Multi-Algae in new tank has me puzzled

[Murftoo]

Hi, all! Hoping for some insight into what may be happening in my new tank. It is 10 days old, but was started with 100lbs of TBS liverock from Florida and seemed to be insta-cycled (no detectable ammonia or nitrates at any point). The coral that came on the live rock opened after 6- 8 hours and have looked great every since then as has the other pieces I've added since.

I was dosing phyto to keep the filter feeders that came on the live rock alive, so Nitrates started ticking up early. I hit 10 on day 7 with PO4 at .1. I've tried to maintain this level to stave off the ultra low nutrient dinos phase as much as possible.

Dinos started showing up around day 6 in very small amounts, but are starting to take off. I also have small tufts of Bryopsis, some short red hairy stuff I can't identify (!) that's growing fast, and possibly green hair algae?

It's in small quantities for now, but growing. Have done one 25% water change while siphoning off the algae. Stopped dosing phyto and reduced lights in 6-8 hrs per day.

Alk at 8, ph at 8.2, salinity 1.026. No skimmer, AI Hydra 32s. All life looks great and is already displaying signs of growth.

Any ID would be appreciated. Also wondering if I should I ride this out or take more aggressive measures?

And on other note, the Pentair 40W UV I bought won't fit. Anyone have a recommendation for an in-sump UV that will fit in a reefer 425XL?

Appreciate any insight! Thank you.

 

[Supa]

Do you have a clean up crew?

 

[Murftoo]

Yup, Trochus, Astrea, and Narcissus snails along with a large brittle star and some hermits. Plus a few hitchhiking gorilla crabs I missed!

 

[Cnidoblast]

maybe see if you can get some reef-safe chitons?

BOGLEECH: CHITONS!

 

[Greg P]

Since you have access to such beauty LR - If I were in your shoes I'd ride it out and let things balance.
As long as you're not overrun with dinos/cyano etc, pest algaes can be dealt with if they thrive.
Right now your system is basically a new-born and needs time to grow, and I'd personally not start trying to kill off anything as you may/will lose the good with the bad, including non-algae species.

Enjoy it for now. Sit and stare for hours both lights on and off, and see all the critters

 

[brandon429]

That is exactly what rocks look like while scuba diving, the look we try and attain is unnatural

dont tune that with param restrictions and water adjustments

animals, you’ll need six degrees of luck for them to target what you want and leave what you want


that leaves man grazing as final option, reef rock dental surgery

I’m aware of the running excuse set: it’s too big/ too much rock / too deep of a tank to access repeatedly for guiding/ I have an arch that can’t be unarched and ten more exist in invasion analysis threads

and that’s what invasion takeovers need. Our leaving things alone and animals who cruise over patches without grazing unless you’re lucky


so the answer is be conducting total control surgery on one rock, cause it to bend to your will and set back in tank. Evaluate other rock progress and whittle away at the excuse set that allows the others to dictate how the tank looks, but one rock follows your rule. Upscale anytime you get serious about compliance


surgical means include

target rasping. A steak knife digs into bryopsis and dislodges it and the anchor leaving scrape marks (parrotfish bite mark analogs) and then you rinse it down the sink with saltwater leaving the cool tunicates and cabbage corals untouched, non rasped. All of this is external tank surgery in your sink

you want 35% peroxide from the health food store because 3% is baby water fit for babies lol not dental reef surgery

all manner of eye protection is afforded with 35% target use and storage is akin to storing a loaded handgun. 35% peroxide can blind any small humans in one drop, it’s bad for a household but good for spot surgery and I use it as my secret compliance weapon ten years ago on my rock that no longer fails to comply because I culled the bad and kept the coralline

when you rasp out an area and make it bryopsis free, you put a drop or six of the power bubbly on the clean spots to burn leftover anchor cells. Rinse off, set rock back. Prepare to repeat because one effort success is for the lucky only

we expect gardening work in the real world of controlled reef tank maturation

you repeat as long as control takes until you overpower offenders and select for remaining life forms to bloom. It’s just one rock, make one rock comply so you can save the others in time

you paid for the best hitchhiker bacteria on the planet and this is the double edge trade off, don’t dare use fluconazole or vibrant

dosers are pan scale rock blasphemy when sourced of this quality. It’s man grazing or it’s passivity and backseating and excuses to all comers in six months if you opt out of modeled forced compliance. Reef surgery preserves all bacteria and all good targets and dispatches with the invaders and there isn’t another way. Any other way is luck and can’t be repeated tank to tank. Sorry for the bad news but you’re welcome for guaranteed control modeling heh
b


uv however you can fit one in is excellent and recommended and won’t pull cyano patches off the sandbed but as you remove the patches manually (recurring theme here) the uv will intercept floaters and diurnal travelers and help prevent remassing. That’s fine rock you have, I’m jealous.

 

[Cnidoblast]

That is exactly what rocks look like while scuba diving, the look we try and attain is unnatural

dont tune that with param restrictions and water adjustments

animals, you’ll need six degrees of luck for them to target what you want and leave what you want


that leaves man grazing as final option, reef rock dental surgery

I’m aware of the running excuse set: it’s too big/ too much rock / too deep of a tank to access repeatedly for guiding/ I have an arch that can’t be unarched and ten more exist in invasion analysis threads

and that’s what invasion takeovers need. Our leaving things alone and animals who cruise over patches without grazing unless you’re lucky


so the answer is be conducting total control surgery on one rock, cause it to bend to your will and set back in tank. Evaluate other rock progress and whittle away at the excuse set that allows the others to dictate how the tank looks, but one rock follows your rule. Upscale anytime you get serious about compliance


surgical means include

target rasping. A steak knife digs into bryopsis and dislodges it and the anchor leaving scrape marks (parrotfish bite mark analogs) and then you rinse it down the sink with saltwater leaving the cool tunicates and cabbage corals untouched, non rasped. All of this is external tank surgery in your sink

you want 35% peroxide from the health food store because 3% is baby water fit for babies lol not dental reef surgery

all manner of eye protection is afforded with 35% target use and storage is akin to storing a loaded handgun. 35% peroxide can blind any small humans in one drop, it’s bad for a household but good for spot surgery and I use it as my secret compliance weapon ten years ago on my rock that no longer fails to comply because I culled the bad and kept the coralline

when you rasp out an area and make it bryopsis free, you put a drop or six of the power bubbly on the clean spots to burn leftover anchor cells. Rinse off, set rock back. Prepare to repeat because one effort success is for the lucky only

we expect gardening work in the real world of controlled reef tank maturation

you repeat as long as control takes until you overpower offenders and select for remaining life forms to bloom. It’s just one rock, make one rock comply so you can save the others in time

you paid for the best hitchhiker bacteria on the planet and this is the double edge trade off, don’t dare use fluconazole or vibrant

dosers are pan scale rock blasphemy when sourced of this quality. It’s man grazing or it’s passivity and backseating and excuses to all comers in six months if you opt out of modeled forced compliance. Reef surgery preserves all bacteria and all good targets and dispatches with the invaders and there isn’t another way. Any other way is luck and can’t be repeated tank to tank. Sorry for the bad news but you’re welcome for guaranteed control modeling heh
b


uv however you can fit one in is excellent and recommended and won’t pull cyano patches off the sandbed but as you remove the patches manually (recurring theme here) the uv will intercept floaters and diurnal travelers and help prevent remassing. That’s fine rock you have, I’m jealous.

I feel like targeted laser ablation would not be a bad idea - but do not get a laser unless you know what proper safety goggles you need - a two watt laser can cause blindness in a few seconds

 

[brandon429]

You know that is a good call

a rare rare tool

why is it the best controls are corneal or retinal risks

I would for sure consider that, I bet the light intensity travels down the plant filament just like fiber optics and / zap to the root hold

 

[Juniorh2r]

I agree!

Since you have access to such beauty LR - If I were in your shoes I'd ride it out and let things balance.
As long as you're not overrun with dinos/cyano etc, pest algaes can be dealt with if they thrive.
Right now your system is basically a new-born and needs time to grow, and I'd personally not start trying to kill off anything as you may/will lose the good with the bad, including non-algae species.

Enjoy it for now. Sit and stare for hours both lights on and off, and see all the critters

agre

 

[Seek&Reef]

That is some gorgeous rock!

 

[brandon429]

Can someone link some threads of untouched, non dosed bryopsis tanks so we can get a prediction set going

is bryopsis known to be a passive hitchhiker for example, or one that takes over everything if left unchecked and causes all manner of reactive dosing, I quit the hobby etc

if you’d like to turn your display into a refugium do nothing and keep the pics coming these plants love passivity

agreed right now I’d rate that rock among tops on the site

relying on luck to keep them in balance is asking for trouble, it’s taking the farthest back seat possible to not even practice on one single rock. Leave 99% to grow if you want to but make one rock comply surgically so you at least have an action known that works in case of take over


the new growths on the bright lit sand isn’t bad it’s just typical new growth and castings from the rock combined, but be spot removing it too, don’t accept the uglies unless you want it ugly in two months

 

[Murftoo]

Thanks for all the great replies! Brandon, I will take your advice and do some targeted reef surgery. I am definately not keen on dosing. My LFS has a some lettuce nudibranches, so I may snag them too. The laser, which I thought was a joke at first, is pretty tempting!

The live rock is beautiful and has so much incredible life. There are tons of Northern star corals, a bunch of cool Oculina Robusta, spaghetti worms, hundreds of the cutest baby star fish smaller than my pinky nail and so much more. With all the non-photosythetic life, I've considered embracing it and doing a more NPS oriented tank, but a high nutrient tank seems like a bigger recipe for disaster with an existing algae problem like this.

Going to be an interesting ride. Thanks again for the replies!

 

[Lavey29]

Beautiful way to start the tank. Let it ride and all that biodiversity you started with will balance out.

 

[brandon429]

that blue sponge rock is amazing, what a haul that was really wow

the practice in surgically guiding the rock allows you to work around zones like that where we hope it'll remain in the tank


Murftoo you can see that being hands off/allowing tanks to progress untouched is killing systems with algae and cyano/causing monthslong headaches for many owners, practicing on at least one rock gives you the advantage of at least having a preparation to guide your reef its a really good idea


when searching post histories for procedural recommends I cannot refer any practice that has caused a monthslong ongoing algae/cyano challenge, it makes the tank owners constantly search for remediation options (which still involve being hands off, until the end it seems) and they are on experiment #5 of various indirect actions that are posted to still be causing fish loss and coral loss.

the opposite response we can take from ongoing invasion challenges lasting months in hands off approaches would be to practice being hands on, and not altering the params or dosing things to the water to cause a chemical soup/fish stress and loss soon after.