Algae issue.

Camilo castillo · Sep 16, 2018

I started my tank on April 24 2018 ,
Cycled it with no fish or corals for three months. The rock is brs dry rock pukany and other. I started getting a film on the rocks when I started bringing in the lights. 4 t 5 and one kessil 360we. I am not quite sure on what it is. Snails seem to eat it but just not going away. I have some chaeto in the sump and Iam feeding half a cube of músys shrimp. I have two clowns a fire fish , a sunburst anthia and two shrimps. It’s a 66 Gallón SCA aquarium. Here is some pics

Camilo castillo · Sep 16, 2018

Oh, it won’t come off easy if I blow water at it. It started white now it’s turning brown.

tvu · Sep 16, 2018

It goes away. I use toothbrush. Usually when I start a tank it comes in at 4-6 months then goes away after a couple months.

It’s happened to me 3 tank builds with dry rock.

Camilo castillo · Sep 16, 2018

Should I brush it off or should I just use the snails. Also thanks for the response.

tvu · Sep 17, 2018

Camilo castillo said:
Should I brush it off or should I just use the snails. Also thanks for the response.

Why not do both?

iDeath · Sep 17, 2018

It's pretty normal to see that type of algae initially. Once your sponges are rolling along they will eat up the silicates and bind it so you won't get diatoms anymore.

Camilo castillo · Sep 17, 2018

tvu said:
Why not do both?

True lol. I just figured not to have algae floating around.

Camilo castillo · Sep 17, 2018

iDeath said:
It's pretty normal to see that type of algae initially. Once your sponges are rolling along they will eat up the silicates and bind it so you won't get diatoms anymore.

I am seeing many sponge growth on few of the rocks. Will that help.

iDeath · Sep 17, 2018

Absolutely. The sponges are composed primarily of silicates and will compete with the diatoms. They are also an essential part of any healthy reef.

Camilo castillo · Sep 17, 2018

Camilo castillo said:
I am seeing many sponge growth on few of the rocks. Will that help.

Meant to say is that what you meant with sponges going. I hope so. I don’t wan to do the whole hrydrogen peroxide. I been looking into it.

iDeath · Sep 17, 2018

Aye, I'm trying to say that what you're seeing is normal. You just started light in your tank. You will get diatoms, that's completely normal. A lot of people say you need to "cycle" your tank... what they don't say is that there are multiple cycles that will happen. You've established a bacterial cycle already... now that your lights are on you will undoubtedly start going through some algae cycles... and the first one is always diatoms which is what this looks like to me. Not a big deal, just let it run its course

. It will go away as long as you are not introducing more silicates to the system through your ro water.

Camilo castillo · Sep 17, 2018

iDeath said:
Aye, I'm trying to say that what you're seeing is normal. You just started light in your tank. You will get diatoms, that's completely normal. A lot of people say you need to "cycle" your tank... what they don't say is that there are multiple cycles that will happen. You've established a bacterial cycle already... now that your lights are on you will undoubtedly start going through some algae cycles... and the first one is always diatoms which is what this looks like to me. Not a big deal, just let it run its course . It will go away as long as you are not introducing more silicates to the system through your ro water.

I hope so. Just seems it’s growing only in some spots and also it’s getting longer. I am trying to be patient. My ro water tds meter is reading 0 and I have double the d I resin to make sure it’s clean. I’ll keep waiting and I’ll try to pull some off. When i do my water change. I am also only doing one a month water change. About 35 %

iDeath · Sep 18, 2018

Well your tank is new... it's normal to have algae cycles like this. Just be patient, it will resolve itself as long as you have nutrient export in place like a fuge and skimmer. Snails and other grazing inhabitants will help as well.

Camilo castillo · Sep 18, 2018

Just little concern if it really is diatoms ?

Camilo castillo · Sep 18, 2018

Look how stringy it looks right below the fish.

Camilo castillo · Sep 18, 2018

Camilo castillo · Dec 3, 2018

It’s been a while , just wanted to update this. I started doing better water changes every two weeks and started running chemi pure elite. Also my chaeto witch was dying off started to grow like crazy. And the algae has almost gone. My two turbo snails worked very hard as well.