Bacteria/Dinos in Sump — Help with ID

[AlaskaMatt]

I’ve recently been battling some weird bacteria/dinos in my sump. A couple of months ago I noticed this brown sludge growing over everything, however, it wasn’t in my display. Assuming my flow was the culprit I upgraded my return and completely disassembled my sump and did a rip clean washing it with hydrogen peroxide while empty — rinsing — and reassembling.

after my rip clean the problem seems to have been getting worse, almost completely enveloping my chaeto.

The brown sludge material that’s growing in the sump forms large mats that are easily removed just by brushing it away. The mats are full of bubbles that release when removed. Sometimes the under most layer will be white as if it’s bleached. The mats hold their shape when out of water and have almost a gooey gel like consistency when pulled out by hand.

Unfortunately the microscope I bought for this Isn’t the best quality.

32g tank - 8 gallon sump

My current dosing:
DIY Coral Snow - weekly
MB7 8ml - w/coral snow dose
AFR 10.5ml daily
NP Bacto Balance .33ml daily
NeoPhos 2ml daily
NeoNitro 7ml daily

My current parameters:
12/17/23
Nitrate: 0.0
Phosphate: 0.0
Alkalinity: 8.8
Ph: 8.0
Calcium: 440
Magnesium: 1410

12/23/2023
Nitrate: 1.7
Phosphate: 0.02
Alkalinity: 9.0

12/30/23
Alkalinity: 8.8
Phosphate: .15
Nitrate: 0.0

01/07/23
Alkalinity: 8.2
Phosphate: 0.04
Nitrate: 0.0
Calcium: 440
Magnesium: 1410

Also, in case it’s helpful I had a Dino issue in my display that gave way to a pretty gnarly cyano outbreak. Since the coral snow+MB7 combo and some aggressive siphoning the cyano is nearly gone.

If anyone has any suggestions as to what this may be or if you have any solutions I’d appreciate it. Happy to provide additional pictures or info if needed.

 

[Shigshwa]

Carefully check the dosing and reduce the amount of bottles. I wonder if the brown sludge could be Diatoms?

 

[Dan_P]

I’ve recently been battling some weird bacteria/dinos in my sump. A couple of months ago I noticed this brown sludge growing over everything, however, it wasn’t in my display. Assuming my flow was the culprit I upgraded my return and completely disassembled my sump and did a rip clean washing it with hydrogen peroxide while empty — rinsing — and reassembling.

after my rip clean the problem seems to have been getting worse, almost completely enveloping my chaeto.

The brown sludge material that’s growing in the sump forms large mats that are easily removed just by brushing it away. The mats are full of bubbles that release when removed. Sometimes the under most layer will be white as if it’s bleached. The mats hold their shape when out of water and have almost a gooey gel like consistency when pulled out by hand.

Unfortunately the microscope I bought for this Isn’t the best quality.

32g tank - 8 gallon sump

My current dosing:
DIY Coral Snow - weekly
MB7 8ml - w/coral snow dose
AFR 10.5ml daily
NP Bacto Balance .33ml daily
NeoPhos 2ml daily
NeoNitro 7ml daily

My current parameters:
12/17/23
Nitrate: 0.0
Phosphate: 0.0
Alkalinity: 8.8
Ph: 8.0
Calcium: 440
Magnesium: 1410

12/23/2023
Nitrate: 1.7
Phosphate: 0.02
Alkalinity: 9.0

12/30/23
Alkalinity: 8.8
Phosphate: .15
Nitrate: 0.0

01/07/23
Alkalinity: 8.2
Phosphate: 0.04
Nitrate: 0.0
Calcium: 440
Magnesium: 1410

Also, in case it’s helpful I had a Dino issue in my display that gave way to a pretty gnarly cyano outbreak. Since the coral snow+MB7 combo and some aggressive siphoning the cyano is nearly gone.

If anyone has any suggestions as to what this may be or if you have any solutions I’d appreciate it. Happy to provide additional pictures or info if needed.

A picture under white lights would help. If the stuff in the microscope picture is all filaments, you might have cyanobacteria,

 

[AlaskaMatt]

Here’s some pictures under white light:

I’d say most of the stuff in the microscope was a filament type material

 

[Dan_P]

Here’s some pictures under white light:

I’d say most of the stuff in the microscope was a filament type material

Looks like a cyanobacteria bloom.

 

[AlaskaMatt]

I think you are 100% right, to be honest I had no idea cyano could get so thick .

Thank you Dan.

 

[Dan_P]

I think you are 100% right, to be honest I had no idea cyano could get so thick .

Thank you Dan.

Your welcome! Cyanobacteria are known for producing large structures and very thick mats in nature.

 

[Dburr1014]

Most times, I find, cyano forms in my sump when the nutrients are not in balance.
Cudos to you that you raised po4 before no3.
I think if you can get your no3 off zero, you may find the mat subsiding. Feed more, less skimmer time, ammonium chloride, something.

 

[AlaskaMatt]

Sure enough, just in the last couple of days I’ve noticed a bunch of the cyano mats floating on the surface in my sump. Today I did my water change and pulled most of it out and about 70% of it up and disappeared and I manually removed most of what was left.

I normally do a water change every week about 5 gallon but I skipped last week and here were my test results (prior to WC)

01/20/24

Alkalinity: 8.9
Phosphate: 0.03
Nitrate: 6.4
Salinity: 1.028 (recalibrated)

I am pleased to say I think in this case simply waiting it out and focusing on getting my parameters in line made a huge difference as well as implementing SunnyX’s DIY coral snow with MB7 after each water change.