Help! I cant get rid of this brown algae!!

[drew2005]

battling this stuff since the end of august after a big storm knocked out my power for 5 days.At first i thought it was a mini cycle but it obviously isnt cuz im still having issues. Im currently running 300w of metal halide. Been running these for years without any issues other than heat. I changed the bulbs out early-mid august as i usually do every 9-10 months. Please help! I need to get this under control before i setup my new tank and transfer things over. Here are some pics...

 

[geoj]

How about the water?

 

[btldreef]

That immediately made me think of dinoflagellates.

 

[drew2005]

water is good...
salt - 1.025
0 ammonia
0 nitrite
0 nitrate
0 phosphate
Im waiting on new calcium and alk tests.
Do you think im having light issues? It also seems to be where the lights shine. i hope its not dino.

 

[geoj]

Well I am just recovering from the same slime. I can see in your pics that you have a mix of stuff. I did adjusted the lighting frequency down to the 460nm side 20-30 degrees. It did help some, as the algae eats up the light. My big prob was my R/O water filter need the filter changed and it took me some time to clue in. Chlorine bad. :cry: Yes, all my test readings were zero but one, ammonia and only after dosing prime did I see it pop up. This is how I know I had a chlorine prob and I changed the r/o filters. The ammonia test don't read chlorine but the prime turns the chlorine in to ammonia lucky for me I was able to figured this out before I did to many water changes. :rotfl:
I have ran MH 5-6 hours in a day and did very well so you could cut back and it may help. I have also read that in a turf scrubber the brown slime algae is gotten rid of by reducing the time to less then 8 hours.

 

[drew2005]

Thanks for the help. I cut my lighting back from 8 hours to 6 hours. Ill see if that helps. Did you change all of your r/o filters? I regularly change the sediment cartridge and the carbon i change every 6-8 months. The membrane hasnt been changed since i bought the unit a few years back. I dont remember changing the DI cartridge either. Looks ok to me. My inline TDS meter reads 30-40ppm going in and 0 coming out.

 

[xcali1985]

Quote:
Originally Posted by drew2005 http:///t/389583/help-i-cant-get-rid-of-this-brown-algae#post_3445311
Thanks for the help. I cut my lighting back from 8 hours to 6 hours. Ill see if that helps. Did you change all of your r/o filters? I regularly change the sediment cartridge and the carbon i change every 6-8 months. The membrane hasnt been changed since i bought the unit a few years back. I dont remember changing the DI cartridge either. Looks ok to me. My inline TDS meter reads 30-40ppm going in and 0 coming out.
I would think the DI would go before anything else. I have changed mine a couple times already and haven't touched the other filters.

 

[geoj]

Thanks for the help. I cut my lighting back from 8 hours to 6 hours. Ill see if that helps. Did you change all of your r/o filters? I regularly change the sediment cartridge and the carbon i change every 6-8 months. The membrane hasnt been changed since i bought the unit a few years back. I dont remember changing the DI cartridge either. Looks ok to me. My inline TDS meter reads 30-40ppm going in and 0 coming out.
I did not change the r/o membrane I changed the carbon and chlorine filters. Now I test the chlorine as well as keep an eye on the TDS meter. :laughing:

 

[beaslbob]

I think if you kill the lights and stop adding food that will die of in a few days. then resume with less lighting and feeding.

 

[drew2005]

^^I dont feed much. Its a small cube of frozen mega marine. I feed every other day like i have been for years. I cut the lighting from 7 to 5 hours so i hope that helps kill some of this crap. This is vert frustrating. I wanna start to the setup on my new tank but not until this is taken care of.

 

[luvmyreef]

It doesn't look like the dino I have. If it is, you would see it grow upwards and it looks like slimy strings of snot, literally. Had air bubbles in some places. Yours reminds me of the cyano that is in my lfs that is taking over their tanks. Does it blow off the rock? Dino will not and it gets worse after the lights have been on. Try to suction out all you can with a small hose. And keep your lights off for a couple days. Do you run carbon? If you do try chemipure elite. However, since you are gonna upgrade, you can also take the rock that has it growing on it out and put it into a rubbermade container scrub it, and store it in saltwater in complete darkness for a week or so.. Now, as far as membranes go, you are supposed to change the membrane after so many gallons, I change mine yearly. My ro/di 6months to a year. The carbon and sediment cartridges get changed every 3 months regardless of what my tds meter says. Hope this helps.

 

[drew2005]

It is kinda snotty but it does blow off rocks very easily. When i do water changes i suction off whatever i can and it comea right back within 48 hours. The more i think the more i think it is cyano. There are some air bubbles in some areas. I ran carbon for a few months after i lost power with the storm back in august and this crap still grew. Maybe the ro water is no good. Ill replace the membrane and all cartridges. I really dont wanna.leave lights off for a few days. I have some coral in there. Thanks for the input. Im gonna see what cutting.back lighting does first. Ill replace all cartridges and take it from there. I have some time before i get the new tank up and running.

 

[luvmyreef]

Cyano is a bacteria. Hard to kill anymore imo. If the things you are doing do not work, the other option is to use chemiclean. A red slime remover. You must follow the directions though. I have heard recent talk about some cyano developing a resistance to it, so it may not work. If it does work, it does a very good job. I would change your ro/di filters and membrane too. just my .02

 

[drew2005]

Just spent $200 on all new cartridges for my unit. Didnt realize the membrane was over $100 but whatever, it needs to be changed so i ordered it. Kinda put a dent in my new tank setup but i can hold off another week or 2 of ordering new stuff. I've been lucky with this tank over the course of 6 years. I really havent had many issues until the hurricane back in August knocking out my power for 5 days. Lost my royal gramma and a huge toadstool. I was not happy! I've had cyano once before but not this bad. If thats what it really is but im beginning to think your right. Anyway, thanks again for the advice. I should've posted here earlier but ive been preoccupied with life. Got an 18 month old. Time is scarce lol

 

[snakeblitz33]

Ever maintained your sandbed?

 

[drew2005]

Maintain how? turning beds over?

 

[snakeblitz33]

old sandbeds don't just need a few more nassarious snails and cucumbers to turn over the sand. Occasionally... every three to five years... you need to go through your sandbed with a VERY small gravel vac with a really low flow/suction and get out all of the built up detritus, nitrate and phosphate in the sand. You'll pull out some foul smelling black/brown mess. If you don't maintain your sandbed every now and then, you'll never get a hold on your nitrate/phosphate/detritus/cyano/algae problems once it settles in. It's just one of those old tank syndrome things...
There are also other factors... nitrate and phosphate present in the water column, old bulbs, too much lighting, not enough flow, too much detritus build up in the live rock, clogged up live rock etc. etc. etc. Sometimes water changes and macroalgaes and more flow and less lighting isn't enough, especially in older tanks with sandbeds that aren't maintained.

 

[acrylic51]

Quote:
Originally Posted by drew2005 http:///t/389583/help-i-cant-get-rid-of-this-brown-algae#post_3444287
water is good...
salt - 1.025
0 ammonia
0 nitrite
0 nitrate
0 phosphate
Im waiting on new calcium and alk tests.
Do you think im having light issues? It also seems to be where the lights shine. i hope its not dino.
Not to be rude or a jerk......But IMPOSSIBLE NUMBERS!!!!!!!!!! Look at things theoretically you will not have 0's across the board.....Given the shear nature of life and how things work, there is always some bi product or waste, and your numbers are telling me I'm crazy......What test kits are you using.......

 

[acrylic51]

Quote:
Originally Posted by drew2005 http:///t/389583/help-i-cant-get-rid-of-this-brown-algae#post_3445844
Just spent $200 on all new cartridges for my unit. Didnt realize the membrane was over $100 but whatever, it needs to be changed so i ordered it. Kinda put a dent in my new tank setup but i can hold off another week or 2 of ordering new stuff. I've been lucky with this tank over the course of 6 years. I really havent had many issues until the hurricane back in August knocking out my power for 5 days. Lost my royal gramma and a huge toadstool. I was not happy! I've had cyano once before but not this bad. If thats what it really is but im beginning to think your right. Anyway, thanks again for the advice. I should've posted here earlier but ive been preoccupied with life. Got an 18 month old. Time is scarce lol
Wow......Where did you buy your filters from......How big is your RO/DI unit....You can buy a 6 stage filter replacement from ************** for roughly $48.00.....A new membrane Dow FilmTech for another $40-50.......
Snake also hit on something I thought as well.....When he mentioned about Phosphates.....That Phos binds to your LR......you might be or assuming your removing that source of Phos, but your rock could steadily be leaching, and will continue if that is the case and point here. That is were the Bleach / Acid bath helps in this type of condition. Again not saying that's what it is, but a very good point by Seth.......

 

[luvmyreef]

Seriously. My membrane is 109.00, my di is 40.00, the carbon is 4.99, and sediment is 7.99. I usually buy the three pack of the last two to save some money....