I have a question

[Reefbound]

Good morning all, I have a question about turning the lights off for three days because of dino's and feeding?
Over the last couple of days I have been removing this rust colored algae from the rocks, sand and cleaning everything removeable and last night finished with a 30 gallon water change. This algae would be almost nonexistant in the morning and by midday would be everywhere.How do you go about feeding fish or will they be ok for the next couple of days? Im mostly concerned about the larger Hippo and One spot foxface. All the fish are well fed and probably part of the dino problem.

 

[DonW]

If its sort of dusty its more likely diatoms. If its thick a snotty then may be dino's.
By the discription its diatoms and the bloom will go away on its own. Just keep up with regular feeding and a shorter photo period.

Don

 

[Reefbound]

Thanks DonW, It does seem more "dusty" than anything else. I have lowered the light period from 12 hours down to 10 about 6 months ago, should I lower it to 8 total hours of light ?
I have the 10k's on for 8 and the actinic's on for 2 more hours after that.
I have the Nova extreme 8 x 54 unit on my 75.

 

[Skeptic9962]

i just did this a week ago worked wonders on the dinos...how i could tell it was dinos is was told its stringy and can hang off corals what i had was on the rocks the back wall and would hang off my sps like a long string...didnt matter if i had just done a waterchange it would only be gone for 30 mins or so and be back....all i did was turn lights off for 3 days didnt feed for those three days just left the tank alone and then when i turned the lights back on just for the first 3 days after lights on amp up the lights a few hours at a time

 

[returnofsid]

Dinos are usually described as "SNOT!!" That's exactly what it looks like too....slimy, nasty, SNOT!! If your algae is more of a dust, I'd say it's probably a diatom algae. Much less worrisome. It'll usually go away on it's own, once the tank has established itself. Shorter light periods will help.

 

[Reefbound]

If your algae is more of a dust, I'd say it's probably a diatom algae. Much less worrisome. It'll usually go away on it's own, once the tank has established itself. Shorter light periods will help.

The tank has been up for 4 years and I believe its because Ive become a little to lackadaisical in my husbandry duties.....Its been like this for about 4 or 5 months so I have some catching up to do.

 

[DonW]

Look for a silicate source and of course catch back up with the maintenance.

Don