New Tank Algae

[Lofus]

Well the tank has been running for almost three weeks and is producing an excellent crop of hair and brown algae. I believe some grren diatoms have started on the glass as well as some lovely patches of slimy black BGA.

My pater parameters are Amonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0, SpG 1.023, Temp 27C, pH 8.2. I used RO/DI water to fill the tank (72 Bowfront).

I'm also running a 10 gal QT with a 5 lb peice of LR to cycle it and there is no algae in it. Parameters are identical to main tank.

The only thing I can think of is that a week ago I put 120 lbs of aragonite (90 lbs sugar sized, 30 lbs 0.5 mm to 1.0 mm) in the main tank. This must be where the organics are coming from.

The skimmer is a berlin classic and for the past week has only been pulling out a white paste. Fines from the sand I guess.

I've done a 5% water change and am planning another tomorrow. I also figured I would add some hermits and snails tomorrow.

From what I have read on the wetwebmedia FAQs I just have to get the nutrients out and it should settle down. Is there anything else I could be doing?

Thanks,

Jim

[ed99]

I went through a couple of waves of algae bloom while my tank was cycling, the worst coming at about the same age as your tank is now. The source of organics is probably some die-off from the LR, even if it was already relatively cured.

The main thing I did to curb the algae growth was cut right back on the amount of time the lights were on. I went down to 5-6 hours per day for awhile. The snails and crabs will help. I did this just before I went away for a week and I was surprised how clean the tank was. If your skimmer is working properly I would just keep doing what you're doing- everything will come into equilibrium soon enough.

[Bob I]

NEW TANK=ALGAE. That is it pure and simple. I have never seen a new tank that did not go through algae blooms. IMO the presence of organic material is of no consequence, and changing water is a waste of money. Sit back and wait, in a month or six you will be better off. That is opinion and experience speaking. We have all been through it.

[Chedi]

I too just recently went through the initial algae blooms as I started my 72g bowfront reef about 3 months ago. The initail hair algae bloom started after about the second week, but left to its own devices, passed by about the 5th week, along with every other type of algael bloom over the first 7 or 8 weeks. Leaving things alone at this stage seems to be the easiest cure- I know its hard to resist trying to do something... The only other thing you may think of doing is getting a clean upcrew of snails to go to work. They do a great job of algae grazing- i have 15 turbos in my 72 and they do great job :smile: Remember that your nitrates must be near 0 or the snails will die as they are quite sensitive to any nitrate build up. Good luck!!

Chris

[Bob I]

Remember that your nitrates must be near 0 or the snails will die as they are quite sensitive to any nitrate build up.

That is the first time I have heard of snails being sensitive to Nitrates. What is the source of this information please? :arrow: :question:

[Chedi]

Bob, you're correct- not sure what I was typing :redface: What I meant to convey was a caution that inverts like snails can be sensitive to rapid introduction into a new system, salinity, PH changes etc.. not sure how I got to nitrates when I was typing- long day I guess- thanks for catching that.
Chris

[Jack]

I hear what you were saying though, snails can be sensitive. You have to be careful when your first acclimatizing them after purchase but other than that you should be fine. I think lower nitrates is what we all go for and the critters might preffer a reading of zero :wink:

[EmilyB]

Snails are sensitive to "high" nitrates. You won't have any trouble finding information on this with a google search. :smile:

[kari]

NEW TANK=ALGAE. That is it pure and simple. I have never seen a new tank that did not go through algae blooms.

I don't agree this time. IMO it has to do with what is placed in the tank and how it operates. My tank was set up within 1 week, sand, fish, rock, coral....

During the first year there has been no hair algae or funky slime stuff in the main tank. I'm not trying to say I have many solutions but maybe just lucky in some ways.

Possibly it has more to do with a balance of production and consumption. Maybe steal some cultured sand from somebody with extra or use consumers such as calerpa which will compete. Possibly circulation has effects.

[Canadian Man]

NEW TANK=ALGAE. That is it pure and simple. I have never seen a new tank that did not go through algae blooms.

I don't agree this time. IMO it has to do with what is placed in the tank and how it operates. My tank was set up within 1 week, sand, fish, rock, coral....

During the first year there has been no hair algae or funky slime stuff in the main tank. I'm not trying to say I have many solutions but maybe just lucky in some ways.

Possibly it has more to do with a balance of production and consumption. Maybe steal some cultured sand from somebody with extra or use consumers such as calerpa which will compete. Possibly circulation has effects.

I am right there with you kari. I had my first algae bloom 1 1/2 year's after setup and it was only a few patches of hair algae on the underside of some rocks. :confused:

[EmilyB]

Absolutely agreed times three.

Algae indicates a problem, source water, inputs to the tank, or lack of export from the tank, imo.

[Canadian Man]

Absolutely agreed times three.

Algae indicates a problem, source water, inputs to the tank, or lack of export from the tank, imo.


Hmm maybe the evil RO unit has something to do with it :evil: :lol: :evil: :rolleyes: I am not trying to start any fights here, though I do know that Deb, Kari and my self all use RO or RO/DI :mrgreen: Just an idea that popped into my constantly thinking brain.

But hey wait a minute :eek: I started my tank with good old tap water and still didn't get any outbreaks :confused:

[EmilyB]

Don't go there Jon..... :eek:


---into your constantly thinking brain, I mean..... :lol:

[Delphinus]

I don't think it's impossible to do everything right, and still have things go wrong. I also don't think it's impossible to not do everything right and have nothing go wrong. Or, you can do things right and things go as expected, or, you can do things wrong and have things crater on you.

I don't think it's completely unreasonable for a new tank to go through different phases. That is commonly why we don't suggest delicate species to go into tanks that are considered too new. You can't always know what to expect.

Technically speaking though, a bloom typically does indicate something is out of balance. I wouldn't take it personally if it happens in a new tank, because so many things can happen before an equilibrium is acheived, but if it persists beyond a few weeks before cresting, then it's something a little more pathological and you need to look at all the things already listed and suggested in this thread, and try to enact some kind of management/control. There are few quick fixes; most of what we do is small and incremental in nature.

RO is a fine investment to make, but if you're thinking that using RO or RO/DI will guarantee you not to have any problems down the road then you are unfortunately deluding yourself. There is no substitute for careful management and planning and load balancing and nutrient control. There are many reasons to use RO or RO/DI, but "so that I will never have an algae bloom" isn't one of them. Maybe "so that I will never have an algae bloom caused by my makeup water", but those are two slightly disparate notions. Just some food for thought.

[EmilyB]

...

Edited not to repeat my earlier thoughts

[Delphinus]

Sure. Sorry if anything was ambiguous. I just meant, RO/DI is a great tool in an arsenal of tools we employ for "successful reefkeeping" but in and of itself all it addresses is your makeup and topup water. If a person is, say for example, overfeeding, then there still is the possibility of an algae bloom. BTW, I thought you gave good examples of other things. Basically, the amount of import should roughly match the amount of export, otherwise there is a "creeping effect" (either towards too much, or too little). Export can be by macros or other (I beleive even mushrooms might have a tendency to pull out nitrates and phosphates but don't quote me on that -- it's only a theory on my part), of course water changes, skimming, and so on.

Clear as mud, no? :smile:

[Lofus]

Thanks for the discussions. As I mentoned before, since I used RO/DI and since I have nothing in the tank except live rock and am not adding any food, the only change made to the tank recently is the adition of sand.

I bought the RO in order to keep any unwanted nutrients from getting into the system through make-up or water changes.

I'm going to add some snails and hermit crabs and wait a couple of weeks to see how it goes. I will want them eventually for long term maintenance anyway.

The skimmer is not really pulling anything brown out yet but I just cleaned it again so I'll give it another day or two to settle down.