algae identification

[Polscot]

can anyone tell me what kind of algae this is? its brown and has bubbles of air under it, it slowly wears down over the night but when i get home from work its back in full force

http://i830.photobucket.com/albums/zz229/jasonpolscot/IMG_0835.jpg?t=1286928047


http://i830.photobucket.com/albums/zz229/jasonpolscot/IMG_0836.jpg?t=1286928080

its slowly taking ever lol, not sure if i should run a chemi-clean red slime cycle or what.......

[ALang]

Looks like the dreaded cyanobacteria. Good luck.

[Rbacchiega]

+1 to cyano.

[reefwars]

Cyano for sure, almost all tanks have ut at one point or another , a goodsized skimmer helps, same with water changes and regular lighting schedules. It mats together so you can remove it manually and it will help. I've had a million outbreaks at one time or another , and I find in an established tank ITs a good sign of something happening in your system. I recently Had a small patches due to snail birth:) using flow from a powerhead does wonders, or if you don't have a whole lot of coral maybe a small blackout if it's out of control. Personally I don't agree with chemical fixes:)

[Coleus]

use a toothbrush and rush them off the rock and suck it out of the water when you do water change. What is your nitrate level?

[daniella3d]

Brown and slimy? it could be dinoflagellates. If you have access or know someone with a microscope, take a bit of it and look at it under the microscope. It's the only way to really be sure.

cyano looks like little strain of vegetation, whereas dino looks like a bunch of little creaters oval in shape.

It is very important to properly ID the algae and only a microscope can do it properly, because the treatment is different.

For dino, raising the PH to 8.4 or 8.5 will take care of it, also putting ferric oxide will help for both cyano and dino. The PH tric will not work for the cyano.

[gobytron]

the picture is clearly cyano...

which is not even really an algae at all.