Brown slimey algae, snails at surface, and xenia POed

[krak256]

Last week, I transferred all my stuff from a 14g biocube to a 34g solana. its been doing great... except for a few things.

Parameters:
PH: 8.4
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Sg: 1.025

Differences from 14g: 150w sunpod, phosphate & carbon reactor, and tunze 9002 skimmer.

All my corals are nice and open... except for my xenia and blue cloves. for some reason they're all shrunken up. Not too sure why.

Also, when I was filling my new tank, I stupidly used some "RO" from API's tap water filter. Since then, I've been using a proper RO/DI unit for water changes (made 1 so far) and top off.

I'm also getting a lot of this brown slimey algae. its pretty stringy and sticks to things. (think spiderman's web... but brown). Also, I got some hair algae growing on the glass and some rocks. (i'm guessing because of the API "RO" water I used... but im running a phosphate reactor now.

also, for some reason my limpets, turbo, astrea snails (only have like 6 snails in total) are all at the top of the water. what's causing that? my cerith snails stay in the water tho...

any ideas?

 

[prattreef]

Sounds like dinoflagellates. Not fun to deal with. Do a search here there was a recent thread about it. I doubt very much the TWP water had anything to do with it.

 

[18oreefer]

I dont see numbers for phos.

 

[rookie07]

my xenia also died off during a tank move...but they grew back strong...they tend to die easy, but they thrive easily also...also, check alkalinity

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

What about diatoms? I am having a slight bloom in it right now since my switch. I would say take pics and post them first before listening to any advice so you can get the proper advice.

 

[Josh]

Do you have a photo of the tank? What is the flow like?

 

[krak256]

Here are some pics:

snails up top

hair algae and you can see blue cloves POed

Xenia POed

Dinoflagates?

I dont have a phosphate kit atm. Chief, I had a small diatom bloom as well. I think its starting to dissipate.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Did you get the starfire glass too?

 

[krak256]

lol, im not baller like you chief. i got the tank (only) from custom king. not sure if its starfire, but i highly doubt it. (only paid $130!)

chief, did u notice a die off coraline when you switched tanks? a LOT of my coraline died. I bought some new dry sand to supplement my live sand.

rook, i rem your solana that you sold. that was a sweet set up. I hope that wasnt ur only tank

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Yes Coraline will die off some and some corals will be pissed off at you for moving them around but most of them should bounce back.

 

[krak256]

oddly enough, everyone was happy the first couple of days, but the xenia and blue cloves got pissed after 2-3 days.

 

[henrye718]

Dont think anything is wrong it seems natural. Everytime I add new sand something happens and you also have some new unknown water also. Pretty sure you have some phos now and a lil sili.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Did you try to move them in the tank out of or into flow?

 

[prattreef]

Kinda hard to tell from the pics, but it does look like Dinoflagellates-- avery mild case though. I'd siphon out as much as you can, increase the flow, check your PO4 and not worry too much unless it gets worse. it often disappears on its own eventually.

The snail behavior is normal. For the Xenia, I'd add a little iodine and see if they perk up. If they continue to crap out, i'd get them out of there and run some fresh carbon before they wipe out everything else.

 

[krak256]

chief, i had them in stronger flow in my 14g and lower flow in the solana.

hmm pratt, that sounds like a good idea. i'll add a drop of lugols iodine tonight as see if that does anything. i definitely need to get a po4 kit.

thanks henrye. i figured there might be an issue with new sand. UGH! dinoflagellates suck

 

[Marteen]

Yeah I bet you had a mini cycle from the move and that's why stuff is PO'ed. I'd run some carbon and do a water change. Hopefully you can get that algae under control before it starts running rampant.

 

[ReeferMadness99]

Looks like it may be cyanobacteria or slime algae. My Solana has some purple cyano growing right now. Red Hermits will eat it. If that doesn't help, you can submerge the affected rock in fresh RO/DI water for about 1 minute and it should come off. The coraline die off may be due to the change of light intensity. Coraline grows under lower lighting conditions and a good 450 calcium reading. Try freeing up a compartment in the sump and put in some macroalgae with a clip on PC light on opposite hours. That should give the water quality a nice boost.

 

[18oreefer]

Looks like it may be cyanobacteria or slime algae. My Solana has some purple cyano growing right now. Red Hermits will eat it. If that doesn't help, you can submerge the affected rock in fresh RO/DI water for about 1 minute and it should come off. The coraline die off may be due to the change of light intensity. Coraline grows under lower lighting conditions and a good 450 calcium reading. Try freeing up a compartment in the sump and put in some macroalgae with a clip on PC light on opposite hours. That should give the water quality a nice boost.

I beg to differ on " Coraline grows under lower lighting conditions" part of your statement. The back ant 2 sides of my tank are covered with it and that only started happening when I put MH in my system.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Do you have a micro bubble problem?

 

[krak256]

Do you have a micro bubble problem?

yea i do. i cant seem to make it go away. its always the worst when I twiddle with my skimmer or I turn off the main pump.