Serious algae issue -> please ID

[Anonymous]

Hi folks. A picture is worth a thousand words but I don't have a picture so....


I've got a 55 gallon non-drilled tank that has been set up for 6 years now. It is mostly different corals and has one small clownfish. About 80 # live rock. The only filtration is a hang-on Remora skimmer pro skimmer that is also 6 years old.


The algae is a gelatinous, light-green algae that looks like it drips UP off the rocks and glass. It is not valonia and it is not a hair algae. It is also not a red algae.

1) What is this algae?

2) How do I cure it for good?

3) What is the best way to filter a non-drilled sumpless tank?

 

[Anonymous]

That might be a form of cyano. If it is a few things you can try. More flow in that area - run the skimmer wetter - water changes.

How old are your lights?

The remora should be a good HOB skimmer from what I have read here on the board.
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[Anonymous]

The power compact lights are at most 2 years old and are more likely less than a year. I can't remember so well.

It doesn't look like red cyano. It doesn't carpet the rocks and it is a very light green/brownish.

Is there anyway to clean the skimmer to make it work better? You cant' really take Remoras apart.

 

[liquid]

Sounds like dinoflagellates:

http://www.reefs.org/library/article/t_crail2.html

Shane

 

[Anonymous]

It is definitely dinoflagellates.

Is there any way to raise pH without Kalkwasser?

Should I maybe replace the pump on the skimmer and clean it really good?

 

[Anonymous]

Supper Buffer will raise the PH and the Alk.
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[Anonymous]

I would add baking soda and clean all of your pumps. I would also think about adding more flow.

 

[pwj1286]

Not all cynobacter algae is red. "Cyno" literally means blue-green. Red is just a common form found in our tanks. A common form in freshwater tanks is forest green.
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[Anonymous]

Before adding Buffer or Baking Soda it's a really good idea to test your Alkalinity to make sure you don't overdose. The results of overdosing are worse than a low PH.

 

[Anonymous]

If it's dino's, figure out why your silica level is elevated. 99 out of 100 times that's the root cause.

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry I thought he wanted to up pH and Alk.

 

[Anonymous]

If it's dino's, figure out why your silica level is elevated. 99 out of 100 times that's the root cause.

I didn't know that. Do you know why?

 

[Anonymous]

All I can do is share how I got rid of dinos in my 10g. I did frequent water changes, 10%, 10% then a big 50% each week. I syphoned out what I could including any infected sand. I dosed B-Ionic on the same days as water changes at the recommended dose.

I think it took 4-6 weeks to finally get rid of all of it.

HTH

 

[Anonymous]

If it's dino's, figure out why your silica level is elevated. 99 out of 100 times that's the root cause.

I didn't know that. Do you know why?

I think he means diatoms, which this isnt'.

 

[minibowmatt]

I have also been fighting this same thing in my prop system. I am starting my big WC's this weekend. Knowse- did you do three WC's a week? or was that three different WC's over three weeks? Also is removing lighting the correct treatment?

 

[liquid]

I pretty much followed Todd's procedure that he outlined in that link I posted minus the kalk additions and it worked well for me...

Shane

 

[Anonymous]

Matt,

I did 3 water changes a week and I believe it was for 5-6 weeks. I'll have to go read my build off thread to jog my memory. I found that the larger water change really slowed the dinos down. The smaller ones helped but if I have to do that again I'd do bigger ones each time.

I don't know what really did the trick, the frequencey, the amount, the syphoning or the b-ionic additions but after I finally removed most of the sand (that seemed to be where the dinos were coming from) I finally got a handle on that stuff.

 

[Anonymous]

If it's dino's, figure out why your silica level is elevated. 99 out of 100 times that's the root cause.

I didn't know that. Do you know why?

I think he means diatoms, which this isnt'.

Actually, I did mean dino's, not diatoms. I knew dino's had armour, but I didn't know it wasn't made out of slica, instead it's made out of a polysaccharide. My wrong Working for one of the worlds largest phytoplankton producers, having two Phycologists on staff, and more on our BOD, this is semi embarresing But hey, I don't claim to be a Phycologist, nor have I ever played one on TV Plus, we don't grow dino's.

 

[Anonymous]

No problem. Made you do some research so that's always a good thing

 

[RichardS]

Is there anyway to clean the skimmer to make it work better? You cant' really take Remoras apart.

Take the cup out and look down inside the skimmer. There should be a little nylon screw that you can take out and then clean the injection nozzle. They tend to get clogged up over time. If there is no nylon screw then it an old model and I'm not sure how you would clean the nozzle. Maybe check with www.proteinskimmer.com for some advise.

The one time I had a problem with dinoflagellates it was due to lower ph. At first I thought the low ph was due my Ca reactor but it turned out that I had elevated CO2 levels in the room which was killing my ph. The solution was to just air out the room every fews days with fresh air and the dinos were gone in about two weeks or so. This was during very mild weather when my ac/heat was not running at all so that is what caused the elevated room co2 levels.

The easiest thing to do is just check your alk and ph. If alk is low add some buffer. If alk is fine and ph low then take a cup of tank water and aerate it outdoors for 30 minutes and then check the ph again. If it goes up then you know you have a co2 issue.