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What is this algae? How can I get rid of it.


eemttam

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Its a JBJ cubby and I bought "pre-cycled" water straight out of the LFS's system. Also 3 lbs of live rock and some live sand. So it is a new tank but the shop claimed that theoretically I shouldn't need to cycle it. Not sure about ammonia but nitrite shows 0 and nitrate shows about 40 ppm. Figured a bit of background could help. Thanks for the help.



New tank? Looks like diatom to me

Is there an easy way to get rid of it or will it just take its time and disappear?

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Is there an easy way to get rid of it or will it just take its time and disappear?

God rid of mine using phosphates remover (GFO), in a small bag in the filter. Also blowing/distrubing daily helps.

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Pre cycled just means their waste water change water. Most of the beneficial bacterial lies in the live rock and live sand.

 

Agreed

 

You can't 'pre-cycle' water, bacteria live on surfaces in biofilms; rocks, sand, glass .... The live rock certainly contains bacteria and you are probably okay with that. 40 ppm nitrate is pretty high though, I would do 15-20% water changes every other day or so until it is closer to 10 ppm. You can mix your own or buy the premade stuff but I wouldn't pay for water out of an LFS's tanks.

 

The diatoms will go away on their own, its a normal part of the tank maturing.

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Agreed You can't 'pre-cycle' water, bacteria live on surfaces in biofilms; rocks, sand, glass .... The live rock certainly contains bacteria and you are probably okay with that. 40 ppm nitrate is pretty high though, I would do 15-20% water changes every other day or so until it is closer to 10 ppm. You can mix your own or buy the premade stuff but I wouldn't pay for water out of an LFS's tanks. The diatoms will go away on their own, its a normal part of the tank maturing.

Thank you for the info. I really appreciate all of the help.

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Team

Aged tank water has tons of nitrifiers in it, millions of colony forming units or individual cells. There is no microbial boundary that prevents nitrifier groups from entering, transiting through, or remaining suspended in water.

 

They may settle on hard substrates, but they transit through water and through septic means by which we set up tanks

 

Reef water is rarely devoid of colloidally suspended floc which is substrate for nitrifiers and mixed heterotrophic bacteria and this transmits bacteria to other habitable sources, and there are other inoculation routes as well from water

 

 

When you put any aged water into your aquarium it has nitrifiers in it galore. It teeming with them and millions of other bacteria that are competing for space while utilizing various food sources based on their specifics

 

Find a link from a marine microbiologist like hovanec or even mr a from this site that says aged reef tank water has no source of nitrifiers and post pls

 

Hovanec has tons of online stuff

 

Aged water isn't a barely or possible source, its huge and significant.

 

This isn't a huge deal, but knowing it gives one just that much more predictability and control over cycling in its various forms. Its not hugely important, since we also tend to import nitrifiers off the various agend substrates and shells and skeletons etc that we put into new tanks

 

 

 

Real ocean water has an ability to oxidize small amnts of ammonia by itself because of this, its truly live water just like live rock. If held in airtight conditions, it can rot and go anoxic unlike distilled water devoid of anything you can keep sealed off as long as you want. Source: marine bio prof from 1996 if this is wrong I'm accepting 2014 links :) I know updates can change w new knowledge

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Brandon,

 

I think my problem with buying "cycled tank water" is that you are buying what they are most likely tossing down the drain as waste water change water. If the guy bought live rock from an established tank and transported it in water, than technically he could setup an instant tank with practically no cycle and wouldn't require using the "cycled" water. Honestly this is all just an avenue for people to rush into the hobby, which they should not. I guess when your talking about setting up a 3 gallon tank it's no an issue, but not something I would employ for a typical setup.

 

As I've always used live rock, I've always set the tank up and forgot about it until diatoms formed, or about 3 weeks in. I never do anything to force a cycle or accelerate it, although I have used live sand before. The process might be different for dry rock.

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Team

Aged tank water has tons of nitrifiers in it, millions of colony forming units or individual cells. There is no microbial boundary that prevents nitrifier groups from entering, transiting through, or remaining suspended in water.

 

They may settle on hard substrates, but they transit through water and through septic means by which we set up tanks

 

Reef water is rarely devoid of colloidally suspended floc which is substrate for nitrifiers and mixed heterotrophic bacteria and this transmits bacteria to other habitable sources, and there are other inoculation routes as well from water

 

 

When you put any aged water into your aquarium it has nitrifiers in it galore. It teeming with them and millions of other bacteria that are competing for space while utilizing various food sources based on their specifics

 

Find a link from a marine microbiologist like hovanec or even mr a from this site that says aged reef tank water has no source of nitrifiers and post pls

 

Hovanec has tons of online stuff

 

Aged water isn't a barely or possible source, its huge and significant.

 

This isn't a huge deal, but knowing it gives one just that much more predictability and control over cycling in its various forms. Its not hugely important, since we also tend to import nitrifiers off the various agend substrates and shells and skeletons etc that we put into new tanks

 

 

 

Real ocean water has an ability to oxidize small amnts of ammonia by itself because of this, its truly live water just like live rock. If held in airtight conditions, it can rot and go anoxic unlike distilled water devoid of anything you can keep sealed off as long as you want. Source: marine bio prof from 1996 if this is wrong I'm accepting 2014 links :) I know updates can change w new knowledge

 

I don't see how this justifies a LFS selling water from their tanks with HIGH nitrates and god knows what possible parasites, ect.

 

New water is the way to go for a new tank imo. You will get everything you need without relying on some crappy store water.

 

This isn't clean water from an established well running tank from a trusted source. This is LFS water that probably tends to get neglected and probably has fish coming and going.

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In the area I live a lot of people want to use good used water from a healthy tank. I have found when starting a tank if I use water from one of my other established tanks I haven't to deal with cyano. I don't know if using water from an existing aquarium has anything to do with it or not, I have always had diatoms no matter if I use all freshly made water or some water from an existing tank. If I use all freshly made water the diatoms last a lot longer.

 

Like I said I don't know if using used water has an effect on the the results of me starting a tank or not but I do know if or should I say when I start another tank I will use some water from one of my existing tanks The way I do it is change my water one day about 10% and the next day is the day I save the water to use. Usually about another 10%.

 

I wouldn't use water from a lfs tank to start a tank since more do dose with meds on a regular bases and run their tanks with lower salinity the salinity issue is easy to fix but the meds isn't.

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http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2011/3/aafeature

Hadn't even seen it till just now off reading subseas thread in the biological forum

The article is dang long I don't have time to read fifty scrolls to get to the bottom lol off to work. Just off first nineteen paragraphs it at least discusses bacterial inclusion and how much of that can be extrapolated to nitrifiers I dunno but looked like neat reading.

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