This is exactly right. Patience, something I find very hard to come by lol.
Big Algae Problem
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Gary Ellis
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So leave everything alone. Should I leave or remove the Carbon, Chemi-Pure and Bio-Spheres?
vector824
Active Member
This is what my tank looked like at 7 weeks. It was just going through the "ugly" stage of the cycle. Got a foxface once everything when to zero and he cleaned it ALL in two weeks. So, you can get aggresive or you can just let it ride and buy livestock to do the work for you.
Justfebreezeit
Valuable Member
Chemi-Pure Blue is basically just carbon with GFO added to it. I would choose one (Carbon is my preference because you can adjust gfo separately) and store the other for now.
The Bio Balls probably aren't doing anything harmful or helpful at the moment, as your bio load increases they might come into play to house more bacteria.
As long as your lighting isn't on longer than 10-12 hours it shouldn't be an issue.
Take it slow and don't overthink it.
The Bio Balls probably aren't doing anything harmful or helpful at the moment, as your bio load increases they might come into play to house more bacteria.
As long as your lighting isn't on longer than 10-12 hours it shouldn't be an issue.
Take it slow and don't overthink it.
As stated by vector above, this could just be the new tank syndrome. His example is pretty extreme with 12" long hair algae but it happens. And as he said, what you put in your tank can help. Although I don't think I would suggest a fox face in that small of a tank lol.
As Justfebreezeit stated, do what he said about the carbon and gfo. I only run gfo when I know there is an issue. I run carbon almost all the time but do give the tank a break every now and then. And as for lights, since you don't have much coral in the tank, you can turn it down to just a few hours a day of light and it will help a lot.
But even after all my rambling, I think I would just sit back, look at a nasty tank without any kind of gfo or bio media (I never liked bio media other than live rock/sand) and let the tank cycle as it needs to. It will sort itself out eventually. Just give it a few more weeks and see where you are at.
As Justfebreezeit stated, do what he said about the carbon and gfo. I only run gfo when I know there is an issue. I run carbon almost all the time but do give the tank a break every now and then. And as for lights, since you don't have much coral in the tank, you can turn it down to just a few hours a day of light and it will help a lot.
But even after all my rambling, I think I would just sit back, look at a nasty tank without any kind of gfo or bio media (I never liked bio media other than live rock/sand) and let the tank cycle as it needs to. It will sort itself out eventually. Just give it a few more weeks and see where you are at.
mcarroll
10K Club member
Lots of good advice coming in! 
Remember you're the #1 member of your CUC.
They eat nubbins, so if there's anything growing that you'd really call "hairy" you'll have to pull it/scrub it by hand down to their level.
As you can imagine, it's a pain if you let it get out of control, so even if it's a small spot – take care of it.
And once you do, you really want to have a number and mix of CUC adequate to back up your efforts....if the nubbins you create have a whole day to grow out before grazer comes through, for example, it may already be too long for them.
Turn everything off and siphon it out. There are ways to do that without doing a water change if you want.
Zip tie your scraper to the end of the siphon hose and run the siphon into filter sock in the sump, for example.
You want to leave the tank critters alone to mature as much as possible.
But the skimmer should be the only "add-on" you need for now. The rest can go...might be useful someday later.
Remember you're the #1 member of your CUC.
They eat nubbins, so if there's anything growing that you'd really call "hairy" you'll have to pull it/scrub it by hand down to their level.
As you can imagine, it's a pain if you let it get out of control, so even if it's a small spot – take care of it.
And once you do, you really want to have a number and mix of CUC adequate to back up your efforts....if the nubbins you create have a whole day to grow out before grazer comes through, for example, it may already be too long for them.
Turn everything off and siphon it out. There are ways to do that without doing a water change if you want.
Zip tie your scraper to the end of the siphon hose and run the siphon into filter sock in the sump, for example.
You want to leave the tank critters alone to mature as much as possible.
But the skimmer should be the only "add-on" you need for now. The rest can go...might be useful someday later.
Gary Ellis
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It's going to be impossible to pull the algae out of the holes in the rock...Lots of good advice coming in!
Remember you're the #1 member of your CUC.
They eat nubbins, so if there's anything growing that you'd really call "hairy" you'll have to pull it/scrub it by hand down to their level.
As you can imagine, it's a pain if you let it get out of control, so even if it's a small spot – take care of it.
And once you do, you really want to have a number and mix of CUC adequate to back up your efforts....if the nubbins you create have a whole day to grow out before grazer comes through, for example, it may already be too long for them.
It's going to be impossible to pull the hair coming out of holes in the rock... What can I get that will eat the hair?
Turn everything off and siphon it out. There are ways to do that without doing a water change if you want.
Zip tie your scraper to the end of the siphon hose and run the siphon into filter sock in the sump, for example.
You want to leave the tank critters alone to mature as much as possible.
But the skimmer should be the only "add-on" you need for now. The rest can go...might be useful someday later.
mcarroll
10K Club member
Gotta do your best. It'll soon be big enogh to grab, or you can try the H2O2 peroxide spot treatment on them if you can at least get a syringe or airline filled with peroxide to the spot. (I did link you the spot treatment link here or elsewhere, didn't I? It's also in My Threads if you click my avatar photo or username.)
Reab
Well-Known Member
If the algae does not come off easily, you have higher levels of phosphate witch is allowing the algae to root better
I would avoid this method as it can be risky if not done properly
Love your rockwork btw
siggy
My Aquariums Going Again
Hey thanks everyone, your suggestions are helping me also. Im having a bit of trouble. I had a large algae bloom so i added CUC and ran the fuge 24 hours, now after bottoming out to 0 & 0 now Im feeding heavy, phos is .36 hana but nitrates 0 and corals still not happy, It may be time to remove the marine Pure ? That and chateo Too much?
Gary Ellis
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Thank You
mcarroll
10K Club member
All forms of life thrive on them – therein lies the crux of the issue.
Striving for "zero nutrients" was only useful as a concept back in the day when it was impossible to attain.
Even then it was mostly a mirage....not a truly zero nutrient tank. More specifically, new tanks were never started with zero nutrients or held at zero nutrients....and all were started with really live rock.
These mature tanks with "zero" nutrients were really cycling a HUGE amount of nutrients, just not in the water column. Rainforests work like this in dirt....the dirt is desert-like...no free nutrients. It's all cycling above and below ground. You can't start a rainforest from scratch either though.
