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cjrudy
07/08/2010, 05:00 PM
So my tank has been up for about 2 months and in the past few days I have had an outbreak of some stringy brown strands all over my rock , sand bed and even the corals. I have been blowing it off everything with a turkey baster, but within about 24hrs it comes back. Is is just a diatom outbreak ?

ritter6788
07/08/2010, 05:04 PM
Does it look like snot? Could be dinoflagellates.

wrott
07/08/2010, 05:34 PM
You may want to do the 3 days w/out lights and huge WCs and run lots of C and GFO.
Wach your Alk, don't let it dip below 2.8 mEq/L.
What kinds of corals do you have?

jimmyj7090
07/08/2010, 05:38 PM
Does it look like snot? Could be dinoflagellates.

And does it FEEL like snot?

If it looks and feels like snot, do some searching for info and pics of dinoflagellates.

It it's stringy but more velvet looking, and not so slimy feeling to the touch it may just be cyanobacteria.

Cyano='s annoying but normal
Dinos='s PITA

sasharotty
07/08/2010, 05:48 PM
Dinos......cut the light for 48 hrs.

inthesea
07/08/2010, 05:54 PM
does it have an air bubble in the tip? Also check your PH, if your PH drops too low, you will have this problem.

cjrudy
07/08/2010, 06:04 PM
It does not have the air bubble tip or look like snot it is more velvety and stringy. My PH is 8.2, my nitrates have been running about 15ppm. I have done alot of water changes with no luck

jimmyj7090
07/09/2010, 08:40 PM
Both dinos and cyano will trap bubbles.

If you siphion it out, how long til it comes back? Does it start to come back in a day, or does it seem to come back with a vengance in hours?

Dinos typically regrow shockingly fast. Cyano is slower.

Can you post/link some pics? That would help a lot on a good ID.