Reef Central Online Community - View Single Post - Is this Algae or Bacteria? Growing on everything

Starvin Marvin · 03/23/2017, 05:53 PM

Hey!

Was just wondering if anyone recognizes what this is? I'm not sure if it's Algae or Bacteria or Diatoms or what exactly.

It's brownish and stringy and is definitely growing, even noticeably within a 24 hour period. It's on the rocks and sand bed mostly but also a sponge filter pad around my wave pump.

It comes off really easily with toothbrush, turning into a powder almost. You can pinch it with tweezers or by hand but it swishes and smears. It isn't like bryopsis or GHA from my experience.

It's brownish. Nothing wants to eat it either, except for my Ponch Snail but he stumbled around the sand bed like a peg-legged pirate and doesn't really put a dent in it.

Tank has been up for around 3 months. Nitrates are approx 5-8, can't tell because API says around 5-8 and Red Sea says higher than 4 on low range and undetectable on high range.

Phosphates show 0 on Hanna.

Everything else is normal for a reef tank.

A possible contributing factor is that my RO system failed a few weeks ago and I kept using it while waiting for new membrane and DI to arrive in the mail. TDS was around 50-70 during this time and we have really hard water.

I've done lots of water changes, probably 10% weekly on average.

It's a 110g water volume system.

Running NOPOX at 13 ml per day for at least 8 weeks. Skimmate is light brown/tea coloured and stinks horribly. Which I think is normal.

I tried to run Chaeto in addition to this but it all died and started disintegrating and nitrates spiked up to 50 until we noticed the Algae or whatever it is growing. Took out the Chaeto and within 2 days it was back down to around 5-10 nitrates.

There is the typical white film on the glass from Nopox.

I have 120 lbs of CaribSea LifeRock, which was new. I have a 1" and a 4" MarinePure Ceramic Block in the sump.

1 emerald crab, a handful of snails, a couple hermits, 2 tangs, 2 firefish, a goby, a blenny, and a clown.

Lots of corals and mushrooms, all livestock is happy except for the stuff that this Algae/Bacteria is growing on.

Here are some photos:

And I sucked some up into a Syringe easily and checked them out at 20x magnification inside a water drop:

And at 800x magnification. It's somewhat blurry - cheap microscope:

Also here is a short microscope video:

https://youtu.be/TJ1a_SRvZGU

Thank you very much in advance! I'm stumped on this one and want to proceed properly to restore this tank back to normal.

Oh - I am feeding approx 1 frozen cube of food per day to this tank, with the occasional dose of Red Sea Reef Energy.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

03/23/2017, 05:53 PM	#1
Starvin Marvin Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2015 Posts: 79	Is this Algae or Bacteria? Growing on everything Hey! Was just wondering if anyone recognizes what this is? I'm not sure if it's Algae or Bacteria or Diatoms or what exactly. It's brownish and stringy and is definitely growing, even noticeably within a 24 hour period. It's on the rocks and sand bed mostly but also a sponge filter pad around my wave pump. It comes off really easily with toothbrush, turning into a powder almost. You can pinch it with tweezers or by hand but it swishes and smears. It isn't like bryopsis or GHA from my experience. It's brownish. Nothing wants to eat it either, except for my Ponch Snail but he stumbled around the sand bed like a peg-legged pirate and doesn't really put a dent in it. Tank has been up for around 3 months. Nitrates are approx 5-8, can't tell because API says around 5-8 and Red Sea says higher than 4 on low range and undetectable on high range. Phosphates show 0 on Hanna. Everything else is normal for a reef tank. A possible contributing factor is that my RO system failed a few weeks ago and I kept using it while waiting for new membrane and DI to arrive in the mail. TDS was around 50-70 during this time and we have really hard water. I've done lots of water changes, probably 10% weekly on average. It's a 110g water volume system. Running NOPOX at 13 ml per day for at least 8 weeks. Skimmate is light brown/tea coloured and stinks horribly. Which I think is normal. I tried to run Chaeto in addition to this but it all died and started disintegrating and nitrates spiked up to 50 until we noticed the Algae or whatever it is growing. Took out the Chaeto and within 2 days it was back down to around 5-10 nitrates. There is the typical white film on the glass from Nopox. I have 120 lbs of CaribSea LifeRock, which was new. I have a 1" and a 4" MarinePure Ceramic Block in the sump. 1 emerald crab, a handful of snails, a couple hermits, 2 tangs, 2 firefish, a goby, a blenny, and a clown. Lots of corals and mushrooms, all livestock is happy except for the stuff that this Algae/Bacteria is growing on. Here are some photos: And I sucked some up into a Syringe easily and checked them out at 20x magnification inside a water drop: And at 800x magnification. It's somewhat blurry - cheap microscope: Also here is a short microscope video: https://youtu.be/TJ1a_SRvZGU Thank you very much in advance! I'm stumped on this one and want to proceed properly to restore this tank back to normal. Oh - I am feeding approx 1 frozen cube of food per day to this tank, with the occasional dose of Red Sea Reef Energy. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk