What kind of algae is this (pics)

[shnabbles]

Can someone please tell me what this algae is... and how the heck i can get rid of it?? Iv been doing water changes, stirring it up, cutting back the lights... nothing helps... i only feed alittle bit once a day so i dont think its over feeding... i use RO/DI water with 0 TDS... I do not have a phosphate test.... I do have chaeto growing in my fuge... I dont belive flow is a problem i have a Reeflo barracuda in the basement for my return pump and i have 2 Tunze 6000's in the tank.

My guess is Diatoms but iv been told cyano... the algae is alot more brown then red.

 

[adictedtoswf]

Originally Posted by Shnabbles
Can someone please tell me what this algae is... and how the heck i can get rid of it?? Iv been doing water changes, stirring it up, cutting back the lights... nothing helps... i only feed alittle bit once a day so i dont think its over feeding... i use RO/DI water with 0 TDS... I do not have a phosphate test.... I do have chaeto growing in my fuge... I dont belive flow is a problem i have a Reeflo barracuda in the basement for my return pump and i have 2 Tunze 6000's in the tank.

My guess is Diatoms but iv been told cyano... the algae is alot more brown then red.
Where in Deleware do you live? I am in Dover and have the same problem as well.

 

[mcbdz]

Looks like cyno to me. There is a slime remover out on the market that has been reported to work. My only guess is that you have a phosphate problem.
Are you running anything for that? Are you running any carbon( some leech phos.) How old is your tank? Don't stir it up. I'd use suction to suck it out. There are lots of threads on different things. First you must diagnose the problem.

 

[shnabbles]

I am in clayton.
Iv been running the same brand of carbon for a couple years now with no problems... the carbon i have in there now probally needs to be replaced.
This setup is just about 10 months old.
I dont have anything running phosban.... I did just up my chaeto photoperiod from 6 hours a day to 24hours a day hooping to eat up the nutrients in the water.

 

[yosemite sam]

How much water movement do you have in your tank?

 

[daayda3]

diatoms

 

[m0nk]

Looks like cyano to me. Diatoms is more like a powder, light brownish, tan maybe. Cyano comes in a variety of colors, and it's a lot more difficult to get rid of than diatoms, which would have been cleared up with what you've already done.
So, when you you say you cut back the lighting, what is the lighting time period right now? What kind of lighting? What sort of stock list do you have? Corals? Inverts? What do you feed? How much flow do you have?
I've fought the cyano fight and found that a good way to beat it is to cut lighting back to about 5 hours, feeding back to every other day, and kick it off with a siphoning of the layer covering the top of your sand. Then, once it's gone for a few days you can slowly bring the timing back up to about 8 hours or so, maybe a slight bit more. Make sure you have good flow too, as it keeps the cyano from building up.

 

[jrthomas40]

cyano

 

[geoj]

Some diatoms are hairy cyano is like jelly if you get rid of phosphates, silicates and nitrates then over some weeks they will fade away.

 

[paintballer768]

IMO cyano, and bad. Get a phosphate pad for your sump/refugium, and get your nitrates lower. Also do not overfeed and make sure your flow is good. That should take care of it pretty well.

 

[spanko]

Is it like a blanket on the substrate, in other words if you use a hose and try to siphon it out does it come up in sheets? If so it is most likely cyano. If it is a powder like substance then probably diatoms. Either way there are excess nutrients in your system.
For Cyano at water change (weekly 10% if you are not doing this currently) siphon out as much as possible first. Then stir the substrate (just a little and only the top layer) to get the nutrients in suspension for the filter. Then do the water change. Reduce feeding. Increase skimming. Decrease lighting period. Increase flow to the area.
For diatoms all of the above except the siphoning as it is near impossible to do.
JUM HTH.