Help! Red Algae starting to grow, receiving coral soon.

[paulhinrichsen]

Hello,

So I'm about 2 months into this tank, and currently have a shrimp, 12 snails, and two clownfish. All the food that ive putten in the tank so far, ive watched get eaten, so i know this isnt an excess feeding problem.

Attached are two pictures, one is of these cloudy spots i have all over my glass, and the second is of algae that looks very flimsy which is on the sand, but also covers some rocks. The lights are now off in my tank so in the picture it looks brown. With lights on, its red. I have been dosing Oceanmagik very little amounts, i have chemipure blue, and purigen in my media tray. I have a refugium with a baseball sized amount of chaeto. The outbreak started about 10 days ago, hasnt really slown down.

My big concern is that i have about 15 frags of coral and an anemone coming on wednesday, how can i get this under control? Especially the cloudy splotches all over my tank glass?

 

[paulhinrichsen]

The blue pen writing is me circling the cloudy splotches all over the glass, its really hard to take a picture of. The other picture is just a little bit of the red algae that i have growing.

 

[Fishhands]

Diatoms... will go away.

 

[paulhinrichsen]

diatoms are the spots on the glass? is there any danger in letting it pass, or should i scrub them off?

 

[Fishhands]

If you scrub them off vacum it up they will appear elsewhere. Theyre not dangerous. If anything they will consume the extra nutrients. They are ugly but just part of the life the ecosystem youve created. Did the fish go thru the cycle?

 

[Fishhands]

And stop dosing more nutrients until you need them (oceanmagick). Chemipure and purigen are probably overkill as well. Maybe just use one or even a good carbon like rox from brs. I never use artificial filter media.

 

[paulhinrichsen]

If you scrub them off vacum it up they will appear elsewhere. Theyre not dangerous. If anything they will consume the extra nutrients. They are ugly but just part of the life the ecosystem youve created. Did the fish go thru the cycle?

the fish werent there until about the 6 week mark, the tank cycled with nothing for 5 weeks. i vacuumed up some of the red algae, but theres definitely still a lot on the rocks. will there be any issues glue-ing coral frags all over the rocks with red algae all around?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Is that tiny amount of hair algae what where talking about?
I see some corraline on the other rocks. Or does it blow off?

You'll want to put the frags on the bottom to acclimate them. But no cyano won't bother them.

Not sure what snails you have but you might want look into more or a couple hermits. Somebody should have eaten that easy meal.

Fwiw even if the fish eat the food it stil is just pass though and stays in the tank.
In a new tank the biofilter(bacteria) takes a bit of time to come up to speed. So what your doing going slow is a very good thing.
As food and poop build up so does the bacterial poulation. Thus some of the ugly stage. And thus the super ugly stage that comes from over feeding or over stocking too fast.

 

[paulhinrichsen]

Is that tiny amount of hair algae what where talking about?
I see some corraline on the other rocks. Or does it blow off?

You'll want to put the frags on the bottom to acclimate them. But no cyano won't bother them.

Not sure what snails you have but you might want look into more or a couple hermits. Somebody should have eaten that easy meal.

Fwiw even if the fish eat the food it stil is just pass though and stays in the tank.
In a new tank the biofilter(bacteria) takes a bit of time to come up to speed. So what your doing going slow is a very good thing.
As food and poop build up so does the bacterial poulation. Thus some of the ugly stage. And thus the super ugly stage that comes from over feeding or over stocking too fast.

im not adding anymore fish within 6 months, i am loading about 15 coral frags and an anemone and that will be all the bioload the tank will have. i have a mix of astrea and cerith snails, and like 2 nassarius. half of my snails literally live on the very top of the rim, about as close to being out of the water as they could, and like 3 stay buried most of the time. theres only about 4 or 5 that really cruise around the sand bed and the rocks. should i add snails?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Yea maybe small Mexican turbos. They grow big.
Fighting choncs are fun and hang out mostly on the sand.

I'm not a big fan of hermits but one or two might help ya out.

Heres a good gude to what eats what.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/choosing-cleanup-crew-critters.258695/

A tip. As your in a young tank with lots of nutint fluctuations. Clean all the frags well of as much algae as you can.
I'm a recurve fan myself and will spot treat with peroxide.

 

[paulhinrichsen]

Yea maybe small Mexican turbos. They grow big.
Fighting choncs are fun and hang out mostly on the sand.

I'm not a big fan of hermits but one or two might help ya out.

Heres a good gude to what eats what.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/choosing-cleanup-crew-critters.258695/

A tip. As your in a young tank with lots of nutint fluctuations. Clean all the frags well of as much algae as you can.
I'm a recurve fan myself and will spot treat with peroxide.

ill grab 5-6 more cerith snails and maybe 2 mexican turbos and see if they can clean house

 

[paulhinrichsen]

Yea maybe small Mexican turbos. They grow big.
Fighting choncs are fun and hang out mostly on the sand.

I'm not a big fan of hermits but one or two might help ya out.

Heres a good gude to what eats what.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/choosing-cleanup-crew-critters.258695/

A tip. As your in a young tank with lots of nutint fluctuations. Clean all the frags well of as much algae as you can.
I'm a recurve fan myself and will spot treat with peroxide.

are the spots on the inside of my tank for sure diatoms?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

are the spots on the inside of my tank for sure diatoms?

Too small to tell. It'll feel like dust.
It goes away anyway.

ill grab 5-6 more cerith snails and maybe 2 mexican turbos and see if they can clean house

Just check the chart.

Keep in mind a turbos mouth is tiny. Several small ones is better than a big one.

 

[paulhinrichsen]

Too small to tell. It'll feel like dust.
It goes away anyway.

Just check the chart.

Keep in mind a turbos mouth is tiny. Several small ones is better than a big one.

i scrubbed the inside of the glass and they just reappear..it doesnt even look like anything..it just looks like people have been touching the outside of the glass. but its on the inside

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

i scrubbed the inside of the glass and they just reappear..it doesnt even look like anything..it just looks like people have been touching the outside of the glass. but its on the inside

Weird.
It'll pass. Most stuff does.

 

[Fishhands]

More snails/crabs= more waste. Hold off on getting more things to feed until/if you "need" them. The old 1per gallon rule is based on mature stocked tanks. Right now two clowns aren't producing enough waste to feed all the inverts you have. When they die from starvation they will produce more ammonia and bad nutrients and start another mini cycle since your bio system hasnt really built up. That will stress your 15 new beauties and the clowns.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

More snails/crabs= more waste. Hold off on getting more things to feed until/if you "need" them. The old 1per gallon rule is based on mature stocked tanks. Right now two clowns aren't producing enough waste to feed all the inverts you have. When they die from starvation they will produce more ammonia and bad nutrients and start another mini cycle since your bio system hasnt really built up. That will stress your 15 new beauties and the clowns.

Yea. Add slow.
This is a tank I cycled with dry sand and dry rock. No snails.

They eat stuff we can't see.

 

[paulhinrichsen]

Yea. Add slow.
This is a tank I cycled with dry sand and dry rock. No snails.

They eat stuff we can't see.

so im confused, one person says more snails equals more waste, but one says no snails and i have the aquatic version of the amazon forest.

 

[hartin461]

Seems like all forums are like that. Six of one, half dozen of the other...lol...Most times I look at how long the member has been around and how many messages they have contributed and lean toward their views..just my own method

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

so im confused, one person says more snails equals more waste, but one says no snails and i have the aquatic version of the amazon forest.

Seems like all forums are like that. Six of one, half dozen of the other...lol...Most times I look at how long the member has been around and how many messages they have contributed and lean toward their views..just my own method

aske three reefers get 5 answers.lol
snails and cuc break down waste and algae so it can be processed by bacteria and then removed by skimming. and water changes.
not sure how else to remove algae and extra food that is so small we cant see it.