algae ID

[Jarrett]

ok a little background of my tank its been up since october, 75 gallon reef, 20 gallon long sump/refugium swc 150 bmk protein skimmer. i have this algae thats on my sand bed that has gotten increasingly worst. i believe its cyno because cyno can be green as well correct? the only thing i find weird about this algae is that it dies off when the lights come on and instead of the whole right side of my sand bed being covered it dies off and only a little bit at the edge stays around? i do 15 gallon weekly water changes and feed every other day. i have never used a product in my reef ever but i am seriously debating using that chemiclean stuff what do you guys think. heres a video of it


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDsWuo3wac0&feature=youtu.be

 

[Awibrandy]

Have you tried sucking it out while doing water change?

 

[KathyC]

Yes, cyano can be green..or red..or blackish or even blue.

What is odd about your description is that the opposite is true - cyano seems to vanish when the lights are off and then reappears when they come back on.

Best to suck it out using a turkey baster, improve your water quality through larger, more frequent water changes and perhaps shut your lights off for 2 days (unless you have very sensitive corals).

 

[Imbarrie]

Are you using a GFO reactor on the tank yet?
These are great at removing any phosphates that feed the algae.

How is the fuge going? Are you ready for macros?

Are you feeding frozen food?
If you are, are you draining the frozen sauce it comes packed with?

 

[Jarrett]

No GFO reactor yet, and the fuge is pretty bad alot of bad algae grew in it and its all dying. i am re doing the whole sump just waiting to get my baffles cut on the new tank. i am running out of money and this tank is just problem after problem. trying to keep my head up but i am almost at the end of the road. i think i am going to just put the new sump in and get good macro growing and if that doesn't solve the problem i will have to go a different route. will see what happens ill keep you guys updated i should have the new sump in next week, and i have a replacement skimmer pump coming to me on wednesday. hopefully i can just get everything back to running good soon. and yea i know kathy its weird it dies off when the lights come on. totally opposite compared to most algaes.

 

[Jarrett]

and i do siphon it out on water changes but its so thick that it doesnt really travel up the siphon tube.

 

[Imbarrie]

Try and keep positive about this. It is something we have all been through.

Granular activated carbon can help but granular ferric oxide is really good at removing the algae inputs. If you can work a Two Little Fishes reactor and small pump into the tank budget I would donate some GFO.

 

[Jarrett]

im trying to stay positive just frustrating how much work and time this is taking for me to get to where i want to be, and i am starting school tommorow so now i really wont have any time to do all the stuff i need to get done. i am hoping that when i put my new sump in, and get the skimmer back to running i can get it under control before i have to go that route imbarrie. the sump was used when i got it, and all bad algae grew and is now dying, also when i was setting this tank up a lot of **** got sent down to the sump and now its just sitting their rotting away. so i hope when the new sump goes in that will get rid of all that detritus and dead algae and then when i put new chaeto in hopefully that will be able to out compete the cyno. my skimmer pump is suppose to come wednesday i have been without it since friday, i don't think that much damage can be done in such little time right? considering some people don't even run skimmers on their tanks.

 

[NL146]

You should siphon out the detritus that you say is rotting away in your sump too.

 

[Jarrett]

i cant create a siphon its on the ground, and i dont have some kind of pump that can suck all that stuff out of it.

 

[Imbarrie]

Can you flush it out with your return pump?

Take anything out that will be affected and run some clean fresh water through it and pump it out.

Replace everything and get it going again.
You have a few fish that are continuing to dirty the tank.

 

[Jarrett]

well i have the new sump now so cleaning that out isnt a concern. but when i have the new one set up. i am going to keep it as clean as i possibly can this time around. and ill have to rig something up where i can just turn a pump on and siphon out of my sump that way.

 

[Imbarrie]

Detritus will build up in there very quickly, I learned that the hard way.
It is very tough to keep clean in the long run and the way I use to control it is through a filter sock.
My sump stays very clean now and the only things accumulating are the ones growing there.

 

[Jarrett]

yep i use filter socks even though i hate cleaning them lol

 

[tenMann2]

yep i use filter socks even though i hate cleaning them lol

The mesh filter socks are easier to rinse clean compared to the felt.

 

[Imbarrie]

Where do you get these?
I want to try a couple but cant find any.

 

[Jarrett]

yea but the felt does a better job with reducing micro bubbles thats the only reason why i use them.

 

[Jarrett]

i am going to do everything you guys suggested before i resort to chemiclean but i was curious does it only work towards red slime or would it work for what i have to?

 

[tenMann2]

yea but the felt does a better job with reducing micro bubbles thats the only reason why i use them.

not necessarily. I depends on your rate of flow through the return and the size of the microns of the filter. I used felt and it made a lot more micro bubbles which made me try the mesh. I now use a 150 micron mesh filter. It will function differently for everyone.

 

[tenMann2]

Where do you get these?
I want to try a couple but cant find any.

I couldn't find any mesh filters locally. I had to buy online through ebay. Cost was less too. Made by this company fsifilters.com