New tank, just cycling, is this beneficial brown algae?

[brianK]

Hello All,

Apologize if this is a stupid question...

Just starting cycling this new tank, and purchased some more LR last Friday. Just started noticing yesterday that what looks like brown algae is growing on some of the new LR and some of my sand base (see pictures for details, apolgize for the quality)

Should I work on syphoning this off, or allow it grow? Any advise on what I should do? Thanks for any help.

Brian

[Tim Marvin]

It looks like cyano bacteria to me, but the pictures are a little blurry. Is it a dust looking stuff or does it look like sheets with bubbles in it?

[brianK]

Its more wispy, almost like dust balls, I don't see any sheet of bubbles in it either.


Brian

[Ram_Puppy]

hard to say... I just went thoough a patch of cyano in a new tank i am starting... I scrubbed and siphoned... seems ok now.. (increased flow as well)...

I can't tell from the picture, but I would lean towards brown algae...

what are the tank conditions now? are you lighting the tank while cycling?

[brianK]

Yeah from some of the reading I've been doing I'm thinking its cyano also..

Currently running 2 sometimes 4 x 55Watt 10K bulbs for 12 hours...think I
got the cyano off my last batch of LR.

Tank stays in the 80-84 (somtimes 86) degree range

Readings:

SpG: 1.021
PH: 8.4
Amn: 0.035
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 0
Calcium: ~400
haven't checked phosphorus (?sp) yet...

Have two powerheards running, with Powerfilter with active carbon filters running fulltime as well as a Prizm skimmer.

Going to do some scrubbing/cleaning and water change tomorrow night... Gonna add some more Red Sea Salt in the water change to bring the SpG up a little

Brian

[Ram_Puppy]

and how big is the tank?

I would stop the lights until your cycle is done, your providing algae the missing link for growth in that environment. Scrubbing the rocks is a good idea. The key to success in curing rock is lots of water movement (this is good at knocking back cyano as well) and good clean water. Keep the water changes coming,

[brianK]

Hello Ram,

The tank is my 58Gal. Gonna spend the weekend giving the tank a good scrubbing and try to syphon out as much as of the cyano
as I can. Gonna be working on making a stand to hold the lights anyways, so I'll take the lights out of the picture. I read somewhere
that putting some fish food in the tank will also start the ammonia cycle going also. Is that a good idea? Gonna do some cleaning
tonite and do a good water change.

I've got two powerheads running in the tank right now...

Brian

[Ram_Puppy]

you don't need to kick start it, you already have an amonia reading... your live rock curing in tank will do all you need.

[GaryP]

I wouldn't worry about it a lot. You are still cycling. Hair algae is not uncommon in a new tank. Actually its extremely common.

Just let it go and keep your skimmer cranked up. As soon as your bacterial population catches up with the cycling the nuisance algaes will start to starve out and then you can think about getting some browsers to clean it up. When you nitrogen values go down to zero consistently, you can think about running some carbon and/or phosphate scavenger.

Gary

[brianK]

What are some good carbon/phosphate/algae eaters, that are hearty, to start out with once the tank has cycled?

Brian

[cvonseggern]

For algae consumption, nothing seems to beat having a whole horde o' turbo snails. Maybe a bunch of nassarius to keep the sandbed free of detritus, too. Fishwise, I recently added a lawnmower blenny and he seems to be making quite a dent in the hair algae. I've never seen him eat it, but I have come downstairs quite a few mornings to find a bunch of new places where the rocks have been scraped clean. Remember to be thinking about detrivores to consume uneaten food & fish waste so it doesn't fuel the algae problem, as well as critters to actually eat the algae.

[GaryP]

Nerite & Cerith snails
Mexican dwarf hermits.

If what you have is cyano, the hermits are about the only thing that will eat it. A lot of other people will tell you that hermits will kill your snails. IMO they scavenge the snails that turn over on the sand and can't get turned back over. My Astrea snails have a hard time flipping over in my sugar fine sand. I just check my tanks every day and fli over that get flipped.
There's a pretty good source of info on various algae grazers of the GARF website.

Gary

[brianK]

So I can add these after the tank does it's first full cycle right? I can't add any of these before
the tank cycles right??

Brian

[GaryP]

Yes, wait. Snails in particular are very sensitive to Ammonia and Nitrite spikes. And remember that just because you are getting a 0 value when you test, there may be spikes between tests that you aren't seeing, so be paitent.
Also remember that the test kits we use aren't necessarily the most sensitive. There may be levels that you are not detecting that could be harmful.

Gary

[brianK]

Witch are the better Test Kits? At present I'm using the Red Sea Kits...and testing for

Ammonia, PH/Alk, Nitrates, Niitrites,Calcium and Phosphates...


Brian

[GaryP]

Salifert are the best, but as I said, regardless of the kit, they are not all that sensitive. Accuracy has a lot to do with user technique. Just make sure you run the test the same way every time.

Gary