Algae already?

[hopperjl16]

I'm getting my biocube 29 up and running, I'm about 14 days into it. I have live rock, live sand, water from the LFS. My cuc is arriving tomorrow and will be the first live animals I will be putting in the tank. Everynight I look through the tank with a flashlight to see what little creatures are emerging from my live rock (so far a common bristle worm and a star fish), and tonight I suddenly noticed tiny little algae hairs everywhere! I didn't see them yesterday. They're Covering the glass, tops of my live rock, top of the sand. They easily cleaned off the glass with my little magnetic cleaner, but I'm not sure what to do. Should I just get my cuc in tomorrow and let them do their job? I've read the threads about aggressively getting the algae out of your tank by emptying the tank, cleaning it, spraying the rock with peroxide, and refilling with fresh saltwater. I hesitate to do such a big thing immediately before introducing live animals. Not to mention I don't have that much new water on hand to do a 100% change. I have gathered from the threads on here I should prob check phosphorus, but I don't have a kit to check phosphorus right now, I had been checking ammonia/nitrite/nitrate (all zero). Any advice? Maybe I'm overreacting? Lol. I was just shocked to go from no algae visible to tiny algae hairs everywhere (btw they're green, not brown). I'll attach a pic.

 

[JaihWill]

Just allow your clean up crew to do what they do. If you have a good clean up crew that little algae you see will be gone within a couple of days

 

[Justiful]

That is a minuscule amount. Not worth doing anything about, aside from wiping it off. You will see a lot more before the end of cycling. It is a daily chore to keep algae off the glass. 1 minute per day wiping inside of tank with a acrylic safe pad, or if you use glass a magfloat will be fine. If it is acrylic I highly recommend carefully using a acrylic safe pad, not a mag float. Getting your hand wet is WAY better than scratching tank gradually overtime with a mag float.\

Anyway. Algae is common in all tanks. Do not over react to it. If you don't have it you can't have an established tank capable of a variety of marine life.

 

[Salty1962]

Part of the process! Don't worry unless it really gets out of hand. Good Luck with your new setup!

 

[Anthony Wood]

I said this earlier and has been said above. Its all apart of the process there are a lot of things still yet to come your way. So don't worry about anything, go adding chemicals, or adding a bunch of fish for at least another 3 months or your just going to prolong the entire process. Don't worry about anything or even touch the tank except for water changes for the next 3 months minimum. As soon as you see nothing but green hair algae towards the last couple weeks of 3 months your getting close to the light at the end of the tunnel and its almost all over with.

So for the next 3 months as your tank gets more and more ugly and all sorts of new algae type looking stuff comes and goes. Sit there and learn to enjoy all the different colored stuff completely covering your tank haha As soon as you start to enjoy an ugly tank for 3 months before you know it it'll all disappear within a matter of days. Plus if you don't learn to love the ugliness of the tank during its growing and maturing pains you will eventually go insane and start messing with the tank,Like salty1962 and I said not do hahaha Then instead of being 3 months it'll never go away until the tank is left alone to do its things. We have all went through this process and it sucks but keep your "greasy paws" out of the tank! hahahaha Good luck on the New tank. We will be here for your questions!

 

[hopperjl16]

That is a minuscule amount. Not worth doing anything about, aside from wiping it off. You will see a lot more before the end of cycling. It is a daily chore to keep algae off the glass. 1 minute per day wiping inside of tank with a acrylic safe pad, or if you use glass a magfloat will be fine. If it is acrylic I highly recommend carefully using a acrylic safe pad, not a mag float. Getting your hand wet is WAY better than scratching tank gradually overtime with a mag float.\

.

Eek! I didn't realize the mag float would scratch acrylic! My LFS recommended it. I'll stop using it. Thanks!

Jaime

 

[hopperjl16]

Hmmm, I thought my tank was acrylic but reading the description of it on amazon now it says glass.....Is there a way I can tell for sure?

 

[Chrisfish]

I'm pretty sure they are glass but who makes it?

 

[Lenny_S]

Maybe this will put it in perspective for you...
This is what my tank looked like 5 days ago

This is today

Mind you I'd did add a UV sterilizer to help clear that out after it was like that for 10 days. It was a really bad bacteria bloom from carbon dosing gone arye.
Honestly what you have isn't even enough to sustain a decent CUC. I'd just give it time and see what happens.

 

[hopperjl16]

I'm pretty sure they are glass but who makes it?

Coralife Biocube 29 (the most recent model)

 

[Anthony Wood]

Looks like you used all new uncured pukani base rock. Its loaded with all sorts of stuff like silicates and all sorts of other organic material. Your tank hasnt even gotten through the worst yet haha Your gonnna be getting all sorts of different bacteria and algae blooms that will come quickly and most of them will go away decently quick. Like I said earlier its all a part of the process! Since you used a lot of new rock there will be a bunch of different algaes appear eat its food supply until there is none left. Fore warning you are in for one heck of an hair algae bloom, went through it myself. Dont worry itll come and go as long as you dont have a huge bioload on a new tank.

 

[hopperjl16]

Dont worry itll come and go as long as you dont have a huge bioload on a new tank.

Having a small cuc and a couple mushroom corals should be ok right?

 

[shoelaceike]

Coralife Biocube 29 (the most recent model)

Its glass but a bit on the softer side so will scratch easier then other glass tanks....just try not to get sand in the magnet....you can also get the tunze magnet cleaners. They work very well and dont really pick up sand.

 

[Anthony Wood]

Having a small cuc and a couple mushroom corals should be ok right?

Thats nothing your good with that, mushrooms may be unhappy a few times along the way but theyll be fine. A couple small fish will even be fine. I just wouldnt go adding your huge waste producers like fish that reqiure to be fed everday/multiple times a day, many of your large fish and especially tangs. Tangs are a big no no at the point your tank is currently at, after the tank is older and more mature, if you want tangs have at it!

 

[shoelaceike]

Thats nothing your good with that, mushrooms may be unhappy a few times along the way but theyll be fine. A couple small fish will even be fine. I just wouldnt go adding your huge waste producers like fish that reqiure to be fed everday/multiple times a day, many of your large fish and especially tangs. Tangs are a big no no at the point your tank is currently at, after the tank is older and more mature, if you want tangs have at it!

I think most people on here will agree not to put any tang in a biocube

 

[hopperjl16]

I think most people on here will agree not to put any tang in a biocube

Yeah I have no intention of keeping tang ever, lol. My goal once my tank is ready is one clown fish, one goby of some sorts, and a firefish. Trying to keep it simple [emoji6]

 

[Anthony Wood]

The reason im saying this stuff is because if you do the few things I suggested itll be better for the tank, speed up the maturing process a tiny bit and when all your blooms are over youll have your self a very stable and hardy tank. If you do what I did, add a bunch of fish, try all sorts of chemicals and few other things youll end up with the huge headache like I did. Waiting to do anything until after the tank matures for 3 month will allow you to pretty much do whatever you want within the limits everyone has to follow for example slowly adding fish over time to let the tank catch up to the change in bioload. take the time working on how your going to keep your water parameters from flucuating.

I think most people on here will agree not to put any tang in a biocube

I was thinking of the picture posted of the larger tank. Thats my bad! ROFL So ya what you said.

 

[shoelaceike]

Yeah I have no intention of keeping tang ever, lol. My goal once my tank is ready is one clown fish, one goby of some sorts, and a firefish. Trying to keep it simple [emoji6]

You can definitely get a pair of clown fish....

 

[Ryengoth]

I have 2 29g biocubes, which I merged into a 90g + 30g sump setup after fighting with them. I'll tell you, those are a nightmare to keep the levels balanced if you overstock. That's not hard to do with the tiny sump on the back. I tried all combinations of stone, bio-pellet, bio-balls and sponge layerings and I could never keep it clean for more than 2 weeks, even after a year. I had 2 clowns, 1 BTA, 3 small peppermint shrimp and a pair of bangaii in one tank. It was flatworms and hair algae constantly. People talk about inch-of-fish-per-gallon, but that only applies to anything with a full sump in my opinion. A pair of captive-bred ocellaris and a medium ritteri nem is all I would put in there as far as waste producers. A couple of shrimp(skunk or bloodfire) will help keep it clean with 1 small turbo and a couple nassarius snails. If you have a decent amount of rock with holes, valleys, etc you could add an emerald crab. You'll probably never see it until you remove the rock and look for it.