siskiou Posted July 4, 2006 Share Posted July 4, 2006 For the last couple of weeks I've had an outbreak that I suspect to be dinoflagellates in my newish 40G tank! It's brown and covers the sand and rocks, but not in sheets, like red slime. It looks more like dust when I blow it off the rocks, and after a day of light the air bubbles show up. By morning things look somewhat better, but not much. My snail have really slowed down, too! Besides raising the pH and siphoning out as much as possible and skimming really wet, is there anything else that helps with this stuff? I've heard it can kill snails, hermits, crabs, fish... In places, hair algae starts to grow where the brown dust really settles in. Should I move the corals into my quarantine tank and leave the tank dark for a week? Will the two fish, a rainford's goby and an eviota goby be okay without light? They would be very hard to catch in all the live rock, but I'd do it if need be! I read an ozonizer can help? Anyone here have experience with these and can confirm that? Water changes and siphoning it off have not had much of an effect so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyles Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 Check your phosphate levels, or pm me, I work in eugene and can bring my phosphate test in. As Miles said on another post, make sure you incoming water is crystal clear as well. Hope you get it sorted, if its a new tank it may subside naturally (how new is newish?). Can you post your test results? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siskiou Posted July 5, 2006 Author Share Posted July 5, 2006 I don't have a phosphate test, but my other levels are: SG 1.024 Temp 78 F (temp did go up to 80 when we had the really high temps last week) pH 8.0 in the morning (working on getting it higher) Ammo and nitrites 0 nitrates about 5 Regarding the age of the tank: my main LR went in at the end of May after curing in a tub for a few weeks. I had a little bit of already cured rock from another tank in mine for a couple of months before the main load arrived. I'm actually thinking it might be diatoms, since it really doesn't look very "snotty" to me, more like a brown dusting. But I do get airbubbles with it at the end of the lighting period and I worry about the snails being so sluggish. I get my water at the LFS, but don't know what their routine for changing the media on their RO/DI is. My current salt is OceanPure. As with all of the salts, I've heard good and bad things about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyles Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 Your tests look good, offer is available anytime (ph04 test) ph is fine and so is your temp. If it was me I would test ph04 and make sure its kept to "0" and just be patient. Make sure your skimmer is working optimally (as you stated) and your water should look clear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyles Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 Also on my tank I have stopped doing monthly water changes and moved to weekly smaller changes, this has helped 100% to keep levels nice and low / untraceable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 If it doesn't look like strands of snot, its diatoms. Just let them take their course, usually a couple weeks. Astrea snails do well eating diatoms IME. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyles Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 My only concern is the hair algae starts, keep an eye on your ph04 because of this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefboy Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 check your silicate levels usally the cause of diatom out breaks once levels reach a certain point your problem starts if using ro water check that as well might be time to change the membrane.diotoms are a silicate based algae Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siskiou Posted July 5, 2006 Author Share Posted July 5, 2006 None of the LFS close to me test for silicate or carry tests for it. I'm waiting on a reply from Sean to see if he does. I'm thinking diatoms, but my one concern is the sluggishness of my snails. Can diatoms cause this, too? I don't want to add more snails, only to have them slowly fade away. And it's been a good two to three weeks already, with no sign of the brown stuff going away. More the opposite! I've take some of the corals out and temporarily put them into a quarantine, because the zoas and GSP were being choked out by the stuff, no matter how often I blew it off and the hammer frag was looking a bit wilted. They are much happier again now. I'm thinking my old bulbs may have had something to do with it getting started. Now I don't dare run the T5s too long, because the diatoms love then. I've hooked up a canister filter to filter out what I blow off the rocks and have added some carbon, too. I'm cleaning the filter floss every day. Is there anything else I could stick in there, and how often should I change the carbon under the circumstances? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 Does it look like this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siskiou Posted July 5, 2006 Author Share Posted July 5, 2006 Not quite. It doesn't have the slimey halo from the pictures. When I blow it off the rocks, it just flies off like brown dust and discolors the filter media brown very quickly (washes out fairly easily). It's not in sheets, like cyano and I can't just siphon it off the sand without taking a lot of sand with it. My bubbles are smaller, too. I'll try and take a picture later tonight when the bubbles appear. Did a big cleaning yesterday, but couldn't quite get it all off the sand, since I only had 5G of salt water mixed and ready. I need to get a larger container and eventually my own RO/DI, but after the recent light purchase my husband is going to blow his top if I suggest anything else in the near future! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 Its never ending in this hobby is it (laugh) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siskiou Posted July 6, 2006 Author Share Posted July 6, 2006 Right you are! I have to remember to buy lottery tickets again, since the last ones were duds! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siskiou Posted July 6, 2006 Author Share Posted July 6, 2006 No picture tonight. It didn't build up enough after my cleanup yet. Maybe tomorrow... PS: what are the mysterious LPPs listed under peoples' post number? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefboy Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 i know high nitrates can affect snails but probly wont show nitrates with the bloom your having also fluc ph can cause this test ph when lights have ben on for awhile say at least 5 hours then test in the mourning after theyve ben off all night will give you a accurate swing from day to night you dont want more then a couple points swing if any.also heat fluc can also do this combine the two can be deadly if the swing is fast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 PS: what are the mysterious LPPs listed under peoples' post number? The LPP's are instant messages. Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 How is your flow in that tank? Does the flow break the surface of the water a little? The reason i ask is if you have low gas exchange in the tank, the snails might not be getting enough oxygen. Just a thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siskiou Posted July 6, 2006 Author Share Posted July 6, 2006 Yep, the surface gets agitated a little. I do think I could use a little more flow in general. Might put an MJ1200 in there in addition to the CL and return flow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.