HELP! Need to identify this algae bloom before it kills all my corals.

[DKoKoMan]

I'm struggling to identify these bubble things or algae. I have started a 3 day lights out period with the tank being completely covered. I'm starting to panic as I have only went though one bucket of AF Reef Salt and half of it was mixed with RC. I just bought another AF Reef Salt but I'm hesitant in using it...

I'm surprised how many others are experiencing this. Ditched IO RC as I wanted parameters more along the lines of NSW. Any other suggestions?

[DKoKoMan]

I am scared to look at my tank in 3 days. Thai stuff is invasive and covers sps corals, Lps and Zoas with ease.

[sobe]

Any update? Is yours brown or purple "snot"? Mine is more purplish. I have added chaeto on my sump and it seem to have decreased and detaching. Its only on one section of the tank and my clownfish eats when stringy bits detach

[DKoKoMan]

Originally Posted by sobe

Any update? Is yours brown or purple "snot"? Mine is more purplish. I have added chaeto on my sump and it seem to have decreased and detaching. Its only on one section of the tank and my clownfish eats when stringy bits detach

Posted an update on my build thread. Haven't saw anything eat this stuff!

[DKoKoMan]

Now the slime appears to be purple/ maroon in colour.

[somafish]

What's your bio pellet set up like? They can cause algae blooms

[hunggi74]

OP the algae you have is Dinoflagellates. I had/have the same issues and also use AF Reef salt. My nutrients were not in balance as my NO3 was anywhere between 10-50ppm but my PO4 was consistently low at 0.028.The worst thing you can do right now is water changes. The algae thrives on the trace elements in salt mix. I also used Comp123 and that has trace elements in it. My corals were being suffocated by the Dinos like yours are. I tried first a 96 hour blackout but that didn't faze them and only made my corals pale and my fish delvelop ich. I ended up getting some Dino X and dosing as per instructions. 21 day treatment max and then you have to stop dosing for a week. During that treatment time you syphon out visible dinos in tank and reduce your photoperiod to max 5 hours a day. So far after first full 21 day treatment my dinos have been reduced significantly. I still see some, but I'm hoping to be able to rid them by manually syphoning and by balanced nutrient reduction. I have done one water change since last treatment using the AF salt I have remaining. I don't dose Comp123. In fact, I don't dose anything now into tank except Alk. I don't want to do another treatment phase of dino x as I think my corals wouldn't be able to withstand another agggressive round of dino x. I lost a handful of pieces and the remaining corals are all brown to browner. Hoping to color them back up over time. After reading this thread and hearing horror stories about AF salt, I too will be using either IO or RS henceforth. Hope this helps you or anyone else going through the same issues.