeding it

I also would suggest you check that you have enough water circulation

[Reefing Madness]

Looks like your run of the mill green algae starting to take over. Brush it off and suck it out. Doesn't look like Dinos, you'd have bubbles and snot coming off of it.
Whats your phosphate number?

[Beej1254]

Sorry guys not at home to mess with the tank atm. I really appreciate your replies. I was talking with another member about this issue yesterday and he basically said the same thing you guys are. We started thinking that once I painted the back of the tank and I saw how much algae was truly caked on I began to scrape all of it off. Not thinking I'm sure I released a ton of nutrients back into the water causing this bloom.

I recently added 2 more power heads at 1300gph on top of my Jebao RW-15. I'm playing around with placement. Do you aim the power heads at rocks? Or just into the open tank?


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[Reefing Madness]

At that speed, you should be able to point them straight out and have it hit just about everything.

[Marty.h]

You would soon know if it was dino here how mine looked when I had it !!

[Beej1254]

Thankfully when I stopped home really quick today it's cleared up a lot. I have the power heads pointed directly at the rocks. Hopefully the fish don't mind. It seems like when I don't have the power heads setup this way that I get some build up even tho I have a ton of flow. I'm wondering if my overflow isn't sized right to allow enough drainage to the sump and filter socks to collect the gunk and waste.


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[Morangus]

Snails... Margarita, Cerith, and Turbo...


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[Beej1254]

It's been about a week now and the rocks are looking much better. I still have some brown sand but it's clearing up a lot.

I reduced feeding to every other day but it's making me feel like a terrible person. I also got a turkey baster which I've been using to blast the rocks with every other day during feeding.

Today I'm installing a weir on my pvc overflow. I'm hoping the increased flow down to the sump will improve on gunk collecting in the DT. I'm also not so adamant about cleaning the back glass of algae it's hard to reach and if I miss patches then it looks worse to me then if algae is on it.


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[PB_Smith]

Originally Posted by Beej1254

I'm also not so adamant about cleaning the back glass of algae it's hard to reach and if I miss patches then it looks worse to me then if algae is on it.


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algae growing in a tank isn't a "bad" thing, actually it is desirable. The issue is having it conform to our aesthetic wishes.
I never clean the back wall or one side of my tank, the snails and stuff handle it for me.

After getting my refugium established, I haven't had any issues with rampant algae or cyano growth in the display. The refugium full of caulerpa makes good use of any nutrients in the water.

My point is we actually want algae growth in our systems and it isn't necessarily always indicative of bad water quality or set-up. I would be far more concerned if there were no algae growing.
the trick is getting to grow where we want.

[Beej1254]

I totally agree. When I had texted another member about this issue I mentioned to him that it's like the algae in my refugium is moving into my DT. It's driving me nuts I'm trying to figure out how to get it back to where I want it


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[markodeniro]

How much have you got in your fuge? I experienced the same thing removed a load of cheato and now I have hair algae in the dt


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[Beej1254]

Well I had cyano and all sorts of nasty algaes in my fuge along with Chaeto. Now the walls of my fuge are clearing up of algae and it's kind of spreading in the DT but I've been battling it and every other day I blast the rocks clean with a turkey baster and siphon the sand. It's been working for me pretty well and the DT is clearing up a lot


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