Please help! Algae issue.

[Jbotelho85]

So,
I got some free live rock and placed them in my tank and since then, I’ve been having this issue with algae and I don’t know what it is, I’m thinking brown cyano or distoms, I’ve attached some pictures to see if anyone can ID? Thanks in advance!

 

[aresangel]

I don’t see bubbles like dinoflagellates. Diatoms tend to just brown the rock and sand. I would venture a guess of young dinoflaggalates or cyano.

Start skimming, reduce feeding, and maybe a black out period if it is cyano. Manual removal on a daily every other day basis will help as well but can be tediousZ


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[Jbotelho85]

I was leaning more towards the brown cyano because it comes off fairly easy. Thank you

 

[RogerO]

Did you check your phosphate?


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[Jbotelho85]

No, I don’t test for phosphates, I’m thinking it can from the live rock as my tank was mostly algae free, besides a couple of tufts of a green carpet algae that cane on some live rock.

 

[Jim Tansey]

It looks to me like Dinoflagellates, wish I had better news but I'm pretty sure thats what it is.

Jim

 

[Jbotelho85]

Yup, I started to notice the bubbles, this is going to be a pain in the a** I’m sure.

 

[Jbotelho85]

So, I’m thinking Julian sprungs advice of no water changes, raise all, and four hours of light?

 

[aresangel]

So I just looked up a couple of ways to “solve” the problem.

I have read the following solutions.

3 day black out, tarp over tank and all, siphon out and put in carbon.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/how-i-beat-dinoflagellates-and-the-lessons-i-learned

- hydrogen peroixde 1ml/10 gallons a day after nights out


- increase nitrates. Bring nitrates to 5ppm (I would try to keep it below 20 personally) as there is a bacteria that out competes the Dinos. Maintain that higher nitrates for 2 months.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1620464


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[Aquanaut]

I had luck with a 3 day total blackout, like wrap the tank with towels blackout.

 

[Matt W]

I had a case of this a few months back. In my case, I used dino X treatment. It did resolve my issue with a 2 wk treatment. There was some coral color loss and lost a frag or two (which could also be related to the killing of dinos). It did work for me and after a period of recovery, my tank corals colored back up and started growing again.

 

[gurumasta]

How long has this tank been running?

 

[Jbotelho85]

Tank has been running for about two years now. I did the three day blackout with towels and everything, increased lighting to my refugium, and placed carbon in the tank. Have not done a water change yet and the dinos have pretty much reduced to barely anything.

 

[Jbotelho85]

There is still some on the back glass, but the rocks seem fairly clean, minus a strand here or there.