Just the uglies? Anything I should be doing?

[MarsReefer]

I made the mistake of waiting until I started seeing algae to order my CUC, forgetting I planned on having them in QT for 6 weeks.

My tank is looking pretty crummy (about 4 months since lights on) and not sure if this is just an ugly stage that I should let be, or something I should be trying to treat. Currently dosing nitrates and phosphates to keep them above 0, hovering at 4 ppm nitrates and 0.03 phosphate.

 

[The_ReefB0y_FOX24]

Sometimes the ugly phase can last up to six months . You can try to do something I suggest running the lights less

 

[Jekyl]

Take some white light pics please.

 

[The_ReefB0y_FOX24]

I also HIGHLY suggest getting a protein skimmer.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Looks very much like the beggining of dino but will need clearer pics under white lighting to confirm.

 

[MarsReefer]

I also HIGHLY suggest getting a protein skimmer.

I have a skimmer but not running it currently as I’m trying to keep my nutrients from bottoming out. I only have 2 tiny clowns in 130 gallons so just keeping nutrients detectable is a challenge. I figured I’d turn it on once I had enough bio load to actually maintain a low level of nutrients without dosing.

 

[AFHokie]

Agree with @vetteguy53081. Hard to see in the blue picture but does look like it might dinos to me. With two fish it may not be a big deal but definitely something you want to clear up if it is in fact dinos.

 

[MarsReefer]

I’ll get a good picture in the morning when the lights come back on.

it seems to be two distinct algaes. One is a long stringy algae that’s grows on both rocks and sand. The other is a thick slime that coats the rocks with air bubbles trapped underneath. Both are present 24/7, they don’t go away when the lights are off.

I only have 1 coral in the main tank so I could move it to QT for any treatment. I haven’t done anything at this point except try and keep my nutrients up.

 

[CRath]

It looks like you don't have any coral in there. If so you can essentially keep the tank cycling on minimal lighting. The clowns don't care about light, but the algae taking up your tasty nutrients will. If that stuff looks like brown snot its dyno and you can still keep your lighting at a minimum, but you may want to feed a little harder to up your nutrients slightly. Anything red and gooey will be cyano, in that case you will want to keep your lighting at a similar level and decrease your nutrients. In my experience I have beaten all three of those problems with the mindset of letting something else out compete them. Dyno and cyano are nutrient issues while algae at this point in time is simply a sign of a new tank. Good luck!

 

[MarsReefer]

I'm working on positively identifying the algae and seeing if its dinos. In the mean time I was planning on ordering pods this week, along with Phytoplankton.

My immediate question is... if I end up dosing Hydrogen peroxide to beat dinos will that kill any pods I add or is it ok to add them? How about phyto?

Trying to decide if I want to delay my order, or go ahead as planned.

 

[Keko21]

following

 

[Jekyl]

I'm working on positively identifying the algae and seeing if its dinos. In the mean time I was planning on ordering pods this week, along with Phytoplankton.

My immediate question is... if I end up dosing Hydrogen peroxide to beat dinos will that kill any pods I add or is it ok to add them? How about phyto?

Trying to decide if I want to delay my order, or go ahead as planned.

Still need white light pics to identify what's going on.

 

[Bucs20fan]

I would hold off on adding chemical to the tank, as you are in the best point to destroy the dinos right now. You have no corals. Black out the tank. The clowns wont care a bit.

 

[MarsReefer]

I would hold off on adding chemical to the tank, as you are in the best point to destroy the dinos right now. You have no corals. Black out the tank. The clowns wont care a bit.

I turned off the lights last night and left them off. Tank is in the basement so very minimal light. I'll turn them on and get a picture when I get home from work tonight.

 

[Bucs20fan]

Youll have to do alot longer than one day, At least a week would work better.

 

[Lavey29]

I turned off the lights last night and left them off. Tank is in the basement so very minimal light. I'll turn them on and get a picture when I get home from work tonight.

You should be leaving the lights off the first 4 months so your tank can develop biodiversity and microfauna then your ugly phases during the first year will be much more manageable.

 

[Jedi1199]

Lights off is a temporary fix. You need to identify exactly what the algae is (I suspect cyano) and deal with it directly.


I would advise against chemicals. Chemicals usually cause more problems than they solve.

In my experience, just blast off the red gunk with a turkey baster and let the system run. Eventually it will solve itself.

 

[Jared Bryant]

I think it is a good idea to let the uglies start before loading up on a cuc. Half the cuc usually starves out the first few months and loads unneeded nutrients into a tank unready. During the early stages of a reef you will need to get familiar with a tooth brush and syphon hose. Once you do the right things in the beginning your tank will have few issues going forward. Too many people want to rush and dump something in and cross their fingers. Just syphon it out and keep up with maintenance and you will win I promise.

 

[MarsReefer]

To be clear the tank has been running for 4 months, the lights went on a month ago after running for 3 months with minimal light. I have a small CUC in QT, in a 20 gallon frag tank. Its a pretty small CUC to start, about 40 small snails total, not even enough to keep the 20g tank clean. I did the cycle with microbacter 7 about a month into the setup and the clowns got added right before the lights came on. They've been in there a month or so now, helping the tank to mature.

Below are some pictures of the algae. The first 3 images are actually from my frag tank where the CUC is. The water in the frag tank is the water that I change out of the DT, and I believe it is the same algae. It has the same slimy feel and forms stringy filaments after forming a slimy coat over the surface.

FRAG TANK PICTURES:

DISPLAY TANK:

 

[1979fishgeek]

I’ve been going through a tank cycle, got over the worst of the diatom explosion stage, but then green spot algae and Ulva started cropping up even in a low nutrient environment and still a light dusting of diatoms (probably as I’m running metal halides). I got a few Sailfin Molly Poecilia velifera that were in fresh water and acclimated them over a couple of days to marine and they turning out to be the best clean up crew I’ve ever used. Eight completely removed all traces of diatoms within a few hours of 380L tank even the substrate was picked clean and then they went to work on the green spot and Ulva, which they are still non stop picking at. Going from fresh water to marine also means I’ve not got to worry about QT.

Might be worth a try, cheap and very effective imo.