Cant seem to find whats wrong

[verynewatthis]

Okay here is my problem, I have what looks like brown stringy algae.
I know i know...do a water changes to lower the Nitrates right. But what if you tested for Nitrates and they are undetectable? I use Salfert tests kits and its shows 0...i tested it 2 times and used a different test kit to confirm. What gives?.

it looks like that stuff grows everyday, and seems to go away at night. But about mid day its all over everything. I have tested everything and cant seem to find whats wrong.
here are my water prams..

Ph 8.1
Cal 450
Alk 10.6
Mag 1450
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 0
Phos 0

I dont know what else to check. The algae has the consistency of snot and is very stinky...dont know if that helps or not...IF you know anything i should try plz let me know.
As of right now im just going to start running carbon. ty ty

rich

Stay Cav

[Ping]

Sounds like cyano to me. You may want to consider more and larger water changes (flush the rocks before the change), and also consider a phosphate remover.

[verynewatthis]

i did a 30 gal change last week and it didnt seem to help...im going to do it again this weekend just incase...i can start running my phos reactor again...the only reason im not running it is because the phos tested at 0....
my tank size is 58 G so 30 G is the largest im willing to do in one week.

[jroescher]

Maybe try testing the water your using for water changes. Using RO water right?

[wwarriner]

How old is the tank? You might just be going through the same thing we all do when we first start.

[CoryDude]

How old is the tank? You might just be going through the same thing we all do when we first start.

That's what I was thinking. My newest tank just finished cycling and NO3 and Phos show undetectable, but I still have a bad case of cyano.

Try suctioning off as much as you can when you do h2o changes. That's the best rememdy I've found so far that works. Takes time, but it seems to slowly self-destruct when you syphon it off directly from the sand bed and rocks.

[verynewatthis]

okay...here goes

the tank is 1 and 1/2 years old...heres what i have done today..
water change...30%
added Phos reactor
added carbon reactor
added de*nitrate reactor

well see what happens....

fingers crossed

rich

stay cav

[Daniel]

Is it in a dead spot? Have you tried removing it with a toothbrush then point a powerhead in that direction?

[verynewatthis]

its not in a dead spot...its all over the tank...it grows all day....then goes away at night...i have no idea whats going on...

rich

stay cav

[Daniel]

Polyp or spaghetti worms?

Heres a pic:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/221/505021097_7359264edd.jpg?v=0

[princer7]

Sounds like Dinoflaggelates. If so, blow it off as much as you can every day and leave the tank lights off for several days. Here is a picture I found on the web....

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e201/stefanl/IMG_3821.jpg

[verynewatthis]

Woot....we have a winner....that look just like it...how many days is several??...reason i ask is because i have sps coral and i dont know how long they can go without light..
ty ty

rich

Stay Cav

[princer7]

If you can leave the lights off for 2-3 days at a stretch and then lights on for a day, repeat as necessary. I had this take over my tank shortly after setting it up and keep SPS as well.

[verynewatthis]

ty so much princer...will start the black out process today..should i cover the tank with a blanket so no house lights get in...or is just turning the tank lights off okay?

rich

Stay Cav

[princer7]

The more the light you can take away the better. If it does not get direct light, you may be fine enough to just leave the lights off.

[bimmerzs]

Didn't see where you listed the color of this stuff, cyano is a red slimy film and may produce bubbles if its thick. Dynoflagellates are slimy green and can also produce bubbles, hopefully it's not dyno's.

Cheers,

[scubaryan]

alot of the times you have algae present and you test for nitrates and phosphates you will sometimes get a false reading of zero b/c the algae is consuming it all. make since?sometimes in order to get accurate results you have to manually remove the algae sp. and wait a day or 3 and retest. then you can see where you stand as far as true readings are. looks like you got it figured out though. just a heads up though.

[Joshua]

Dinos, nasty stuff and toxic to your snails if they eat it too from what I understand. Definetely vacuum up as much as possible regularly. Test that top-off and water change water, if you're buying your RO/DI water from an LFS test it for sure as I've seen it worse than tap water. If you have your own it wouldn't hurt to change all your filters. I had some DI once leaching something nasty into the water causing all sorts of trouble and as soon as I changed it all went back to normal.

scubaryan is dead on, some algaes will grow until the nutrients are gone so you test it and it's at 0.