Help!! brown stringy Algae

[kniquy]

My tank has been beautiful for the past few months -- no crazy algae only a little which would appear on some rocks and nothing that my tang and my mexican turbos couldn't take care of. I recently did a 25% water change and then a week later changed my lights from 250 14K MH to T5's -- I now have 2 actini, one purple and 3 12K bulbs. All of a sudden I am having this long stringy brown algae out break. I am going to test my tank when i get home from work today, but i can't imagine that after doing a water change that anything is really out of wack. Could the change in lights cause an algae bloom? Would a 12 K bulb cause that. I have been running 14K for the past couple years with no real problems.
I want to clear this up as quick as possible because it is crowding my corals and they are not happy.

 

[bang guy]

It sounds to me like Dinoflagellates. Can you get a picture of it posted? Dino pretty much looks like stringy snot.
If so then it is probably the light change affecting the algae and causing a PH change.
Siphon out what you can. Also do a search on Dinoflagellates. There are some smart people around that have probably already posted cures.

 

[kniquy]

I was trying to post a pic but haven't been able to figure it out. I did test and
nitrites and nitrates both 0,
Phos 0
Cal 420-440
Ph 8.3
I am guessing my lights are to blame, I'll definitely do a search to see if it is the dinofillanges - sure sounds like the problem just need to fix it.
Thanks for the input

 

[kniquy]

I have been observing the algae which has invaded. My only water paramater which was off which i forgot to mention before was that my alkalinity was a little low. I have never had my level be low - on the contrary it is usually a little on the higher side. I am not sure what to do to raise it up. Otherwise everything looks good.
The algae just totally breaks apart when i go after it with a turkey baster. It is easily blown off the rocks without much effort. I am going to try and go with limited lighting for the next couple of days -- it really seems to flourish with the lights on, because this morning i took a look and there didn't seem to be nearly as much as what was on the rocks last night.
I have googled dinoflagellates and it seems as there are no clear cut ways of getting rid of this PIA algae. I would prefer to avoid chemical means but if i get despirate i will try anything. Any suggestions from those of you who may have dealt with this would be appreciated.
I have attached a picture - not of my tank but of a picture of a similar looking algae. Mine is not as nearly covered

 

[bang guy]

Add a teaspoon per gallon of baking soda to your topoff water to slowly raise Alkalinity.

 

[kniquy]

I think i have eradicated the dino's!!!!! I am convinced that is what i had because it wasn't like any other algae out break that i have had in the past and all the pictures of what i have seen were exactly what was in my tank. I had dosed kalk nightly for a week with a very limited lighting schedule - lights on for a total of 3 hrs per day. The corals were not happy and would barely open up. I also started adding algaefix marine which seemed to take care of the final lingering algae. I just siphoned out all the dead algae last night and the tank is almost 95% better!!!!
I am almost afraid to do a water change because i am not sure if it was the water change or the change to new bulbs which triggered the out break.