Brown Algae, Diatoms Maybe?

Hi all.

Had a outbreak of this ugly brown algae, only happened, since my coral beauty decided to disappear and die somewhere, i also get annoying small green spots on the inside of the glass which are a right pain in the ass to remove , on a daily basis, pictures added for confirmation and pointers, thanks a bunch.

Marc...

 

Bumpety bump bump...

 

Doesn't look like diatoms to me. Diatoms look more powdery than that. Not sure what it is though. We have some good algae ID peeps around here though.

 

ok, cheers, anybody else have any ideas?

 

Looks to be a mix of Diatoms and Brown slime(Cyano). Purchase a Pura Filtration Pad and some "Red Slime Remover" or Chemi-Clean. Use the pad in combo with one of the other products. The cyano takes a chemical to get things under control and in your case since we know what the cause is, after a dose or two of the chemical you will be fine.

 

I have used the red slime remover before, all corals an fish, inverts were ok, apart from my long spined sea urchin who left a trail of spines in his path, looked like he had a dose of chemotherapy, so if i can would like to skip using it again....

 

Hi Stingray

no definite answers from me here but a couple of questions for you

whats your DKH currently?
are you running GFO in that Rena filter or do you have a reactor

Nitrates and Phosphates are normally key in algae issues
if that was in my tank
I would try Purigen or chemi pure for any nitrate issues - starve the algae
I would look at my flow in terms of total tank volume per hour and see if there was scope for increase

Id look at the Rena (whats in it by the way) as that may also be a source of the nutrients these algaes are consuming and proliferating from

Steve

 

cheers unclejed, Hi Steve, thanks for the reply,

My DKH just tested it 15 mins before lights come on, 0.63 gives me a DKH of 6.0 meq/L 2.10

I have no reactor, but i do use the rena Phosphate sachets, change them out around once evry 2 months,

I have a 3 and half foot 55 makes it difficult to place corals with so much flow blowing around the tank, but i currently have the return blowing across the surface, that leaves me with 2xkoralia 2's positioned on left and right top pointing downwards towards front of tank...

Besides the phosphate sachet in the rena i have the carbon sachet , and sunsun, ceramic bio rings, at the bottom i have the 20ppi 2x sponges and some sponges bought off ebay, 2nd grade cheap made 30ppi sponges, thought i would try save some money, could this cause it, last thing on top is the fine filter sponge, thats it...

Phosphate test kit out of date will take sample down fish store along with nitrates and update u with results when i get back,

How often would u recommend i change out this stuff, i have been changeing the filter sponges out staggered of course every six months,

Thanks so far

Stingray...

 

Try to get the DKH to the 8-12 range. Slowly. I use Reef Builder by Seachem. I remember a post about Red Slime Remover and the urchin. I believe it was co-incidence.

 

+1 on increasing the DKH as thats a little low and you might be experiencing PH swings as a result and that will aggravate an algae issue IME

filter sponges， carbon sachets and phosphate sachets， plus bio rings
do you rinse them regular？ because they all get clogged with waste
and in the case of PO4 remover its effectiveness in a power filter is probably less than half as effective as it would be in a reactor where it tumbles gently and stays free of sediment

are you still performing water changes?
if you are, next change rinse everything in the old tank water and syphon of as much algae as you can during change
renew the PO4 media and try angling the power heads slightly differently in order to get a little more flow to the left side where the majority seemed to be on the photo
( you might not need to up flow rate, maybe spreading what you have already about a bit more evenly may help)

Steve