New tank

NewReeferKev · Jul 5, 2021

I’ve had my 32 gallon biocube up and running for about 5-6 weeks now. I recently turned the lights on, and fear I did too soon. I have some lovely orange speckles starting to form all over. I used washed/dry Marco rock, nature’s ocean black sand, and mix my own water. Hoping it is just some standard algae that I can ride out. Any insight would be swell. Thanks to all of you, this forum is amazing.

Jekyl · Jul 5, 2021

You can't get around the ugly phase. Your rocks with change all sorts of colors. You will also have an assortment of algae for the better part of a year. It's all normal and the life of a dry rock reef tank. When it gets bad remove what you can by hand. Keep parameters in order and don't start using every additive you can find try to and get rid of it.

Nanoreefboi · Jul 5, 2021

They look like diatoms (or dinoflagellates, forgot which one). I also had these early on, you pretty much wait until most of the silicates from your sand are used up. As mentioned above, algae may be problematic for about a year. I was able to just wait for my diatoms to clear.