Algea in new tank.

[kdv9tb]

I woke up this morning to find green, hair algea looking stuff forming in my tank. Is this normal, and part of the cycling process or do I need to do something different to the tank.

Should I add in some snails of something? I really want this tank to be in great shape, and to not be covered in algea so any input any of you all have is greatly appreciated!

[Jarret]

How new is your tank?
What are the water parameters? Nitrate,nitrite,phosphate,etc....

[Bretts05jeep]

dont worry after the water is good, and you put some snails in the rock will look just like it did when you added it, i find the big turbo snails get rid of hair alge the fastest.

[Tuscaquatics]

Like was already said, what are your parameters and how new is the tank? Green algae is normal for a new tank but hair algae isn't. I'll bet what you have is simply "green algae" rather than hair algae.

[frozenreefer]

maybe some picts would help out more to identify?

[jonbry123]

Yes please post what your water parameters are. I would say that green algae is odd depending on how long the tank has been set up as that usually takes a bit more time to grow then diatoms-causes a brown film on everything. Do you have live rock in the tank? If so probably was already on the rock. Do you have a skimmer? If you don't do not buy any other animal until you get one it is the most important piece of equipment you can buy. Without a quality skimmer you will have significant organics build up which will cause never ending algae blooms. If you do have one what brand is it? There are some really good ones and some really bad ones you do not want to waste money on.

[kdv9tb]

As of last night at about 10, my parameters are:
Temp:80.0
SG:1.023
Ate:0
Ite:0

The tank is on day 25 right now, and I added about 20 lbs of LR, and 50 lbs of dry when I set it up. The algae is on everything and has a green cotton ball like appearance. I do not know when I could put in turbo snails and I do not have any in my tank, so that would have to wait till Monday before I could get some. I do have a serpent starfish, coral bannded shrimp, and some nassarius snails if you all think that would help (do not worry, they are in my 20 gal tank, and not the new one).

I am using a octopus 110 skimmer on the tank, but I guess it still has not broke in because I am still not collecting any crap.

[kdv9tb]

127425

127426

127427

These are the best pictures I can get of it.

[Bretts05jeep]

As of last night at about 10, my parameters are:
Temp:80.0
SG:1.023
Ate:0
Ite:0

The tank is on day 25 right now, and I added about 20 lbs of LR, and 50 lbs of dry when I set it up. The algae is on everything and has a green cotton ball like appearance. I do not know when I could put in turbo snails and I do not have any in my tank, so that would have to wait till Monday before I could get some. I do have a serpent starfish, coral bannded shrimp, and some nassarius snails if you all think that would help (do not worry, they are in my 20 gal tank, and not the new one).

I am using a octopus 110 skimmer on the tank, but I guess it still has not broke in because I am still not collecting any crap.

im not good at wating i would throw 1 snail in there and see how it does, if the nitrate is at or around zero it should be fine, snails are a good test dummy

[kdv9tb]

Since the tank has been up, I have not seen any Nitrite or Nitrates. I have been keeping a journal and test daily and still have not seen a spike in anything. I think I will try a snail, but are the nassarius ones going to be ok?

[Jarret]

Has there been a layer of brown that covered the entire tank yet? If you haven't seen any nitrate/nitrite/ammonia readings then your tank has not cycled yet and you shouldn't have any livestock in there at all.

You mentioned that you added about 20lbs of live rock and 50lbs of dry rock. Where did you get the live rock from?

Where are you getting your water from to fill up the tank? Have you checked for total dissolved solids (TDS) in the water in your tank and at the source you are getting it from?

[jonbry123]

What test kit are you using. There has to be some nitrates as the algae feeds off the nitrates. 0 readings of that element and I would question how well the test kit is working given a new tank even without any animals added. The live rock would have some living creatures and therefore should be some levels of at least nitrates and/or phosphates. Have you checked for phosphates?

[kdv9tb]

20lbs of LR came from my nano tank that has been up and running for over a year.

The water is RO/DI from the city water spicket on the side of my apartment. I have not read the TDS numbers, and I do not know how I will considering I do not have the meter to read it with.

So far as a brown layer, no I have not had that at all. Could this possibly be what is happening now?

[jonbry123]

You need to determine what the algae is feeding off of. The dry sand was it purchased at a LFS or from a place like a HD or Lowes? If the latter could be the sand has silica in it which will feed the algae as well. Without a good test kit you can't tell what levels of nitrates you have which will also contribute to the grown of algae. + you won't be able to tell when it is safe to add animals.

[Jarret]

20lbs of LR came from my nano tank that has been up and running for over a year.

The water is RO/DI from the city water spicket on the side of my apartment. I have not read the TDS numbers, and I do not know how I will considering I do not have the meter to read it with.

So far as a brown layer, no I have not had that at all. Could this possibly be what is happening now?

I may be wrong but I'm almost 100% positive that water coming from a spigot on the side of your apartment building is not going to be even RO water let alone RO/DI water. This is probably one of the reasons as to why the algae outbreak considering the water isn't very "clean".

The TDS in that water is probably very high compared to what it should be which is 0. I would invest in getting a TDS meter if I were you and also finding a better source for water.

If you can't afford an RO/DI filter for yourself, you can sometimes get away with going down to WalMart or your local grocery store and using their filtered drinking water that you can fill up 5 gallon buckets with. Chances are this water is going to be cleaner than the water coming from the side of your apartment building.

The brown layer which are called diatoms usually show up right around the same time algae does.

I would suggest reading through this thread http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=239848 as it explains the cycle process and what you can expect and what you need to be doing.

More specifically post #24 in that thread, http://reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1838479&postcount=24. Scroll down to the green text and read from there to get an understanding.

[kdv9tb]

I have an RO/DI filter, and that is what I am using, but it is hooked up to the side of my apartment on the outside water spicket. I purchased the sand for my LFS as live sand, and I have been putting flake food in the tank to help with the cycle.

The test kit I am using is an API drop test kit, and I try to test the same time everyday.

[jonbry123]

Ok. API is a good test kit and your nitrates are reading 0? And you have no animals in the tank other than what might be in the rock?

[kdv9tb]

Yes. I do not have any animals in the tank. Just the rock and LS. I did also put a frozen Mysis shrimp cube in there 5 days ago.

[kdv9tb]

So the conclusion is that this is Hair algea, and I also have reading from the tank. The phosphates are at .2, and the Nitrites are 0.

I put a poly filter in the tank, and just unplugged the lights. I will try to do a water change tonight after I get done with school for the day.

Is there anything else I can do? I really do not want this nasty algea in the tank, and I still do not know where it came from. Should I get turbo snails for the tank? Do you think I could put my starfish in there to try to help?

Thanks in advance!

[kdv9tb]

No one knows how to help me?

[Guacamole]

If you put 20lbs of cure live rock in the tank, there is a good chance that because you have such a low bioload (no fish and only adding flake and frozen) that you never had a ammonia spike. Your nitrates read zero because they are locked up in the algea. If you have no livestock just cover you tank and go 3 days no lights. The algae will die off but there is no guarantee it won't come back. Your tank is "young" and HA is common

[jeff@zina.com]

I really do not want this nasty algea in the tank, and I still do not know where it came from.

It came from food and light. Get the phosphates down and turn off or limit the light and it will go away.

Jeff

[03sonicstang]

Just part of the cycle. I was freaked out at about week five with all the HA and Brown diatoms, but I waited for about another 4-5 weeks added the CUC, kept up with Water changes and the tank at week 10 is looking pretty darn good.

But I do I agree with the above, you need to test the water you're putting in your tank, especially the TDS's.

[kdv9tb]

So natural sunlight still is getting in my apratment and I can see in the tank, so I am assuming the tank is getting light as well. Can I cover the tank with a blanket to keep the light out?

Also should I be doing 20% water changes to get the tank where it needs to be. I also added 1 turbo snail in the tank yesterday, and am keep a close eye on him. He seems to be doing fine, but I do not want him to die and me not catch it.

I have not testedmy water yet today, but is there anything else I can do to defeat this problem? Is patience and weekly water changes my only option right now?