Dyno?

I need some help identifying an algae that has recently reared it ugly head on my sand bed. I'm torn between it being dyno or diatoms, and am definitely hoping not dyno! Little back story to make me wonder about it being diatoms. I have recently been battling the plague knows as aptasia and was regularly blasting them with hot water out of a turkey baster. By the time I was done I could smell the hot plastic...so this makes me think I released silicates into the water thus diatoms. Here is a pic of it this morning, thanks for the help!

 

Ick! I don't know. Doesn't look like my diatoms when I had them, but that doesn't mean they aren't diatoms.

I'm sure someone will know!

 

It could be some sort of other nuisance algae. I believe that the telltale sign of dyno is air bubbles ingrained within it.

 

does the algea seem to get worse as the day goes on? I think it is just slime algea. Dino looks like someone blew their nose in your tank with a massive nasty sinus infection! Strands get dark brown, get pretty long and are full of air bubbles. In the morning when you first turn on the lights it looks as if it has gotten better but as the light are on it gets worse.
have you checked your phosphates? do you run any phosban or the like? also higher pH and alk will get rid of that. You also probably should turn off your lights for couple days (trust me the corals will be fine)

 

Looks like dinos, sorry

 

it could be...it is hard to tell in pictures. But the treatment is basically the same. You need to get to the source of the problem....excess nutrients. Could be from the plastics, could be over feeding, etc.
the first thing that needs to be done is you need to lower your phosphates. Even if your phosphates are zero you have phosphates...it just means the algea, slime etc is pulling it out of the water. I would get a phosphate reactor and run that.
The second thing is you need to lower your feedings. When I had mine, I thought I was feeding alright, however I decided to feed half of what I was feeding daily, and fed that every other day. My fish were fine...contrary to what they were telling me, they did not starve. In fact since then I have even started feeding less then that.
I would also add purigen.
Then you need to get your pH up to at least 8.4 and kH up to 11 or above. I used borax at first to get it up, and then dosed with kalk in a slurry form. I tested every single day to monitor those levels.
And finally.....kill your lights. I had my lights off completely (no moon lights, leds) for 10 days. (I had SPS, clams and LPS and everything was fine) After 10 days I started the lights back up..but you have to go slow. I first just turned the T5 on for a couple hours for a day or two. Then I turned my MH on for an hour, and raised the T5 time. Each day I added more time that the ligths were on until I got to my desired times. If I noticed any of that coming back then I would reduce the light.
And finally you have to keep it up. If it is dino it WILL come back the first time you slack off. Must keep the pH and kH up and phosphates down.
good luck

 

Sorry I didn't want to start out my first post at 2 paragraphs I have a hard enough time getting people to respond to 3 lines sometimes lol. I run phosphate and carbon in a reactor 24/7. I feed once every two days, have cut out frozen foods all together and feed pellet food, only what they can consume in 2 minutes. Phosphates do test at 0 and so do every other param as far as ammonia nitrite and nitrates though I do realize that they are being consumed faster. I keep my ph at 8.3 and my mag at 1350. Do a water change once a week 10 percent, I run a small in sump fuge with cheato and 10 to 12 mangos which are getting quite large. I'm currently wet skimming and have to dump the collection cup daily. I have been contemplating cutting the lights off for 3 to 4 days because I'm getting tired of new algae popping up...

This is a short term solution though, there is a source of my problem somewhere I just cant figure out where it could be. There is no outside light touching my tank either, as I fixed that problem a few weeks back. I've also thought about shutting off flow through my sump and doing a complete water change there and siphoning it out clean. It has a slight dust type film in it which I assume is common in sumps. Maybe this could be the source? Thanks for the responses and sorry for the lack of info in the original post!

 

the dino probably came in on a coral. Because your parems are so stable, it has prevented them from speading more. The one thing that helped mine was killing the lights. It is a PIA....good luck!

 

Also, there are no bubbles in it at all, and my tangs and my midas blenny seem to like to eat at it. Maybe that helps with an identification, it does have an upside to it though! I have been very curious about flow in that portion of the tank at the sand bed....since this stuff has popped up I've been able to asses it and flow is good! lol stuff is whipping around like mad down there!

 

Thanks you've been quite helpful!