Diatom bloom and unknown "plant"?

[LittleReefer]

Our 90 gal finally started the diatom bloom a couple of days ago. When should I add a CUC?
We also noticed something strange growing on our live rock...its very green and long and hair like. My husband just refers to it as "grass".
Excuse me for the terrible picture-what I'm talking about is right in the middle-but the picture is of terrible quality.

 

[Russellaqua]

Sounds like hair algae, but I can't tell from the pic. Do you know your chemical parameters? Are you using RO water? Phosphate and magnesium levels?

 

[Troylee]

i would do a 30% water change now and hen start adding them and keep up on your wc. schedule and all should be well....you could use microbacter7 for a little while to help everything since it is new.....and+1 to the above what water did you use?

 

[LittleReefer]

I have an RO hooked up that I'm using. I'll check my levels and do a water change this afternoon and try to post tomorrow.
If this is hair algae, Im guessing its bad? How can I get rid of it?
Im having to take pics with my Flip camcorder 'cause I cant find my charger to my Nikon lol. The "grass" is only in one tiny spot. It just appeared yesterday after the bloom started.

 

[Troylee]

Most likely your nitrates are very high since there the bi-product of the cycle hence the reason for a hefty water change... Once you get them in control the algae will burn it's self out given the phosphates are low... If your not running gfo "granular ferric oxide" a phosphate remover I would suggest to start running it now in a reactor to get everything in line and balanced out... Did you use live rock or dry rock??? Sometimes dry rock will precipitate po4 "phosphates" in the water coloum for a while just another part of cycling... Hth..

 

[LittleReefer]

I used 75 lbs of dry rock from marco rocks and about 12 lbs of live rock. My nitrates right now are showing a little under 20.

 

[650-IS350]

Green Hair Algae by Stephen Hopple - Reefkeeping.com

Reefkeeping 101 - Bogus Information - by Tom Murphy (aka WaterKeeper) - Reefkeeping.com

 

[Troylee]

I used 75 lbs of dry rock from marco rocks and about 12 lbs of live rock. My nitrates right now are showing a little under 20.

then the rocks were pre cycled and most likely very little po4 but im sure there is some....run some gfo and it will go away....are you running a skimmer?? i would also start running carbon if you have'nt already...

 

[650-IS350]

Troy is right although pre-cycled, there are still some stuff in there, you still need to clean it. WHen I had my marco rocks, I cleaned them in Oxyclean, you won't believe how much gunk was in there coming out due to oxyclean. I cleaned it twice and rinsed twiced and air dried before use. 2nd rinse I used RO-DI water.

 

[LittleReefer]

I'm using a reef octopus skimmer hob bh-800s. It just started collecting the green gunk. I sprayed off all the rocks from Marco's real good before they went into the tank.

 

[LittleReefer]

Thanks for the articles. I'll cook all my rocks from now on. I'm ordering a reactor and the removers. I've done a partial water change also. Maybe this will clear up before it gets out of hand.

 

[LittleReefer]

Sorry for replying again, but i was thinking of using the "two little fishies" reactor. I have no experience with these and was wondering if it mattered what pump I get. I dont have a sump, but I think it will hang on back..my question is..
where does the pump go? Inside it, or in my tank?
Thanks again for all the help.