brown algae outbreak

Jonathan,
We're probably not talking about "Brown Algae". That's the group that includes kelp and many seaweeds. If the stuff looks slimey, then I think it's either Cyanobacteria or diatoms.

Cyano bacteria blooms come in various colors, including red, black, dark brown, dark green, etc.
From what I recall reading, diatom blooms are easily solved by increasing water flow and ... something else. I forget.
For the scientist in you, I copied the following from WetWebMedia.com:

Kingdom Monera (lack a nuclear membrane, have "naked" DNA)
...
Division Cyanophyta- the blue green algae; often soft, slimy, slippery blackish smears or threads. Generally out-competed in well-maintained systems.

Kingdom Protista (Beginning of eukaryotes or "true cell-walled" life)

Sub-Kingdom Thallophyta ("all about the same plant bodies")- the true algae.
...
Division Bacillariophyta- Diatoms; silicate based exoskeletons, unicellular. Marine, freshwater and soil.
...
Division Phaeophyta- Brown Algae/Kelp; marine, mostly littoral. About 1,500 species.

 

You had another die off in your tank from the live rock which is causing your nitrates to be high. How are your nitrites and ammonia? I would perform another water change and let nature take its course. You might want to increase the depth of your sand bed as well. They also sell live bacteria to add to your tank to help speed it along.

 

I got a few books out and did some research, for everyone's benefit and because I'm about to cycle a new 200g. I've determined that your outbreak is most likely one of the following three groups of algae: diatoms, brown cyanobacteria, or dinoflagellates. Dinoflagellates are commonly called brown slime algae, which generally fits your description. By the way, are there oxygen bubbles within the algae in your tank?

Peter Wilkens's, Delbeek's and Sprung's recommendation...

To control it, discontinue water changes for the duration of the outbreak and 1) boost alkalinity (high pH seems to limit the growth) preferably using kalkwasser in your top off water, which would enchance protein skimming due to the higher pH and additionally curb the algae reproduction.

2) Activated carbon, which I think you are already doing.

3) competition from another algae, macro algae filter or scrubber.

Note: herbivores will not eat dinoflagellates so that would give you a sign that that's what you have. Actually, snails and crabs may be harmed by it.

That should help- Good luck

 

wow...lots of replies and information, thanks everyone. to answer a few questions:

-when i was shipped the live rock it was supposedly cured, i tested my params a few days later and had a huge ammonia spike and nitrites were rising. one of the rocks had a small zoanthid colony that looked as though it hadn't survived the transfer so i removed it from the tank. i think i'm going to post the blame there for this outbreak.
-a few days later i had the algae outbreak and it has taken it's course over the past week or two. i have lessened (sp?) my water changes to about two gallons a week....after a while the cloudiness drives me nuts. however, i'm starting to see less algae and more coraline showing up here and there.
-i tested my params yesterday and my ammonia is at 0, nitrites are at 0 but i'm hitting around 0.2 on my nitrates....so obviously by params are leveling out but i'm going to give it another week or two.
-for the last three weeks i've been running chemi-pure, using tropic marin pro with seachem reef buffer to keep my salinity, ph and alkalinity stable. my remora's been working 24/7 and i've been slowly syphoning out any "die off" that accumulates on the aquarium floor. however, i haven't been utilizing another algae such as chaeto, etc. to compete with the algae bloom. i also haven't placed any substrate into the tank yet...keeping in mind i was trying to keep the tank clean before adding it...nor have i added a clean-up crew yet.

so, there it is.....but now i have a question for reefbuzz. what would you recommend for the ph levels? i'm fluctuating between 8.2 and 8.3 depending upon the time of day, photoperiod, etc.

****also, karma to everyone that's been helping me out****

 

Jonathan,

It would depend on your alkalinity. If you can keep your alkalinity in range and get the pH between 8.3-8.5, all the better. For now though, since the tank is so unstable, it might not go that high, but get it as high as you can within the "acceptable range" of alk + pH. Soon you'll find the coraline algae competing with the nuisance algae. Keep the water flow as high as you can get it. No water changes until the dinoflagellates are gone. Kalkwasser is better than two part solution. THOSE ARE THE ONLY 2 OPTIONS FOR BALANCED WATER CHEMISTRY; STAY AWAY FROM INDIVIDUAL pH AND ALK BUFFERS!!! Those are just for emergencies.

I guess this is a lesson for anyone that reads this: shipped LR does not equal cured LR.

Thankfully you are just starting up a new tank so basically you're just curing the LR, pulling it out, adding sand and getting the water right again (pH + alk) before you add your LR again. I'd take the water out, then put pre-saltwater soaked sand. In fact, if you're not already, you can be doing that now; it will help your tank be ready for livestock quicker.

If you find that your alk tops out at the high end of the range (11 dKH) before your pH reaches 8.4ish, here's an article that will help: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/index.php

 

thanks reefbuzz. i ran tests on my params and they remain consistant...ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 0.2, ph 8.3, alk 3 (i need to raise obviously), and calcium 410-420. i don't have kalkwasser on hand but may look into it...as of now i'm using c-balance and adding the recommended dosage. i've discontinued water changes, i'm topping off daily, running the remora 24/7 and running carbon. will the 2-part calc/alk raise my ph while trying to raise my alkalinity? what are the negative impacts on the water if using the buffer? and last but not least...should i add my substrate now for beneficial bacteria or wait? sorry for all the questions...and thanks again.

 

Yes you want to get the substrate in your tank asap! A deep sand bed of atleast 4" is ideal for you. Get some sand from your local pet shop that is from an established tank to "seed" your tank to help with bacteria growth.

 

i have some caribsea arag-alive that i'm going to put in there...any others with input on the sand bed now...or later? thanks again for the input.

 

My tank went through a similar problem. I added 2 Seio power heads, which helped. Then I added a bunch of hermit crabs (18) some cerith snails (6) and 4 big turbo snails. The turbos went to town and scrubbed my glass, rocks and equipment clean in 4 days. Still have brown algae in my HOB Aquafuge despite a big glob of chaeto, but the tank is clean. BTW all my water chemistry checks OK.

 

Our system recently went through an outbreak of algae, combination of green and brown hair and brown film everywhere. LR and equipment was beginning to look pretty bad and everything looked yellow-brown. I added two Seio 620 powerheads (which I think helped) and purchased my clean up crew. The hermits and cerith snails are nice to look at but what really did the job were four big turbo snails that went to work immediately and after just 4 days have really scrubbed the tank clean. I highly recommend these turbos to clean up a tank. Now I have to figure out how to feed them!