Need Help!

[M1ke13579]

I have been battling with this algae im not sure if its dinos or cyano or what but i have been doing weekly water changes but it just doesn’t seem to go away does anyone have any suggestions on what I could try? Even just identifying what it is so i can at least get an idea on what im dealing with

 

[twhit030]

Looks like Dino’s to me. Cyano is usually a thin like film that covers things and also usually more red in color and personally easier to get rid of.

Dino also looks like that gross snot you get when you have a sinus infection (sorry to be gross that’s just my best comparison) it’s also usually more brown in color and holds bubbles. Which to me looks closely to the picture.

I’ll freely admit they are the tougher of the two to get rid of.

Dinos have the ability to thrive and live and grown in very poor conditions they soak up any kind of nutrients and turn it into growth for itself.

Believe it or not yours doesn’t look all that bad actually. Usually we get Dino’s from starting tanks too fast or light that’s too bright or light that’s the wrong color spectrum. Or just simply not having enough good bacteria in the tank to out compete the Dino’s.

I’ll ask a couple questions and we can go from there
1 what light are you running, how intense is it, how long is it on for and what size tank do you have
2 how long have you had water in the tank
3 what’s your clean up crew look like
4 do you have any sps hard corals?

 

[SWFT]

I’m also going to add to above post: what are the parameters? Specifically nitrates and phosphates?

 

[M1ke13579]

Looks like Dino’s to me. Cyano is usually a thin like film that covers things and also usually more red in color and personally easier to get rid of.

Dino also looks like that gross snot you get when you have a sinus infection (sorry to be gross that’s just my best comparison) it’s also usually more brown in color and holds bubbles. Which to me looks closely to the picture.

I’ll freely admit they are the tougher of the two to get rid of.

Dinos have the ability to thrive and live and grown in very poor conditions they soak up any kind of nutrients and turn it into growth for itself.

Believe it or not yours doesn’t look all that bad actually. Usually we get Dino’s from starting tanks too fast or light that’s too bright or light that’s the wrong color spectrum. Or just simply not having enough good bacteria in the tank to out compete the Dino’s.

I’ll ask a couple questions and we can go from there
1 what light are you running, how intense is it, how long is it on for and what size tank do you have
2 how long have you had water in the tank
3 what’s your clean up crew look like
4 do you have any sps hard corals?

Its a 50 gallon i have 2 ai primes it has been up and running for about 5 months now no sps corals i do have a some softies and one lps coral as far as a clean up crew i have 6-7 turbo snails and 5 nassarius snails and recently added a sand sifting starfish which seems to be helping with the sand a little bit

 

[M1ke13579]

I’m also going to add to above post: what are the parameters? Specifically nitrates and phosphates?

Im getting ready to test the water i will post the results, i appreciate it

 

[M1ke13579]

Im getting ready to test the water i will post the results, i appreciate it

I dont have a phosphate test but i just tested nitrates and it looks to be 0 im going to test again though i feel like that cant be right

 

[twhit030]

Its a 50 gallon i have 2 ai primes it has been up and running for about 5 months now no sps corals i do have a some softies and one lps coral as far as a clean up crew i have 6-7 turbo snails and 5 nassarius snails and recently added a sand sifting starfish which seems to be helping with the sand a little bit

The “photo light period” which is the max setting basically seems a little long. Your light settings are good tho I’d ramp it up slower and only have it at max for 3-4 hours then ramp back down slowly.

That’s probably what it is. The only other thing is turbo snails for me personally… don’t do anything. They are pricy but I’ve always used trochus snails. They do a great job cleaning.

If that doesn’t work then you can always do a black out period where you turn the lights off for 2 or 3 days (only do that with a good cleanup crew tho)