Green hairy algae and brown

[Shane21]

I've never had green hairy algae grow in my past tanks before. It is starting to grow on live rock and glass. Along with looks like brown algae on sand bed. I'm 3 weeks in my cycle. Should I start thinking about adding CUC.

Hi
I have 54 gal corner tank with over flow.
Not using overflow- leak in piping so need to fix
120watt non-dimmable LED
405 Fluval canister
Red Sea protein skimmer-not using yet might upgrade
60lbs fine live sand
30lbs base rock
60lbs live rock
1250 powerhead.

I started cycling process 4/22/13.
Checked my levels 2 weeks out and here as is
Ammonia-0.25 ppm
Nitrite-0 ppm
Nitrate-20 ppm
Phosphate-2.0
pH-8.2-8.4
Calcium- 560-600
Alk-1.7-2.8ppm
Salinity with hydrometer-1.024. Refractometer has not arrived yet
Mg- ran out of test kit.

I planned to check my levels again today. I did 10 percent water change 2 days ago.
Do I have my lights on too long. Day lights come on around 9 or 10am stay on until 5pm blue come on at 4pm to 1040pm

[SushiGirl]

It's very common in new tanks, the brown is probably diatoms, but hard to know without a pic. In 6 tanks I only got hair algae in my 20L set up last July. That's the only tank I didn't let sit for 3 months before adding livestock.

If you have ammonia, don't add a CUC, wait until ammonia is 0. Have your test double checked by an LFS, another test kit, or someone else. 3 weeks isn't very long into the cycle depending on how the tank was set up & what was added for ammonia. Light cycle doesn't sound too long to me.

Be prepared for diatoms, cyano, hair algae. The tank can be ugly for 6 months to a year before it starts to settle in & mature. Every tank is different, even if set up the same way. Keeping parameters consistent once the cycle is complete & being patient without resorting to extremes to change the natural progression of the tank is the way. Also not adding livestock (fish) immediately after the cycle will help things along. It sucks to get hair algae after having tanks without it previously, ours lasted a couple of months then disappeared on its own over a few days.

[blossej]

Have your lights been on during the entire cycle?

[Shane21]

Yes lights have been on for the cycle. I would like to have day lights on for 8-10 hours and then blues on for 7-8 but I figure no point right now since nothing in there. I'm thinking ammonia came from me placing some dead rock in tank. I'll be patient I have a 14 gal biocube to look at while my 54 is cycling. Thanks for the help. This site is the best

[SushiGirl]

Keeping the lights off during the cycle is fine, but once you turn them on you're likely to see algae anyway. We didn't even have our lights until after we cycled the 20L.