Help me ID this algae... Please!

[Chris's Fishes]

I don't think this is dinos, as I done a dinos "test" and it came back negative. I know the test isn't a sure thing, but still, I think it holds some water. I don't know what else it could be, though! It grows in filaments, and has been growing and dying back FAST. Like, several times in a day fast. It's nearly impossible to touch. These are the best pics I can get!

 

I could be convinced that it is Dinos, as it looks a LOT like it on my macro, but it doesn't look like this anywhere else in the tank.

 

Here it is growing on some of my macroalgae:

 

 

 

[Joevember]

I have a very similar thing growing in my pico tank. Stringy, brown, tiny bubbles, and grows back in a couple hours. It's either dinos or some kind of cyano. It's probably growing on your macro because it attaches more easily to it than other surfaces. 

[Chris's Fishes]

How have you been going about treating it?

 

I've been considering brushing off my macros 1-2 times a day (this is macro tank, so hopefully there's enough of them in here to combat the issue), but past that, I'm not sure what to do, as cyano and dinos have two pretty different treatments. Or, do I just manually remove and keep my macros healthy and try to let the tank grow out of it?

 

Thanks.

[Joevember]

Just now, Fisker said:

How have you been going about treating it?

 

I've been considering brushing off my macros 1-2 times a day (this is macro tank, so hopefully there's enough of them in here to combat the issue), but past that, I'm not sure what to do, as cyano and dinos have two pretty different treatments. Or, do I just manually remove and keep my macros healthy and try to let the tank grow out of it?

 

Thanks.

I'm just about to start treating it tonight. @Wonderboy recommended dosing phyto. For dinos, less nutrients means more growth. It seems contradictory, but you have to make your tank dirty to get other organisms to outcompete dinos.

 

Also how old is your tank?

[Chris's Fishes]

Pretty new. The tank in this current incarnation is only about a week old - I'm using the same filter media, some of the same rocks, and a lot of the same algae/stock as I have been for about two years. 

 

I did recently add a new substrate and add some new dead rock and remove some old, very non-porous live rock. The dead rock was cured well (AKA no dead biomatter), but was not cycled (so no beneficial bacteria).

 

Stock is a pair of clowns (small - both under 2") and a Valentini puffer in a 20 long. Several macros, a few of them being species of Caulerpa, so fast growers. A few coral as well, but all are pretty hardy.

 

I think I can get my hands on some phyto, although I may have to order it in since most local stores are FW oriented for the most part. I also have some potassium nitrate that I can dose, but that's just dosing potassium and nitrate. I could dose some Seachem Flourish, which is a FW planted tank fert. It should bring up my phosphate and iron, and basically make the tank dirty directly instead of dosing phyto.

[Wonderboy]

It sounds like normal new tank fluctuations. Micro organisms will typically take turns maxing out their populations which often individually crashes them forcing a balance with competing organisms over time (months); so, technically you could just wait. The rock swap could definitely cause fluctuations in populations; did you dose beneficial bacteria at all when adding new rock? It would help with similar changes. You could dose Flourish or nutrients, but it's likely that would help your macro a little and possibly/probably other diatoms a lot more than preferred (just be careful; could be gamble); however.... phyto will feed almost all microfauna and the macro from their waste - it is also easy to syphon out when its population is past your liking, and eventually your system should consume it all before the next dose. I wouldn't bother brushing the stuff off the algae, sounds tedious - you could try increasing flow?