Slimy brown algea what causes it?

[flyin2jz]

Just wondering i have a bunch of this slimy brown algae in my tank. Its really stringy and goes towards the top of the tank. Im not sure how to get rid of it. lmk if you can help. thanx Kevin

[OUinLA]

it can be cause by a number of things. I am going through it now as well. I thought mine might be from overdosing zeostart for a long time so i have quit dosing for two weeks to see if that's the problem. I'm not conviced that it is the start so i'm looking at my water and salt now. What you are seeing is dinoflagellates. they are a single celled organism that feeds off of nutrients and/or a carbon source. Some are photosynthetic, some are not. If your variety is photosynthetic then it's possible to "black out" the tank for 36 hours and i've heard that works.

Otherwise try and figure out what is feeding them and reduce it.

Just to confirm we are talking about dino's.....do they capture air bubbles?

[Aged Salt]

Hi Kevin, dark strands with slime maybe a sign of zeo-excess, therefore, can you give us your ZEOvit dosing regimen/ total net vol./ & coral appearance-- light or dark, tips thin or thick? Thnx. Bob

[flyin2jz]

Im using the following.
4ml start 2 / dosed 2ml/2ml daily
8 drops of food7 daily
12 drops of bak daily
12 drops aminos 2tms week
8 drops of potassium iodide daily
the tank is a 260 with a 55 sump about half filled most of the time.
2 250w radiums
2 400whqi xm 20k
2 400w radiums
4 vhos actinics
any help is appreciated. Corals are colored up nice after my crash. tips arent really white. I ran out of my calcium reactor media. i am getting some this weekend. thanx for the help bob.

[Aged Salt]

Kevin, Madison's suggestion also deserves consideration in the differential diagnosis. Dino's generally are associated with strands, bubble formation within a gooy, jelly-like desposit. Is this dark film accumulation on the panes? If yes, then it's probably not dinoflagellates. It's sound like diatomaceous accumulates fostered by possibly hi silicates in the product water, hi nutrients, or excess Food7, Start & AAHC. I would recommend holding ALL zeo's for 3-5 days then begin them again at 50% quantites.Kevin, a picture would be helpful Bob

[flyin2jz]

Here is a pic of some corals then i will get up a pic of the junk.

[flyin2jz]

another

[flyin2jz]

Here is the nasty stuff. I suck it out all the time with a turkey sucker. I have a etss 1400 skimmer ont the tank pulling out wet skimmate.

[OUinLA]

I would hold all dosing for at least 5 days. When you resume dosing discontinue the use of ZEOfood7. Also cut your start2 dosages in half and see if that works for your tank

[nyfireman3097]

I have the same thing it is driving insane airbubbles everywhere too i notice noone can give me a awnser about it im pulling myhair out over this ill blow the bubblles away and ten minutes later there there again
Nick

[Aged Salt]

Hi Kevin, look at the back & lower front panes--those are diatomaceous accumulates from overshooting the zeo's, or too high of Si's in your product water. TDS test, but be sure to add a mixed DI filter to your processing-water unit[color change type if you do not have a DI TDS meter at this exit, & obtain a Si test kit which revealed my RODI to be faulty, as I'm experiencing a similar problem. Unforunately, the chloramines in my water damaged the RO membrane allowing the canisters to actually leak back into my product water, resulting in higher TDS's than my tap source
The bubbly strands appear to me to be dinoflagellates, which are fueled by who knows what. I've had them come & go in the past. Although I've never tried this, years ago, Peter Wilkins suggested days of no photoperiods & higher pH as possible means to irradicate these brown algae. As they release a poisonous substance[red tide] our janitors[snails] can actually die from ingestion of the slimey matter. I suggest doing WC's with low Si, low TDS product water, scraping all brownish accumulates off to the skimmer & zeo-filter & holding all dosing for 5-7 days. At this point, repost your observations with comments & pictures, thnx. Bob

[G.Alexander]

Kevin, I really know this slime IMO these are no algae, these are bacteria.

It can be caused by the products:

AAHC (AminAcids)
ZeoStart2

It takes about 2 or 3 weeks after stopping both products since they disappear completely.

I would highly recommend you to correct your dosage. You general dosage seems to be at the high side, this is why I expect you are in the first 2 week interval after changing the zeovit (zeolite). Please make sure to adjust your dosage as recommended in the dosing guide if you have passed the 2 week interval after changing the material.

http://www.captiveoceans.com/pdfs/ZEOvitGuide1.pdf

Your iodine (korallenzucht) dosage is to high. Sooner or later the iodine will accumulate to toxic levels which will cause problems. Please reduce the dosage of iodine – The maximum for your system should be 10 drops once weekly, depending to the blue coloration of your corals. Please notice these products are very high concentrated.

This is a copy from the dosing guide (Potassium Iodine):

The addition of this supplement leads to improved blue colors in SPS. In contrast to PVP iodide or Lugols Iodide solution, there is no tissue darkening as long as the amount is appropriate. As a starting dose we recommend to dose 1 drop per 25 gallons, however the dosing amount and interval should be adjusted to your tank. A very good indicator for dosing is yellow coral. If your yellow corals display a green shimmer, it is an indicator of overdosage of this product (or iron concentrate). When this happen, we recommend that dosing be ceased until coral colors become intense yellow again. With blue acropora, dosing should be done when colors become less intense. In most cases, dosing twice weekly at a rate of 1 drop per 100 liters should be sufficient. This supplement can also be used in tanks not using the ZEOvit method.

G.Alexander

[Tom Berry]

I think this is a common problem. The zeo components are VERY concentrated. More is not better. The doses get lower and lower, as you progress with zeo. I think many people (myself included) have thought that they were dealing with algae, when it is really bacterial "slime" from overdosing zeo components.

Bob has tried to pound this into our thick skulls from the beginning. When you start to see this bacterial film, reduce your dosages. I think I'm finally getting it

Tom

[nyfireman3097]

Ok heres my situation I stopeed dosing for 2 weeks nothing went away same everything also only get this alage on my tunze rock thw always has air bubbles then i have the patches of algae on my starboard which grows in patchs everything is at 0
Nick

[Aged Salt]

Hi Nick, I've made some recommendations on the other thread, but just in case I didn't mention this, let's hold AAHC for 2wks. & then post-up your observations, thnx. Bob