After almost two years of stability sudden brown algea bloom everywhere and I can't explain it

[maxpare79]

Hey guys,

My tank has been running almost two years without problems, but in the past three weeks this started to happen

Every single parameter I test turn out ok.. I can't figure out what's going on!

I search the forum a bit and some people point out that maybe my Rodi filter has reach its limit, but the RO cartridge was changed in January and its supposed to be good 1-2 years if I read on the label (Aquatic Life 4 cartridge system)

I really don't know what to do and how to get rid of it... It's slowly creeping up everywhere even after water changes and siphoning as much as I can't.

The only thing I noticed is that my Cerith population was now a bit on the low side due to blue hermits wrecking havoc on them, but I just bought another batch of 10 and 3 turbos (I have a 50 gallon).

Help me Obiwan Kenobi your my only hope!

 

[sixty_reefer]

Could you share your no2 and po4?

 

[Fishy888]

I hate to say it but it looks like dinoflagellates.

 

[131696]

Sand holds nutrients eventually if you don't clean the sand it get released ,sand can't hold anymore ,clean the sand ,And that's why there's bare bottom tanks.

 

[Fishy888]

If it's dinos then his nutrients are too low .

 

[Lavey29]

I hate to say it but it looks like dinoflagellates.

Yes possibly, need better pics under white lights and current tank parameters.

 

[maxpare79]

Could you share your no2 and po4?

Here are my freshly tested parameters (all Salifert)

Phosphate Between 0-0.03
Nitrite 0
Nitrate Between 0-2 hard to tell
Ph 8.4
Kh 10.5
Calcium 490
Mag 1500

 

[KonradTO]

Almost bulletproof ID method:
- goes away/sand looks cleaner in the morning before lights go on?

 

[Lavey29]

Here are my freshly tested parameters (all Salifert)

Phosphate Between 0-0.03
Nitrite 0
Nitrate Between 0-2 hard to tell
Ph 8.4
Kh 10.5
Calcium 490
Mag 1500

Your nitrates and phosphate are bottomed out which results in dinos often.

 

[maxpare79]

Almost bulletproof ID method:
- goes away/sand looks cleaner in the morning before lights go on?

No it's always there, attached is a better picture

 

[maxpare79]

Your nitrates and phosphate are bottomed out which results in dinos often.

Seriously? I thought it was the goal to have both at 0? (it's my first tank)

I run an algea scrubber and dose vinegar, should I stop all of it?

 

[Karen00]

Have you tested your RODI? Cartridges don't always last for as long as they say they should. Did you add anything before this started showing up where it might've hitchhiked in (like on a coral frag)?

 

[KonradTO]

No it's always there, attached is a better picture

Mmm let's see what more experienced people say, but I got dinos due to low nutrients and they always go a bit away at night, they then come back to normal few hours after lights go on

 

[JGT]

Seriously? I thought it was the goal to have both at 0? (it's my first tank)

I run an algea scrubber and dose vinegar, should I stop all of it?

0=bad.

 

[sixty_reefer]

No it's always there, attached is a better picture

Cyanobacteria would be my guess, if you not sure if your parameters are true zeros then is probably best to raise the nutrients to numbers that your test kit can detect properly, having detectable phosphates and increase nitrates with o inorganic form would be quite import in my opinion.
Calcium nitrate would be ideal

 

[KonradTO]

I mean I used the salifert phos kit couple of times and never used it again.. it's a scam says 0.03 definition and then you can only detect values once its at least 0.1..
So you could have anything.
For the nitrates one I use it from the side (not from the top) and I am loving it

 

[sixty_reefer]

Seriously? I thought it was the goal to have both at 0? (it's my first tank)

I run an algea scrubber and dose vinegar, should I stop all of it?

That’s a message that it’s passed on in the wrong way, it’s acceptable to have low nutrients that is much different from zero nutrients, everything in your tank will need organic and inorganic nutrients to live, if they were all at zero the only thing that we would be able to grow would be Cyanobacteria and dinoflagellates. This is the opportunistic species that thrive once nutrients are near zero or at zero, Cyanobacteria can also appear higher nutrients although thy normally appear once a rapid decrease in inorganic nutrients is observed.

 

[BrotatoSalad]

The color says dinos, but the form says cyano to me. Do you siphon your sand bed during water changes? Or just pump out water and put clean water in? Do you blow off rocks periodically?

have you changed anything in the past month or two?

I don’t subscribe to the idea that Dino’s are directly caused by bottoming out nutrients. I think it’s a symptom of them winning the battle over the “good stuff” and once they take hold they’re efficient at stripping the water of what we can test for. Typically the test comes after seeing something go wrong in an old-ish reef. Do you have numbers from a date prior to this slime taking hold?

Micro Bacter7 and Aqua Forest Lifesource have treated me well in the past and currently. If you can get your hands on some clean live rubble/rock that’s never a bad idea as well (have a buddy with a tank throw some rock/spheres in their sump or corner of their display for a while).

Either way, removing organics from the tank by vacuuming the sand and blowing off rock for your mechanical filtration to take care of is a good first step. If you’ve never siphoned your sand, start by picking a corner of the tank that things settle. Split your tank into 4-6 slices and do one slice per bi-weekly water change. On the in between weeks focus on rockwork. If you do vacuum your sand regularly do the whole thing if you can.

This was the fix for a long-standing reef the LFS I worked at maintained at a childrens hospital. Took about a month and a half of looking bad to get to the other side but no one prior to me joining vacuumed the sand bed. I just had another card made for the kids to look at for dinos to stick to the stand and educate them on what the heck the brown stuff was in the tank.

Wishing you and your tank the best of luck!!

 

[Lavey29]

Seriously? I thought it was the goal to have both at 0? (it's my first tank)

I run an algea scrubber and dose vinegar, should I stop all of it?

Some experienced reefers with SPS tanks like to run ultra low nutrients systems but not 0 nutrients. Those with LPS and softs need nitrates and phosphate like 10ppm nitrates and .05 to .1 with phosphate. Given salifert margin for error you could be at 0 on both hence a nuisance algae outbreak.

 

[Garf]

Seriously? I thought it was the goal to have both at 0? (it's my first tank)

I run an algea scrubber and dose vinegar, should I stop all of it?

Curious to see a pic of your algae scrubber. Most folks run them and they do little but run up the leccy bill.