tell me this is not DINO PLEASE!

my gosh, my tank has been running well for about 2 months now, i got the initial diatom bloom few weeks back. and things were very stable, started to add corals, and well this brown algae is covered my tank, i ordered my CuC from john at Reef Cleaners to help me control this algae, and well, i keep telling myself its just one of those Phases that new tanks go through and the more i see it the more i keep thinking its DINO,

please tell me if this is it or not =(




im also getting a few spots of Coraline growing over some rocks, +1 for me.

my param is very stable, i test every day
Ca 420
Dkh 8.1
Mg 1400
nitrates are usually .25
and phosphates are now 0 ( algae is comsuming)
i use Redsea Pro test kit for all my test.
im running GFO, Fuge, and over skimming, i also do 5g water changes every week.


note: my sand bed is actually very clean. all these aglae is just on the rocks..
Oh and i also use Ro/Di water, TDS test .01 and i use Red sea coral Pro....
And also, i tried blasting it, it does not come off the rocks, which makes me seem like its not dino, just plain old NewTankSyndrome

 

Also.. A quick question, I'm planning to do the blackout, would I need to turn off my fuge light? Or leave it on? Some say the algae might grow in the fuge. But who jnows

 

Does not look like Dino to me.

 

+1

Personally, I prefer to let the algae grow. It's the safest and healthiest way of keeping the water clean until you find and fix the nutrient issue.

Tips: Thaw and rinse frozen foods- the processing juices and preservatives are high in phosphates.

Feed only what your fish can eat in 2 - 3 minutes each feeding.

Blast between the rocks with a turkey baster before a water change.

Vacuum loose detritus from the surface of the sand and rocks while removing water for a water change.

Make sure your MH or T5 bulbs are good; once they lose their spectrum, they can spawn low-nutrient algaes.

Hope this helps.

 

this is what happens when lights are off and the power heads turn off. i just took this picture as off 8 AM

its like stringy type. no bubbles on the algae at all.



thanks for the replys guys!

 

That looks to just be cyano dying back at night,it gets stringy like that at times.When light hits it again,it will resume with growth.And by the looks of the rocks,the setup is fairly newish,the other algae looks to be the green film algae that is a normal part of maturing along with the coralline spreading.Keep up on your water params and things should return to normal in a short order along with the help of your cuc.

 

Thanks for the really quick responds! Would you say I need to do a black out? I got over 100 snails in there from john at reef cleaners

 

I am not in favor of a black out at this point. Your tank and corals have been through a lot the last couple months. For this particular situation I would wait and see.

Others might feel differently.

 

I agree and Bob I think you nailed it yourself,just looks to be new tank syndrome,time and cuc will all help,no black out nessasary.I always just call this part the "ugly phase"lol.

 

I would try running more GFO/GAC, water changes and CUC etc.. If you notice an improvement in 2-3 weeks, just keep doing so. If not, at that point, then maybe try a blackout and keep up with the GAC/GFO etc... I've had good luck with blackouts, but doing so can kill already stressed out corals. Corals IME seem quite sensitive to any changes in light, but overall, if you can get them healthy first, they are failry tolerant.