Algae problem

[Mad-Dan]

Hi all,
It has been recomended i come here for help! I have a 200 UK Gal reef tank running and i am curentley haveing a few algae problems :mad:

After a bit of water testing i am of the opinion that the algae is caused by high organics and high silicates. My main problem is that i cant get a defo ID on the algae.
i have been told to post a picture here and see if anyone here can tell me what it is!

The algae is at the moment covering everything, it even grows over the corals. Anything that trys to eat it dies includeing crabs, snails, sea hairs ect ect ect. My sand sifting star's curentley wont go in my sand and have pined them selfs to the glass and the algae isnt light dependant.

if anyone needs any more Info please let me know!

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/93502algae1.jpg

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/93502algae2.jpg

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/93502algae3.jpg

Thanks for looking and any help you can give!

Danny

[TimD]

Another candidate to read my Cyanobacteria Primer (http://www.pbmas.org/readarticle.php?article_id=3)

[Mad-Dan]

Hi tim thanks for the link!
as i say the algae is not dependant on light, nor dose it form mats that can by syphend away. to remove it from the rock work i have to scrub it away with a brush. I have also had a few people come to have a look at the algae and non of them would say it is cyano.

The algae is like cyno in the fact it will grow back in a matter of hours but it will do this without any lighting. Also when i have had cyno outbreaks in the past i have never had a problem with anything eating it. anything that eats this stuff dose die

as it stands i am not to worryed about finding a way to rid the tank of it as i am sure it will go with time, i also beleive i know the cause of it but it would be nice to know for sure what type it is.

Many thanks
Danny

[moggyhill]

it looks like cyano. Lower your phosphates, get rid of the silica, and get tank parameters within normal limits. More flow in the tank, take a turkey baster and blast it off and then suction up the crap.

[bertoni]

[welcome]

If it grows in the dark, it's not cyanobacteria. That's really odd. Given the bubbles I would expect it to be photosynthetic.

If you can get some photomicrographs, well, somebody might be able to help.

Do you have an ammonia test result, by any chance?

[cbrw19]

moggyhill, this may sound dumb, but thats the best advice I've heard for cyno...Simple, straight to the point...It took me foreever to find the best way to rid cayno!

[Mad-Dan]

My phosphate is 0ppm also my ammonia is 0ppm
Ca 480ppm
Mg 1450ppm
Dkh 9
nitrate 7.5ppm
PH 8
The tank has been running for getting on for a year now. All though it dose produce bubbles, it will also produse them with the lights off
Dose anyone have any other ideas than cyno?

Thanks
Danny

[Mad-Dan]

anyone ?

[TimD]

That's the damnedest thing, because from the pictures you provided, I'd swear it's cyano. But if it keeps growing in the dark, then it's obviously something else. I'm not familiar with whether or not it might be some kind of fungus (fungus being the only thing that comes to mind that would thrive without light). I think we can safely rule out cyano or some kind of algae, since both would not survive without light.

[bertoni]

Do you mean it grows in complete darkness, or just on room light?

If you're desperate, you could try something like Chemi-Clean, I suppose.

[TimD]

Do you mean it grows in complete darkness, or just on room light?

Good point, does it spread even at night when all the room lights are off (and it's truly dark), or are you saying that if you just turn off the tank lights (but there is still some other source of light in the room) it still grows. If the latter, I'd say that it probably is cyano. If it doesn't go away or at least stop spreading in total darkness, it's something else.

[Mad-Dan]

No it grows in complete darkness. the room gets no natural light with the blinds closed. I can remove most of the algae after lights out, leave the room in complete darkness and when i return to the room after a few hours it has regrown and you would never know that it had been cleaned off a few hours before hand!

I have tryed leaveing the tank and room in darkness for 48 hrs and it makes no diffrence.

It has been said it could be dinoflagelette but i am unsure if this will still grow in darkness.

Thanks
Danny

[bertoni]

I'm out of ideas. If you have access to a microscope, some photomicrographs might be interesting. You could also ask in Dr Shimek's forum to see whether he might have any ideas on how to proceed.

[onecrzyboi4u]

Do you use Tap water? because i use tap water and i have the exact same thing happen to my tank.. needless to say.. i had to drain the whole entire tank.. scrape all that stuff out.. clean all of my rock , clean out my sand..then use another water source..( spring water) ..

[Mad-Dan]

No i dont use tap water, i use R/O water. as i say i know or think i know what has caused the outbreak and i am working on removeing the algae. all i realy need is a ID on the algae.

i am sure given time the algae will burn it's self out it would just be nice to know what type of algae it is!

[Mad-Dan]

still no one with an answer then?