Dinos ir cyano? Or just the ugly stage?

[cabral.leonardo]

Hello everyone, I would really appreciate if anyone can help me.

My reef is 3 months old and there’s an algae outbreak. 90 gal/350L. There’re 2 types of algae (pictures), one type on the substrate and the other on rocks. The hairy red slime is Cyano or Dino? What about the rocks, is it just a regular algae?

Further questions:

1. Do I have to concern or just be patient because it’s probably the ugly stage?
2. Should I increase WC or should I do not? (I do monthly 20%)
3. Nitrate is zero and phosphate is 0.04. Can it be the cause? Should I try to increase nitrate?
4. Should I decrease the intensity of lights (3x Maxspect regular jump), decrease photoperiod or none? (10h total, 4h at peak)
5. Should I stop dosing AF Amino mix?

Parameters:
Salinity 1024
Alk 7,8
Nitrate zero
Phos 0.04
Ca 420
Mg 1250
Temp ≈26.0

Any help will be outstanding!

 

[Snowxcross]

Hello everyone, I would really appreciate if anyone can help me.

My reef is 3 months old and there’s an algae outbreak. 90 gal/350L. There’re 2 types of algae (pictures), one type on the substrate and the other on rocks. The hairy red slime is Cyano or Dino? What about the rocks, is it just a regular algae?

Further questions:

1. Do I have to concern or just be patient because it’s probably the ugly stage?
2. Should I increase WC or should I do not? (I do monthly 20%)
3. Nitrate is zero and phosphate is 0.04. Can it be the cause? Should I try to increase nitrate?
4. Should I decrease the intensity of lights (3x Maxspect regular jump), decrease photoperiod or none? (10h total, 4h at peak)
5. Should I stop dosing AF Amino mix?

Parameters:
Salinity 1024
Alk 7,8
Nitrate zero
Phos 0.04
Ca 420
Mg 1250
Temp ≈26.0

Any help will be outstanding!

Hi there - this doesnt look bad, and you may have caught it in the right time. What's your cleanup crew look like? Good time to ensure you have urchin, turbo, astreas, etc. Konchs are great for the sand, neseriths too. What's really good is copepods, they'll help for sure. A few other things you can do to help. Dont do any water changes right now, kill the whites on your lights, only run blues. Add some beneficial bacteria - Dr. Tims waste away or Microbacter7. But ya, the tank is only 3 months, but you can totally avoid the uglies. You can dose some nitrates to get it somewhat detectable, i'd shoot for 5ppm, bump your mag up to 1300 (not necessary, but wont hurt).

 

[cabral.leonardo]

Hi there - this doesnt look bad, and you may have caught it in the right time. What's your cleanup crew look like? Good time to ensure you have urchin, turbo, astreas, etc. Konchs are great for the sand, neseriths too. What's really good is copepods, they'll help for sure. A few other things you can do to help. Dont do any water changes right now, kill the whites on your lights, only run blues. Add some beneficial bacteria - Dr. Tims waste away or Microbacter7. But ya, the tank is only 3 months, but you can totally avoid the uglies. You can dose some nitrates to get it somewhat detectable, i'd shoot for 5ppm, bump your mag up to 1300 (not necessary, but wont hurt).

Thank you so much! My clean up crew is missing here tbh… a few hermits only, no snail ou astrea. I’ll add more next week.

I added some copepods in the first month and they are all over the tank rn! I’m dosing AF life source once a week, but not the full recommendation of the instructions. Before that I was dosing tropic Marin Nitribiotic.

Following your recommendation, I’ll run only blue lights and stop wc. Maybe dosing nitrate and mg in a few days as well. Thank you, again

 

[Snowxcross]

Thank you so much! My clean up crew is missing here tbh… a few hermits only, no snail ou astrea. I’ll add more next week.

I added some copepods in the first month and they are all over the tank rn! I’m dosing AF life source once a week, but not the full recommendation of the instructions. Before that I was dosing tropic Marin Nitribiotic.

Following your recommendation, I’ll run only blue lights and stop wc. Maybe dosing nitrate and mg in a few days as well. Thank you, again

Hey np! And the snails will for sure help. Give it a few weeks, and be patient.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello everyone, I would really appreciate if anyone can help me.

My reef is 3 months old and there’s an algae outbreak. 90 gal/350L. There’re 2 types of algae (pictures), one type on the substrate and the other on rocks. The hairy red slime is Cyano or Dino? What about the rocks, is it just a regular algae?

Further questions:

1. Do I have to concern or just be patient because it’s probably the ugly stage?
2. Should I increase WC or should I do not? (I do monthly 20%)
3. Nitrate is zero and phosphate is 0.04. Can it be the cause? Should I try to increase nitrate?
4. Should I decrease the intensity of lights (3x Maxspect regular jump), decrease photoperiod or none? (10h total, 4h at peak)
5. Should I stop dosing AF Amino mix?

Parameters:
Salinity 1024
Alk 7,8
Nitrate zero
Phos 0.04
Ca 420
Mg 1250
Temp ≈26.0

Any help will be outstanding!

I see turf algae and possibly dino and the low to no no3 and po4 will support both algae's. When you get low to zero readings, its because we automatically assume this is the cause but by the time you see zero numbers, its because the dino has consumed the po4 and no3 and are multiplying

 

[cabral.leonardo]

I see turf algae and possibly dino and the low to no no3 and po4 will support both algae's. When you get low to zero readings, its because we automatically assume this is the cause but by the time you see zero numbers, its because the dino has consumed the po4 and no3 and are multiplying

That makes sense, I'll look at it from that side, not excluding dino! Thank you!

 

[cabral.leonardo]

Update: I traveled for work for 1 week, came back, and the aquarium looks like this. I think it's time to take action. I bought a 36w UV filter, but it will only arrive in 2 days. I'm going to do a blackout for 3 days as soon as the product arrives. It's probably both dinoflagellates and cyanobacteria.

Updated parameters:
Nitrate is at 1.1 (slightly increased without me doing anything)
Phosphate 0.01 (still low)
Alkalinity 7.8
Ca 410
Mg 1220
Density 1024

Any other sugestions? I would be thankful for any help, thank you!

 

[cabral.leonardo]

pictures

 

[Naekuh]

ugly stage.... u can get CUC's and wait for tank to stablize.
Then it should clear up naturally over time.

The red stuff looks like cyano... what live stock do you have in it?
If there is nothing too sensitive, you could try a round of chemiclean.
Although not a lot of people will recommend it, as your sidewalling the problem, and have a really high chance of it coming back once u stop treatment.

 

[cabral.leonardo]

ugly stage.... u can get CUC's and wait for tank to stablize.
Then it should clear up naturally over time.

The red stuff looks like cyano... what live stock do you have in it?
If there is nothing too sensitive, you could try a round of chemiclean.
Although not a lot of people will recommend it, as your sidewalling the problem, and have a really high chance of it coming back once u stop treatment.

I have some acroporas and torchs. Not high end but not too easy. I’ll improve CUC. Thank you!