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I have developed this lovely dusty golden brown film algae on the glass, sand and rocks in my 10 month soon to be reef tank. It's been in the tank for a few weeks but I thought it was a simple case of Diatoms. But now I'm wondering if it maybe something else. I do a wipe down every couple of days in my tank and today was no different. I put the scraper in to do a quick wipe and pulled it out and got a wiff of the nastiest smelling odor I have ever smelled  . I almost got sick from it. It smelled like sulphur. I have never had a sulphur smell in any of my tanks. Is this a normal smell from Diatoms or is this something else and should I be concerned?My Ca has been holding at around 410-420 ppm, Nitrites-0, Nitrates-5 ppm, dkh between 9-10,PH has been a stable 8.3,the phosphate was tested for me at the fs with a Salifert kit was barely even registerable on the kit. I don't run Kalkwasser. I buffer the freshwater top-off with a reef builder. I run 260 watts of compact lighting with 40 watts of normal output actinic. Here's a pic of what it looks like. I know of another MD member who has a similar algae issue as I do. 
Buuuurrritttoooooo!
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I thinking this maybe dinoflagellate and not algae. If it is though, it's a PITA to rid of it. A combination of lower photo period, water changes, running a phosphate reactor have been most effective for me.
"Carpe Narem"
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Dinfoflagellates are, more or less, single-celled algae. They sometimes live in association with sulfur bacteria, so this may be part of the smell. These also might be chrysophtyes, and both dinoflagellates and chrysophytes produces a lot of DMSP which could account for the smell as bacteria break it down to DMS. DMS is not a straight sulfur smell, though - it smells a little more fishy-sulfurish.
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Should I be scraping it off when I do wc or leave it. I currently have a RBTA in the tank that doesn't seem to be affected. But my Kenya tree seems to close up within a day or so when the stuff starts to coat the glass. I use Rowaphos in a HOB as my return pump died on me a couple a weeks ago and the new pump won't be here till sometime Mon or Tues. How is this stuff brought into an aquarium? Because I know of 2 other people who have this same issue. Is it something in salt mixes or the water or air? FYI, it's currently in my other 2 sw tanks that I have too, but not to this extent. It seems to be rather mild.
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| Hi Eric, Puddles. Eric this is the person I was telling you about who has the same issues as me. She had been using Reef Crystals as well, which is what led me to think this was an issue with the salt. I guess what I'm wondering is if you think this is a coincidence or if it is indeed the salt? Neither one of us have had this algae before and it popped up in both our tanks at the same time. Unless this is something that can be triggered by a change in seasons (lighting), I cannot see anything else besides the salt to "blame". I would also like to mention that my salt water mixing bin has this slime in it after 2 days, it also had what appeared to be spores on top of the water. What is causing this is beyond me but there is absolutely no light in the bin and I just cleaned it with bleach not too long ago to get rid of the brown slime. Everything is clean, pump, heater, etc, so this is coming from one thing only in my opinion, the salt. Just in case you don't remember, my thread was titled Dianoflagellates, need some advice. Sorry Puddles about your algae problems. Thank you Eric for any opinions on this.
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| I just reexamined my last remaining Reef Crystals. I noticed that it has these little brown specks in it. I only rechecked it because RyanNi has something similar to it. Does anyone know what this could be? Is this why my issue ooccurred I've never noticed it before this batch. The other person I'm referring to besides RyanNi is the gentleman who runs the saltwater section at my LFS. He has the same issue the same time as me and Ryan. An unrelated coincidence or like Ryan said, problems with the salt? I'm starting to wonder if it's the salt. Both Ryan and I use RO water and the gentleman at the LFS uses straight tap water. I've been using RC for over 3 yrs and this is the first time I've had anything like this. The first picture the only way I can describe it as being like little brine shrimp eggs, the 2nd pic has some of the brown "spores" and what appears to be a piece of metal flake.  
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Yes, that is very unusual. In our salt study, we had several salts that had algae and other microbes grow when mixed with sterile water. Reef Crystals was not one of them (but the other one used widely by the same manufacturer was), and the mass production of salts leading to any of the major brands having something similar happen would not surprise me. Suppliers of the ingredients - and their quality - can change. Without knowing the ins and outs of each companies purchases and analysis of each batch when factors change, it is hard to say what is going on.
Can either of you send me a sample of this?
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Yep. Can you shoot me an email or PM and I'll get this out to you a.s.a.p. Thank you so much for your help. I just couldn't understand why all of a sudden after using this stuff for over 3 years with no algae issues and now I've got it. I took up reefkeeping to help eliminate my smoking habit.
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pm sent.
Thanks!
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Thank YOU Eric for doing this test, I am super interested in the results but based on what "puddles" has told me I'm done with Reef Crystals for now. I have a nearly full bucket that will likely get dumped  . I really appreciate you taking your time to test our salt!
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