Algae bloom just after cycling

[gamma]

As many of you may already know I'm in the cycling stage of my reef tank. My question to all of you is some instruction I was given by my lfs regarding the first algae growth. He told me that I should at one point get a lot of brown algae. He recommended to me that I not clean it off until it has turned green. He said that it would look disgusting and that I wouldn't be able to see through the tank during this stage of the tank, but assured me that once all the brown algae has turned green we would introduce some fish into the tank that would take care of cleaning up all the algae. He said that all tanks go through this and it's best that I not touch it until it turns green.

Does this sound right?

[Craig Manoukian]

Brown diatoms, green algea, and red cyanobacteria are all part of the cycling/maturation process your tank will go through. Go slow and be patient is the best advice I can offer.

Diatoms appear and as the silcates are consumed it will disappear. Agea is present as your tank accumultes nitrates from the denitrification process. Phosphates also abet algea growth.

[gamma]

so as the tank matures is it best to just leave the algae alone or clean it?

also, there are solutions/additives on the market to combat these algaes. would you recommend staying away from such additives?

[Craig Manoukian]

Other than scraping the glass during normal maintenance, I would await a good 6 months to a year before considerng anything of that nature. Lighting, increased water flow, and overfeeding are the main controlable factors.

[gamma]

Posted by: Craig_ManoukianPosted on: Today at 4:05pm
Lighting, increased water flow, and overfeeding are the main controlable factors.

When you say lighting I'm assuming you mean leaving the lights on too long?

As far as water flow, do you mean lack of waterflow?

I have 2 maxi 1200's, one in the top front left corner and one in the bottom rear right corner. Is there a basic formula for figuring out how many powerheads you should have or is it just enough to know that there aren't any deadspots?

[szogun]

Let me tell you my story

After about 4 months I started to get the brown-red slime algae I didn't clean it for 2 months and it didn't go away then I decided to use the "Chemi-Clean" (completely reef safe) which took care of it within a week. From than till now no more slime algae [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]

The light doesn't really meter for the slime algae I was getting alot of it with just 40W of light now I have total of 425W MH and my tank is clean I think it has to do with the phosphate what water do you use? and do you have phosphate test?

Water is a big part of this. Phosphates and (over feeding) We all do that though.

RO/DI water help this out alot and Craig is right on about the cycle thing.
Chemi pure is good as I used it on slime and cayno before.

[gamma]

I do use ro/di water. As far as the phosphate test, I do have one, but haven't tested yet. I figured it was too early. I'll post my results once I test it out.

[aic007]

I have had some issues with diatoms and I notice it more if I add too much phyto. If I lay off it for a couple of days and only minimum doses it dies off. I also tried Phospho-Ban. It looks like folgers, you put it in a media bag and place it somewhere in your filter where water will cycle through it. Instructions say not to rinse. It takes silicates and phosphates out of the water which will starve the diatoms. But as many people have told you and me and everyone else on the board, RO/DI way to go, water changes are good and watch over feeding.

Hope this helps

[Black_Raven]

Try using any of the phosphate absorbing products even if your phosphates test at zero you will still have phosphates in the water. *Also keep you nitrates at a minimum and add maro algae. *I buy 2 handfuls of maroalgea from my LFS for $10 and it made a big difference in my nitrates phosphates and algae. *Also feed sparingly with low phosphorus foods and don't leave your lights on 12hours per day. *Invest heavily in snails and a lawnmower blenny. *Scarlet red hermit crabs are also great for controlling the algae. Good Luck