How concerned should I be about this algae?

[ShanePike]

I'm seeing increasing amounts of what looks like two different algaes in my tank:


The first algae (with the opaque feathery/furry look) is on ~60% of the surfaces of my tank (rock, glass, overflow, etc.).

The second algae looks like GHA, and I know to be concerned about that one.

My question is: how concerned?

The tank is a 57g Fiji Cube with a 36" x 24" footprint. It's 11 weeks old. My cycle started on July 2. I added my first fish on August 6. I have five total now.

My CUC:

• 1 strawberry conch
• 10 Florida ceriths
• 10 dwarf ceriths
• A few jars of Galaxy Pods from AlgaeBarn added over the course of the last six weeks
• 10 stomatella snails (just added today)

Nitrates are measuring 0 and have been coming down steadily for a while.

I know this is all part of the process. If it's going to clear up on its own, I'm happy to just wait it out. I don't want it to get out of hand either, though.

Should I just let it ride, or do I need to bring in some extra help (and, if so, what)?

 

[Formulator]

All part of the process my friend. It will get worse before it gets better. Some of those stringy things with bubbles are suspect though. May or may not be the start of some dinoflagellates. You never want your nitrate and phosphate to completely zero. That is a recipe for a dino infestation which you really don’t want to deal with. You should aim to keep nitrate at 10-20 ppm and phosphate at 0.05-0.1 ppm. Remember, those organic molecules are essential nutrients for your biome and future corals. If they have no nutrients, they starve and invite opportunist pests like dinoflagellates to take over open real estate in your tank.

 

[WvAquatics]

I'm going with ugly stage. But I'm not pro. A lawnmower blenny sailfin/algea blenny will work on the algea. It's tough you will see 0 nitrates for awhile. The algea is absorbing it. It will clear in time just watch it. The first 6months is rough.