Being defeated by brown algae/dino?

Been dealing with this brown stringy algae for about a month now, generally didn't bother me but now its starting to cover my corals and get worse. It just feels that Im getting more growth in my display than the scrubber.

Here are my specs so far
0 TDS on 2 different cheapo meters
0.03 phosphate on red sea test, 0 on salifert
0.05 nitrate on red sea, 0 on API (both nitrate/phos show 0 if I dont feed heavy that day)
PH 8.1-8.3
460 calcium
1400 Magnesium
9 dkh
Reefbreeder LED 12 hour cycle with max 55% blue, 25% whites

Run algae scrubber that is growing, tried hydrogen peroxide dosing, chemiclean, 72 hour day blackout period. Only time it goes is when lights go out, not sure if its due to clean up crew going at it or cause of no lighting. But if anyone can help identify it so I could attack it properly, or has a solution would be much appreciated.



http://imgur.com/U65KWj6
http://imgur.com/nZx8DKU
http://imgur.com/O69zZoX
http://imgur.com/3rrgIFi
http://imgur.com/ODrwRy0

Scrubber growth after about 2 weeks, 22 hours on
http://imgur.com/WJ7HdU5

Well the scrubber is certainly burning in the middle, so 18 hours might be better.

Also, is the stringy algae attached to those rocks on the sand?

Ill try 18 hours , and yes it is..... its really attached to both and covers everything, sand and rock.

Those are the fiji pink rocks that come with carib sea sand, not sure if you're implying they might be leaching? but they've been in there for over 2 years now

How long since the peroxide and chemiclean?

And what other filters are keeping the nutrients low right now?

2 weeks since chemiclean, I only did the peroxide for a few days but it was an older opened bottle. I read its better to try a new one so im going to try a black out again with fresh peroxide.


All Im running is the skimmer, carbon, purigen.

For macro algae, there's the scrubber.

Small patches of Neomeris here and there between live rock.

And there's also a big chunk of bubble algae growing in my overflow that I never touched cause it doesn't spread and didnt bother me, figured it helped with nutrients if anything.

The peroxide killed a lot of your periphyton, so if you can let the it grow back over the next year, your natural filter will be back up to normal for the amount of rock you have. And hopefully you are not moving any rocks or flow around.

How much are you feeding?

About a cube a day, and I will have to be moving stuff around because I'm upgrading to a larger tank in a few weeks. I was hoping to fix this ahead of time and not transfer the problem to the new tank.

Come to think of it and speaking of flow- I did put in a gyre x130 instead of my powerheads ( should be more flow) and thats when the algae/dino started to grow more, not sure if its due to overturning sand and kicking crud out.

Good news is that I started getting some really nice light green thick growth on the scrubber. Been waiting for this type of growth for a while now.


05/20/16 - http://imgur.com/WJ7HdU5
Today 05/24/16 - http://imgur.com/jJXdy4c


Can I let it grow out more or do I have to clean it regardless every 7-21 days as per Santa Monica HOB1 instructions? I was never too clear on this part since there's still more room to grow

Great to hear about the growth. Just let it fill in a lot.

You cannot "transfer" algae problems to a new tank. The nutrients that are in the rock, are in the rock. They will come out, or not, based on how high the nutrients are in the water, which is based on how much export (filtering) you have.

Changes in flow can starve periphyton on your rocks. But the peroxide probably already killed a lot of it, and now it's just dying off and putting nutrients into the water. The goal is, no changes in anything, and no chemical additions. Just scrubber growth.

Sounds good. I'll stop trying different remedies and just put my faith in the scrubber for now. Will update if there are any drastic changes with growth. Thanks again

Tried another black out cause it was getting bad, helped scrubber growth and dino was pretty much eliminated but still coming back slowly.

Just to update my growth

05/20/16 - http://imgur.com/WJ7HdU5
05/24/16 - http://imgur.com/jJXdy4c
06/02/16 - http://imgur.com/a/P43q4

Its growing better since the 18 hour suggestion but still plenty of white left. Should I let it keep growing or pull out the main chunk? Im probably past 20 days since cleaning already.

Really happy with the results either way Santa Monica. I tried a DIY scrubber a few months back and it didn't work this good.

Good to see. Keep at 18 hours, and clean it.

Cleaned it by pulling out a majority of the hair algae. Didnt scrub or anything so not sure if i did this right. Growth is back up to about 30% of what it was before cleaning now but my n03 is at about 6ppm now and p04 is 0.04. Is it common for it to go up after a cleaning?

edit: forgot to mention, also getting more film algae on my glass for some reason. the brown dino is still staying at minimal levels so im happy about that.

Yes, since a scrubber removes nutrients, and not food particles, after you clean it the filtering will be less and the nutrients will start going up.

Gotcha... Dino is still here but a lot less than it was, hopefully it goes away soon. I'm still unsure how often to clean the screen, it says 7-21 days or when it's full, cause the hair algae mainly grows in the middle and is empty on top and bottom. Should I let it go past 21 days until it's completely full? And when I clean do I just remove the main portion or should I scrub it in my sink to get rid of all the smaller parts?


I also started feeding more heavily and I know the hog1 is only rated up to 1 cube a day, but I also have a skimmer. How do I know when my scrubber is too small for how much I feed? I tried searching on the subject but couldn't find much info.

Thanks again for all the help.

Sounds like you should toothbrush clean the whole thing so you see all the white surfaces, every 10 days. Run for 20 hours of light.

As for size, if the nutrients in the water get low, and the rocks eventually clean off most gha and get covered in periphyton, then the scrubber is enough. If the nutrients in the water stay high and the nuisance algae continues, then the scrubber is not enough.

Cool thanks. im thinking of ordering another hog, do you suggest I order another hog 1 and run two of them or just order 1 larger one?

It's just a matter of cost and space. You can't scrub too much; they just grow less if not needed.