Sand bed with brown algae?

[Sammaredsox]

I have a biocube 29 that has been up and running for like 5 months.  Water is 78 degrees, salinity is 1.025.  Nitrites 0.  Ammonia 0.  Nitrates 5-10 ppm. I have an inTank media basket with filter floss on top, chemipure blue in middle and activated charcoal in bottom.  I have an inTank chaeto chamber about half full of chaeto with a light over it.  When I turn lights off at night, sand is mostly clean in morning due to cuc and sand sifting star.  After lights come on, I build up some brown stuff on sand with trapped air bubbles.  Is this common?  Can't figure out if it is dinos or brown algae?  I can't leave lights off all the time as I have some anenomes in the tank.  I change 5-10 gallons a week and siphon off as much brown stuff as possible.  Just can't figure out cause and if I need to do anything about it.  Thanks!

[RCReef]

That looks like diatoms to me. Are you using RODI water to top off and to mix your saltwater for changes?

[Plexus_Reefer_FL]

probably need to test for phosphates, I had that before and then if it is high treat with this...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HWR4N1G/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Sammaredsox]

26 minutes ago, RCReef said:

That looks like diatoms to me. Are you using RODI water to top off and to mix your saltwater for changes?

I get my saltwater from a lfs and then when I top off I am using tap water treated with Prime.  Shouldn't that work?

28 minutes ago, Plexus_Reefer_FL said:

probably need to test for phosphates, I had that before and then if it is high treat with this...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HWR4N1G/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I use an API saltwater kit but it doesn't test for phosphates.  Guess I need to look into a kit with that.  I would have thought my chemi pure blue would remove the phosphates.  

[RCReef]

5 hours ago, Sammaredsox said:

I get my saltwater from a lfs and then when I top off I am using tap water treated with Prime.  Shouldn't that work?

I use an API saltwater kit but it doesn't test for phosphates.  Guess I need to look into a kit with that.  I would have thought my chemi pure blue would remove the phosphates.  

You want to use RODI water for top offs. Tap water will most likely have phosphates, nitrates, and silicates. Topping off with tap will provide the nutrients that diatoms or unwanted algae require.

[Sammaredsox]

1 hour ago, RCReef said:

You want to use RODI water for top offs. Tap water will most likely have phosphates, nitrates, and silicates. Topping off with tap will provide the nutrients that diatoms or unwanted algae require.

Makes sense.  Looks like I will get a RODI unit. I thought treating tap water with Prime would do the same.  Thanks!

[1891Bro]

All the frouride in tap water will make your corals super cavity resistant.  

[mtmurphy85]

Or distilled water from the local store will work in a pinch! But rodi is hands down the way to go 

[Nidilsky]

Diatoms.  They come from tap water and will cycle out with rodi wc and a good cuc. At least, that's what I did. I have nassaris snails, turbos(astrea and zebra) and hermits(Scarlett reef). I spot stir (not all at once)my substrate every now and then to get it suspended in my column

And filtered out. Clean and dry all filter equip.

[samnaz]

I'll be the first to say it looks like dinoflagellates. Especially if they're coming back so quickly after cleaning them out, plus all those air bubbles... Just my guess. 

[Sammaredsox]

Ok so diatoms it is.  Will start topping off with RODI.  Did a good water change today and vacuumed out most of it.  Also got a piece of poly filter for my inTank media filter (supposed to pull out phosphates).  We will see how it goes.

[Sammaredsox]

21 hours ago, samnaz said:

I'll be the first to say it looks like dinoflagellates. Especially if they're coming back so quickly after cleaning them out, plus all those air bubbles... Just my guess. 

 

On 4/14/2017 at 11:28 PM, Nidilsky said:

Diatoms.  They come from tap water and will cycle out with rodi wc and a good cuc. At least, that's what I did. I have nassaris snails, turbos(astrea and zebra) and hermits(Scarlett reef). I spot stir (not all at once)my substrate every now and then to get it suspended in my column

And filtered out. Clean and dry all filter equip.

Hey all,  what about adding a piece of poly filter in my inTank media basket under the filter floss?  It says it removes phosphates. 

[Clown79]

You can used distilled, its pure water with nothing in it- just like ro/di.

 

Tap water use is the issue and most likely the lfs water may be too. 

 

You need a salifert phosphate test kit as api is high range.

 

Chemipure blue and carbon is the same thing, the blue just has an added product.

Its cheaper to use phosguard and carbon than chemipure but that still doesn't get rid of all tap water nasties.

[Sammaredsox]

Ok so now I am thoroughly confused, I tested PO and it is 0.  I tested CA and it is 400 and tested KH which is 143.2.  Nitrates are at 0.  I tested another salt tank I have which has no brown algae and it has almost the exact same numbers!  Something is up!  Pictures from today.

[Clown79]

Yes, the algae absorbs the nutrients therefore the test results will be inaccurate.

 

Tap water use, ro water use = algae

 

Ro/di and distilled is really the only way to go.

 

 

[divecj5]

As someone mentioned earlier, you may be dealing with dinoflaggelates as opposed to diatoms.  Instead of a brown dusting on the rocks, glass, and sand bed, it looks like you have a mat instead.  Is it stringy and does it have bubbles in it?

 

Since you were using tap water, you may have a build up of silicates which would certainly fuel the dinos (and diatoms).  You might want to check out a product called Vibrant (LINK), which is a tank additive that contains a number of bacteria strains that can out compete the algae/dinos for available nutrients.  I was super skeptical of the product (thought it was another snake oil product) but I've been using it on my tank for 2 months now and it's made a huge difference.  I neglected my tank for months (6 months between water changes) and it brought it back to life.  There is a HUGE thread on R2R with some user stories.  Might be worth a try in your case if it turns out to be dinos. 

 

If it's diatoms, I would keep up with top off and water changes with RO/DI (make sure it's testing o TDS and you have a silicate remover) and they should go away on their own. 

 

Just my two pennies....

[jeffmr4]

Those look like dinoflagellates to me.  I tried the vibrant for a while but it didn't work for me.  I've ordered some dino-x and will be trying to use that to get rid of mine.