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Algae ID


SeaFurn

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The last couple of weeks I’ve seen this algae start showing up. It’s very light yellow, very delicate (breaks up as soon as it’s disturbed), seems to be worse where there’s more flow, it’s on the sand, glass, and power head, the snails I do have don’t seem that interested in it, and it comes back very quickly. 

 

Being gone for 4 days it looks terrible and the glass is covered and has prompted this post. 

 

I know I’m a little light on the CUC at the moment and in need of a refresh that would probably help but it just keeps coming back way fast. 

 

Tank is 7 months old. I’ve always had low nutrients when I test and the chaeto in my sump is not outcompeting this. 

I do 10% weekly water changes religiously. I haven’t changed my lighting or feeding schedule. 

 

Any idea what it is and how big a problem it is? Don’t think it’s cyano.

 

45109054195_41b0028da8_b.jpg

 

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I’m not too good with algae, macro, or micro. But it kinda looks like diatoms to me. Does it seem to spread, or grow better after a water change? If so, I’d say it’s most likely diatoms, and your religious water changes are fueling it with silicates.

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6 minutes ago, RayWhisperer said:

I’m not too good with algae, macro, or micro. But it kinda looks like diatoms to me. Does it seem to spread, or grow better after a water change? If so, I’d say it’s most likely diatoms, and your religious water changes are fueling it with silicates.

It grows pretty steadily daily. Haven’t noticed a water change making much difference. It’s actually hard to siphon up. Mostly gets churned into the sand. 

It started on the one side of the tank that gets the most flow but has worked it’s way to the other. 

 

I had diatoms when the tank was brand new but they went away. 

This seems a little different but could diatoms come back? 

Silicates in the newly mixed water? 

I use RODI. TDS is 0. 

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Rodi doesn’t remove much in the way of silicates. It takes some out, but not a lot. You need another stage, with a silicate media to get most of it out. It really depends on your source water, though. Low silicates in the source, no need for the media. High, you need it.  

 

Diatoms are opportunistic. They can appear any time. They just typically show up early on, because nothing else is in the system to compete. However, anytime you have an increase in silicates, they will be the first to respond. 

 

Honestly, it still sounds a lot like diatoms. Take that with a grain of salt, though. As I said, I’m not too good with algae. See what others have to say.

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14 minutes ago, RayWhisperer said:

Rodi doesn’t remove much in the way of silicates. It takes some out, but not a lot. You need another stage, with a silicate media to get most of it out. It really depends on your source water, though. Low silicates in the source, no need for the media. High, you need it.  

 

Diatoms are opportunistic. They can appear any time. They just typically show up early on, because nothing else is in the system to compete. However, anytime you have an increase in silicates, they will be the first to respond. 

 

Honestly, it still sounds a lot like diatoms. Take that with a grain of salt, though. As I said, I’m not too good with algae. See what others have to say.

Interesting. Think I should skip a water change this week and see what happens? 

 

Appreciate the advice. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 months later...
On 12/2/2018 at 6:06 PM, RayWhisperer said:

So, any change with the skipped water change?

Just an update on this. It's a little better but I still get a light covering of this brown algae each week.  The sand bed will be clean after a water change, then slowly day by day it gets more covered. It's not overwhelming but like a light dusting.  If I skip a water change it doesn't really get any thicker/dense throughout week.  If I stir the sandbed, the newly white sand bed gradually gets the light dusting back.  I've increased feeding, reduced feeding, increased flow, decreased flow but those don't seem to have any effect.  I should probably try turning off my skimmer or change up the fuge lighting schedule.  I haven't wanted to change the tank lighting schedule because of the baby RFAs I have that are so dependent on the light. 

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  • 1 year later...

Hey @SeaFurn, did you figure this algae out? 

 

I'm pretty sure my water has high silicates, and after a water change my sandbed gets overrun by diatoms. If I skip water changes for a few weeks, they start to die back. 

 

I haven't bothered with a test kit yet to be 100% sure, because I don't know what I'd do if it turns out it is silicates. 

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@kimberbee I did get a silicate test and it tested within a normal range. I don’t remember what it was but I could dig it up if you’re interested.

 

After some additional on-line digging and several inter webs conversations I settled on it not being diatoms but being chrysophytes - just like I had in my pico tank. 
I stopped skimming, started doing 1 small water change per month,  added 3 types of pods twice and started dosing phtyo weekly. It went away after a couple of months. 
 

I do know that high silicates will lead to diatoms. I’ve experienced them in a couple of the tanks I’ve set up shortly after they were up.

However, this time when I moved my corals into my current 10 gal, I washed the sand so so so much I didn’t get the usual new tank occurrence. 
 

You could try this if you still have a lot of sand “dust” that may be causing the diatoms. 
Siphon the sand like you do during a water change. Let the particles settle to the bottom of the bucket and then just siphon off the clear water and put it back in the tank. Repeat this several times. You will need to have a little extra new water mixed up as you could guess. 

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2 minutes ago, SeaFurn said:

@kimberbee I did get a silicate test and it tested within a normal range. I don’t remember what it was but I could dig it up if you’re interested.

 

After some additional on-line digging and several inter webs conversations I settled on it not being diatoms but being chrysophytes - just like I had in my pico tank. 

Ohhh yes, I remember that. I'll have to do a bit more digging myself. 

 

Luckily, so far, the rust colored sand is just an eyesore, and doesn't seem to be affecting my corals. 

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8 minutes ago, kimberbee said:

Ohhh yes, I remember that. I'll have to do a bit more digging myself. 

 

Luckily, so far, the rust colored sand is just an eyesore, and doesn't seem to be affecting my corals. 

Oh that’s good. Fingers crossed it just burns out. 
 

In my case and just for clarification - I tested for silicates (using a Seachem kit) in both the water in the tank and the RODI (after it had just been filtered). It was definitely below 1 mg/L (ppm) in both cases. 

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4 minutes ago, SeaFurn said:

Oh that’s good. Fingers crossed it just burns out. 
 

In my case and just for clarification - I tested for silicates (using a Seachem kit) in both the water in the tank and the RODI (after it had just been filtered). It was definitely below 1 mg/L (ppm) in both cases. 

Thanks for the clarification!

 

From what I'm seeing of chrysophytes, they tend to look a bit fuzzy and take over on the rocks too, right?  

 

What I've got is *only* on the sand, is rusty/orange in color, goes away when I stir up the sand (or siphon during a water change) but then comes back with increasing intensity over the next few days. If I skip water changes for a week or two, it starts to disappear. But once I do another water change, they come right back within 24 hours.

 

I probably should just get a test kit. 

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4 minutes ago, kimberbee said:

Thanks for the clarification!

 

From what I'm seeing of chrysophytes, they tend to look a bit fuzzy and take over on the rocks too, right?  

 

What I've got is *only* on the sand, is rusty/orange in color, goes away when I stir up the sand (or siphon during a water change) but then comes back with increasing intensity over the next few days. If I skip water changes for a week or two, it starts to disappear. But once I do another water change, they come right back within 24 hours.

 

I probably should just get a test kit. 

Yeah they are fuzzy looking and take to the rocks. They can look a little golden in color too. They don’t really brush off easily either. You have to scrub but even then they come right back. And hydrogen peroxide doesn’t work on them either. 

 

Your situation does sound like diatoms and a test for silicates is probably a good next step. 

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4 hours ago, SeaFurn said:

chrysophytes

This stuff is like herpes

 

Anyway, from the research I have done

 

It too is silica based like diatoms

 

I have been trying to do the GFO for 24 hours trick to see if I can eradicate it

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On 11/30/2020 at 10:20 PM, kimberbee said:

Thanks for the clarification!

 

From what I'm seeing of chrysophytes, they tend to look a bit fuzzy and take over on the rocks too, right?  

 

What I've got is *only* on the sand, is rusty/orange in color, goes away when I stir up the sand (or siphon during a water change) but then comes back with increasing intensity over the next few days. If I skip water changes for a week or two, it starts to disappear. But once I do another water change, they come right back within 24 hours.

 

I probably should just get a test kit. 

Sounds a lot like dinoflagellates.  Chrysophytes don't have the pigments for the colors you're describing...they look more like a snotty brownish-green. 

 

Whatever you have, a pic would help a lot more than a word description.  A microscope pic (or movie) would be even better!  😁

 

(Consider starting your own thread too, rather than continuing to extend this old one from 2018.)

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3 hours ago, mcarroll said:

(Consider starting your own thread too, rather than continuing to extend this old one from 2018.)

I asked a question on a thread of someone who I knew was a current and active member (also someone I interact with regularly) and I got an answer within minutes. Not really asking or needing anyone's help IDing possible dinos, so no need to start my own thread. 

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18 hours ago, kimberbee said:

I asked a question on a thread of someone who I knew was a current and active member (also someone I interact with regularly) and I got an answer within minutes. Not really asking or needing anyone's help IDing possible dinos, so no need to start my own thread. 

Glad you considered it.  Thanks!

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