What is this crap taking over my tank

[flat6guy]

Hey all. I'm looking for some help with what else? Nuisance algae. This is a fairly new setup. It's been running for 7 weeks now and lightly stocked. One yellow tailed damsel and 10 or so snails. I've been doing 5 gal water changes every 2 weeks since the cycle completed and the fish went in. I've tested what I can for parameters at this point.

My tank is a Fluval edge M60, 24 gallon tank with an approximate 5 gallon refugium growing chaeto. Refugium is lit 12 hours opposite of the main tank. Main tank has approximately 10 hour light period. Skimmer is producing dark colored waste. Filter floss and carbon pad. Return pump rated at 250 gallons with a circulation pump rated at 450 gallons. Sand bed is 3" deep. Approximately 20lbs BRS dry rock. Water comes from BRS 5 stage RODI unit.

Can someone help me identify what these algae are. From there I can hopefully figure out how to rid my tank of this crap. Something else I noticed is the water is cloudy. It looks oddly like a snow globe. It's been steadily getting more cloudy in the last week. Guessing this is a side effect of the crap taking over my tank now.

Salt, 1.024 SG
Ammonia, 0.0
Nitrite, 0.0
Nitrate, 0.0
PH 8.0
Temp 77°

 

[James M]

Diatoms and green coralline. Perfectly normal and that’s just the beginning. It’s going to get worse

 

[Jesse Evans]

I wouldn’t sweat it too much, try adding a diamond watchman goby, they are pretty excellent sand bed maintainers. The water clarity is probably a bacterial bloom, which will get worse. You could add the appropriate amount of nitrifying bacteria help boost your beneficial bacteria population.

 

[flat6guy]

Thanks for the feedback, any other thoughts or opinions?

 

[TriggerFinger]

Normal, just the beginning. Enjoy the ride!

I do reccomend a bacterial supplement since you started with dry everything. I’ve personally used dr Tim’s and fritz turbo start with no issues.

 

[dansreef]

Your tank is going to go through all sorts of early-stage uglies.... perfectly normal. The key go slow! The parameters you are tracking should also include Phosphates. With such a small tank, careful not to overfeed which will show on both Nitrates and Phosphates. The refugium will help you keep them in check. Just make sure that you get a lot of flow through that chamber.

Have patience! You want to go slow with reef tanks!

 

[flat6guy]

I did start the tank with a nitrifying bacteria supplement from algae barn. Added pods and chaeto after the amonina, nitrite and nitrate spikes subsided. A week later some snails and the damsel.