New Live Rock Pics, What Do You Think?

Orange/Brown Stains

Alright guys, so here's an update:

My tank has been cycling now for about 4 weeks. My ammonia and nitrite levels have been zero for a few days now, so I believe I'll do a 20% WC as well as add my first fish this weekend.

Since my last post, a lot of the stuff originally on the rock has since disappeared, and a lot more white dead coraline has emerged.

I've also recently noticed yellowish brown "stain" spots on the rock. Not really sure what it is yet. Algae blooms emerging perhaps? They don't really look like their own growth, just stains on top of regular rock fuzz underneath.. If that makes sense.. Here's some pictures, what do you guys think?





Some Aquascape:

 

No thoughts?

I swear, within the past few hours is looks as if its already spreading. My best guess would be algae. I guess I'll pickup a phosphate test today and see what we're working with?

 

Hey man I like the look of your setup a lot. What type of powerheads, lights, and protein skimmer are you using?

 

Thank You!

Right now I'm running 2 MJ 1200's and a Koralia 1 and a RIO 1700 return. Hopefully, for now I'm turning over enough water, though later on I might upgrade the Koralia.

Additionally I'm running the Nova Extreme 4x54W fixture with UVL 420 actinics and soon to be UVL 14K's (Current USA 10k's right now)

Remora skimmer

I'm planning a softie LPS tank for now. I might try my hand SPS in the future but might be forced to upgrade to the 6x54W fixture. (I'm really trying to avoid MH!)

Additionally, I put together a dual refug setup (Estimating ~10-12G total) with a 10 gallon sump. It didn't take long to realize I needed to add an ATO due to the size of the return section of my sump :-[. So now I've got a holding tank and lifter pump connected to the ATO. Chaeto growing in the smaller refuge, mangroves in the larger as soon as my LFS gets them in. Both refugiums receive water directly from the display tank and drain into the return section of the sump at around 7GPH. Here's how it looks now.

 

Go ahead and do the WC, no fish. Those are Diatoms, they're kind of the next step in cycling. Next is algae and then harder coraline algae. Give it a bit, patience now is key.

 

Diatom Bloom

Well it's been two days since my last post...

Looks more like a diatom explosion..

cool 8)







Looks like a lot more brown algae in person than in the pictures..

 

Hey Guys,

Got a new DSLR camera, so thought I would post some new pics and an update.

No longer am I suffering through brown diatom algae, now I'm going through a nuclear bright green outbreak. Sorry if the pics aren't up to par. I'm still learning how how to manage ISO/ aperture / shutter with the amount of light already present. Still a lot to learn as far as saltwater goes as well as photography....The lighting still seems really off, but the green is definitely as intense in real life as it looks in the pictures.

BTW, the glass was scraped earlier this morning, the pictures are from later this afternoon.

About how long until the algae goes down and the tank looks cleaner?

 

Keep an eye on the gray fuzzy stuff. The gray fuzzy stuff I had was fungal infection. The hard white patches are encrusted coralline algae that has bleached, it will become colorful again once your tank stabilizes and your KH, Mg and Ca levels are right. The hard grren bumps are green coralline algae. The neon green stuff that is on the rock and tank walls looks to be cyanobacteria.

 

I would suggest getting a clean up crew if you haven't already, that will help with the algae. All new tanks go through an algae phase, it will pass eventually, just keep up good husbandry and you'll be fine.

 

Thanks for the replies. I've got a very small CUC.. 6 ceriths 4 margarita's, 5 scarlet hermits, 2 blue legged hermits.. I just got a reply back from reefcleaners for my custom crew, so I'll be placing an order with them shortly.. I'll do some research into cynobacteria and hopefully we can get this water cleared up soon, because it definitely starting to resemble a toxic waste site now: