Why won't my tank get algae????

[greetl01]

weird question, I know, but i'm more concerned with getting coralline algae and I figure I have to have that ugly stage first. My tank has been up about a month, and everyone's tank i've seen the age of mine are having their ugly stage. I had a TINY stage of cyano and some diatoms when i was leaving my lights on for about 10 hours a day, but 3 days with lights out, 1 trochus snail, and 1 emerald crab later, my rocks are bleach white again LOLLL. is it possible I won't ever get an ugly stage or is it yet to come? I have 2 clownfish, 1 royal gramma, and 1 yellow watchman goby. I feed about a fourth of a cube everyday. no-one seems to be starving, but I never see that brown detritus come out of the sand when I vacuum. I vacuum a third of the gravel every week with my water change in a 29 gallon. about 4 gallons every week. now i have an ai prime and i was wondering if that would speed the process of coralline. I'm running the pirates of the carribean setting

 

[Jekyl]

Careful what you wish for. Your tank still has a long time until maturity

 

[lapin]

Sounds pretty perfect. Stuff will come with time. I would feed a bit more with 4 fish, unless they are very tiny

 

[greetl01]

Careful what you wish for. Your tank still has a long time until maturity

IKR LLLOLLl i'm not so much wishing for the ugly stage, but wishing for it to be be done and over with

 

[Jekyl]

Coraline won't show up for at least a few months

 

[DaddyFish]

The simple answer... because all the algae is growing in my tanks and you can't have any YET!
Hang in there, your time is coming!

 

[greetl01]

Sounds pretty perfect. Stuff will come with time. I would feed a bit more with 4 fish, unless they are very tiny

they're still small. with the fourth of a cube, i have to split over the course of the day bc they start spitting it out LOLL my goby will take 2 bites and he's out for the count

 

[Jekyl]

My ugly phase didn't show up until around months 3 to 6 if I remember right. Coraline after that was over with.

 

[greetl01]

My ugly phase didn't show up until around months 3 to 6 if I remember right. Coraline after that was over with.

thanks. exactly what i wanted to know. guess i'll enjoy my pretty tank a few more months

 

[Jekyl]

For me rocks started tanning a little then turned green. After that it was full blown GHA that I had to scrub with a toothbrush while siphoning

 

[Jekyl]

Be patient. Your tank will go through lots of different cycles. Took me over a year before coraline was all over the place.

 

[HuduVudu]

Turn up your lights.

If you have the nutrients in the tank which you can approximate through nitrate then you will get algae.

 

[Ippyroy]

What are your NO3 and PO4 levels? The only thing I can tell you about the ugly stage is that you can't rush it. It will happen when it's time. I started getting coralline at around month 3. It all died by month 4 and came back in month 6. It took me a bit to get my parameters steady and keep them that way.
You can't rush the ugly stage. It is the time you need to spend to learn how to deal with issues. Some algae you just sit back and wait for it to go away, some need a CUC, some need fire and brimstone. Dose some pods every month or so for now and start trying to get your fish to eat dry foods. Good Luck!

 

[GaryE]

I started this tank in August with dry rock and live sand. Back glass is completely covered with coraline and those pristine white rocks are covered...

I seeded mine with two turbo snails that were purple and a couple power heads out of my other tank that were covered in coraline.

But again, be careful what you wish for, keeping the front and side glass clean is a lot of work now.

 

[Nano925]

 

[CK00020]

My tank is four months today, had some diatoms but really nothing else. My rocks went from white to brown to brown green, now they are shades of pink red and purple. Give it time, also live rock helps
Or if you can get some scrapings from another reefer.

 

[greetl01]

What are your NO3 and PO4 levels? The only thing I can tell you about the ugly stage is that you can't rush it. It will happen when it's time. I started getting coralline at around month 3. It all died by month 4 and came back in month 6. It took me a bit to get my parameters steady and keep them that way.
You can't rush the ugly stage. It is the time you need to spend to learn how to deal with issues. Some algae you just sit back and wait for it to go away, some need a CUC, some need fire and brimstone. Dose some pods every month or so for now and start trying to get your fish to eat dry foods. Good Luck!

Why pods and dry food? My fish devour dry food already. I do soak in selcon though...will that be a problem?

 

[Ippyroy]

Why pods and dry food? My fish devour dry food already. I do soak in selcon though...will that be a problem?

Nice. Pods are part of your CUC and the sooner you can get a healthy population of them the better your tank will be. They eat detritus and keep your rocks and sand clean. You said you feed a 1/4 of cube which is frozen to me. If you are also feeding pellets then algae will come. I don't think selcon helps other than to get the fish to eat. Look into some amino acids that you can soak the food in. It is great for fish and corrals. The aminos will release from the pellet and float in the water column which will feed all of your corals.

 

[fishhead1973]

weird question, I know, but i'm more concerned with getting coralline algae and I figure I have to have that ugly stage first. My tank has been up about a month, and everyone's tank i've seen the age of mine are having their ugly stage. I had a TINY stage of cyano and some diatoms when i was leaving my lights on for about 10 hours a day, but 3 days with lights out, 1 trochus snail, and 1 emerald crab later, my rocks are bleach white again LOLLL. is it possible I won't ever get an ugly stage or is it yet to come? I have 2 clownfish, 1 royal gramma, and 1 yellow watchman goby. I feed about a fourth of a cube everyday. no-one seems to be starving, but I never see that brown detritus come out of the sand when I vacuum. I vacuum a third of the gravel every week with my water change in a 29 gallon. about 4 gallons every week. now i have an ai prime and i was wondering if that would speed the process of coralline. I'm running the pirates of the carribean setting

In time it can take 7 to 8 months for your tank to cycle sometimes a year. in reefing being patient is the name of the game.