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Algae issue taking over

so I've been dealing with this for about 2 months. Not exactly sure whats going on. Originally I thought it was Cyano and did a chemi-clean treatment, some disappeared but not all. At that time I was getting .06 phos, and 0 nitrates making me believe cyano was definitely the issue. There was some cyano but it differed from this. After that treatment this took a little stronger hold.

Corals started looking pale due to low nitrates.
To remedy the 0 nitrates which I still got I started lightly dosing nitrate. I dosed to 1ppm them stopped. I was consumed overnight. Did that daily for about 1 week. Each time, gone overnight. I was using biopellets at the time, so I attribute that to the consumption. The Phos was locked in at .06 with the addition of more nitrate, phos came down. As that happened this algae took off. Spreading from only the sand bed to everywhere. Started noticing bubbles in it. Not stringy or snotty though, so I wasn't thing Dinosaur.

Now its everywhere and definitely lessens a lot at night. Most recent check yesterday has nitrates and phos both at 0. Its for sure eating it up, but its increasing with each day.

Water changes have been halted as I've noticed that there is a slight increase with each change. A 3 day lights out lightened it, but basically no different from a normal overnight. Right back at lights on.
No algae growth in refugium either.

So what does everyone think?

these are moving pics after overnight no lights.
video of lighted growth are coming
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Here are some stills from the videos I took. Vida are to big to fit here o guess, and I can't figure out how to cut them down. I'll take more when lights come onScreenshot_20200428-080903_Gallery.jpgScreenshot_20200428-080907_Gallery.jpgScreenshot_20200428-080920_Gallery.jpgScreenshot_20200428-080929_Gallery.jpgScreenshot_20200428-080932_Gallery.jpgScreenshot_20200428-080943_Gallery.jpgScreenshot_20200428-080957_Gallery.jpgScreenshot_20200428-081009_Gallery.jpgScreenshot_20200428-081004_Gallery.jpgScreenshot_20200428-081025_Gallery.jpg
 
I was watching a BRS video the other day and they mentioned some chemical that takes care of algae. Ryan said he was very surprised because he never had any luck with any chemicals helping with that. sorry I don't remember the product name but it might have been on their algae series or even one of those 5 minute videos they've been doing
 
I was watching a BRS video the other day and they mentioned some chemical that takes care of algae. Ryan said he was very surprised because he never had any luck with any chemicals helping with that. sorry I don't remember the product name but it might have been on their algae series or even one of those 5 minute videos they've been doing

I'll take a look.
I was using Vibrant for a while too. I feel like that contributed to my current situation too.
 
I use orange mollies a great algae eater and once acclimated they do a nice job.Their color also mixes nicely with yellow tangs and they don’t bother any fish. Oh and they are cheep!!!
 
yeah sounds familiar that might be it. I have a bit of algae too but my tank is just over a month old and I have a few tangs that are working on it.

I used a refugium in my last tank and really all the algae was growing down there. I got my ball of chaeto from the size of a baseball to a soccer ball. but I still had a lot of nuisance algae growing in the refugium. I just used two par 38 bulbs from home Depot.

I don't have enough room in my new cabinet for a refugium and I'm not really sure how I'm going to battle algae this time around.
 

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
Does it come back if you vacuum it out? Looks like it could be Dino’s because we just dealt with them. There are many different types of Dino’s so they don’t all look the same.
 
It kinda looks like Chrysophytes. Vibrant is tuff on tanks that are low nutrients it will eat up nitrates till they bottom out and make the algae worse. Maybe stop the bio pellets and get nitrates up. The in balance of nitrates and phosphates might be making it worse. Dose nitrates to get them higher then phosphates and see how it does. Maybe try dosing hydrogen peroxide till you get nitrates up then start vibrant again.
 
Does it come back if you vacuum it out? Looks like it could be Dino’s because we just dealt with them. There are many different types of Dino’s so they don’t all look the same.

I'm thinking this too. I'm just used to the stringy snotty stuff.
When vacuumed off rocks blown off(easily done) its back pretty quickly. And the extreme low nutrients are also leading me there
 

Hockeynut

NJRC Member
I was watching a BRS video the other day and they mentioned some chemical that takes care of algae. Ryan said he was very surprised because he never had any luck with any chemicals helping with that. sorry I don't remember the product name but it might have been on their algae series or even one of those 5 minute videos they've been doing
They were using Vibrant
 
It kinda looks like Chrysophytes. Vibrant is tuff on tanks that are low nutrients it will eat up nitrates till they bottom out and make the algae worse. Maybe stop the bio pellets and get nitrates up. The in balance of nitrates and phosphates might be making it worse. Dose nitrates to get them higher then phosphates and see how it does. Maybe try dosing hydrogen peroxide till you get nitrates up then start vibrant again.

I'll have to look that one up.
Pellets were pulled, vibrant stopped about a week ago. I've increased my feeding a touch in hopes of driving nutrients back up a bit.

Peroxide is tough to find these days. I have a bit in the house that was preparing to use, but not much more then a weeks worth. Been trying to locate it in store or one with no luck.
 

MadReefer

Vice President
Staff member
NJRC Member
Moderator
Does it come back if you vacuum it out? Looks like it could be Dino’s because we just dealt with them. There are many different types of Dino’s so they don’t all look the same.

I agree. My Dinos started out this way and became stringy when out of control.
 

Hockeynut

NJRC Member
I'll have to look that one up.
Pellets were pulled, vibrant stopped about a week ago. I've increased my feeding a touch in hopes of driving nutrients back up a bit.

Peroxide is tough to find these days. I have a bit in the house that was preparing to use, but not much more then a weeks worth. Been trying to locate it in store or one with no luck.
I have peroxide if you need
 
Its 1 m per 10 gallons I have a full bottle if you need it. I'm in Hamilton so your probably like 10 minutes away.
 

horseplay

NJRC Member
I had a situation like these before with a new tank setup. I used Vibrant it took care of the problem in 2 weeks. So that's what I would do, as a one off fix. Once you have detectable phosphate and nitrate you can bring BP back online slowly.
 
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