Algae ID Help Needed

[VW_TDI_02]

So I'm in the process of cycling the tank. I have a 2-3 pound piece of live rock that has a nice coat of coraline algae on it and I'm starting to see that algae spread to other parts of the live rock which is good. This is going to be a soft coral algae tank so I'm not too worried about the calcium being a bit low. I also haven't been doing water changes since I'm cycling but that should go up a bit once it's fully cycled. I'm also getting a few other things that I simply don't know about. My ammonia test kit did run out about 3-4 days ago and the new one should arrive tomorrow. It's been at 0.25 for about 2 weeks now. Below are the rest of the tests:

 

Phosphate: 0.25

Nitrite: 0

Nitrate: 0

Salinity: 1.0245

Calcium: 320 PPM

dKh: 11 ppm KH: 196.9

Temp: 78

Run Time: 3.5 weeks

 

Filtration:

None

 

Water Movement:

Aqueon QuietFlow 20 (no media currently)

530 GPH powerhead

 

Substrate:

CaribSea Special Grade Aragonite

 

Lighting:

Current Orbit Marine set on the number 3 preset schedule. (12 hour full intensity, 15 min sunrise, 15 min sunset. 4 hour moonlight)

 

Livestock:

Snails (20 gallon long pack from reef cleaners) and a few hermit crabs (about 4 small ones. Shells are about 1/2")

 

Feeding:

1 Algae wafer/day

 

Other Information:

No diatoms or green algae yet.

 

 

Here are the two things that have me worried a bit. The first one has been growing almost exclusively on the glass. It appears that the snails or hermit crabs eat any that grows on the sand or rock. I've seen some growing on the rock but by the next day it is gone. On the glass it's a different story and nothing touches it. That is what makes me think that it may be the hermit crabs. Not really sure what it is but it's green/brown. I've used a magnetic algae scraper to get it off the glass but it keeps coming back after a few days.

 

The second picture is a white growth that looks a bit wirey. There are no bubbles on the ends of it and so far it is only growing on the piece of live rock. I've been looking at pictures online of hair algae and it just doesn't look like it to me but I'm not really sure. It's completely white. Frankly, it doesn't look like anything that I've been able to find online so far.

 

[Edit]

Added a third picture of something I found today. Have more information in my latest post in this thread.

[Pinner Reef]

#1 is a standard green algae that most any CUC crew should be able to take care of for you. Keep scraping the stuff that grows on the glass.

 

#2 is a typical tube sponge. Generally harmless but that variety can overgrow some corals. You can just peel it off the rock when it comes down to that.

 

How long have you been cycling? How well cured was the rock? Seems to me that if you've depleted your Ammonia test kit you should have finished with at least that stage of the cycle. What brand of test kit are you using (API)? Did you ever see a spike in nitrite or nitrates?

[VW_TDI_02]

Thanks for the info. I've been scraping it off every couple of days without any issues. My clean up crew is comprised of nerites, florida ceriths, nassarius, and dwarf ceriths. There were also a couple of hermit crabs that came with the clean up crew. They do a great job on the rocks but they don't even touch the stuff on the glass. I'll start trying to get rid of the tube worms as well. Have some new tongs in the coral fragging kit I want to try out.

 

I had the rock in freshwater for about 2 weeks and then once I got my RO/DI system I started with the saltwater. It has been cycling for right around 20-25 days so far. I've been using that test kit (API) for almost a year with my freshwater tanks. I actually saw a video of someone comparing the saltwater master test kit and the freshwater one and they both gave the same exact results with both fresh and salt water. The main two pieces of rock came in dry but they didn't have any sponges or anything like that. I rinsed them thoroughly with hot water and then had them in freshwater for those two weeks (no lights). So far the only reading that I've gotten is the 0.25 ammonia. Nitrite and nitrate have always been at 0 and still are. I'm surprised because I have been feeding a whole algae wafer daily for about a week and a half. Not really sure what I'll see tomorrow when I get the new test kit.

[Pinner Reef]

Sounds like you may have had a "Soft cycle". That is to say, no major spike in any of the parameters.

 

Buy a Salifert test kit or Red Sea. Or take your water to have it crosschecked by the LFS. API kits are notoriously inaccurate on Ammonia with SW.

 

After 20-25 days I'd think the cycle is over. The best way to check is to do a heavy feeding of any meaty food to see if there is an ammonia spike. Algae wafers will not leach very much, if any, Ammonia into the water.

 

Sponges do not usually withstand ammonia/nitrites if I remember correctly... Someone back me up maybe? But If there is one growing in the tank I'm thinking that is another sign of completion.

 

Have you seen a diatom bloom? The brown dusty stuff?

[VW_TDI_02]

Sounds like you may have had a "Soft cycle". That is to say, no major spike in any of the parameters.

 

Buy a Salifert test kit or Red Sea. Or take your water to have it crosschecked by the LFS. API kits are notoriously inaccurate on Ammonia with SW.

 

After 20-25 days I'd think the cycle is over. The best way to check is to do a heavy feeding of any meaty food to see if there is an ammonia spike. Algae wafers will not leach very much, if any, Ammonia into the water.

 

Sponges do not usually withstand ammonia/nitrites if I remember correctly... Someone back me up maybe? But If there is one growing in the tank I'm thinking that is another sign of completion.

 

Have you seen a diatom bloom? The brown dusty stuff?

 

What I was referring to with the sponges was in regards to the curing of the rock. From what I've read, one of the big issues with dried rock is that you often get decaying sponges and organic matter that is trapped inside the small pore spaces in the rock. When I got mine, it was pretty much spotless which has been nice. Tomorrow I'm going to head to the store and pick up some seafood. Toss in half a raw shrimp and see what happens over the next few days.

 

So far I have not had any diatom blooms. I had issues with that in my main freshwater tank for a while until I got it well balanced. Unfortunately I only have one quality LFS (not petco/petsmart) near me and even that is about half an hour away. Even the local petco does not have a saltwater section.

 

Regarding the "soft cycle" I've actually had a similar experience with freshwater while using the bottle bacteria. My only real concern is that I still have yet to see any nitrates in the tank. I guess the issue could be that an algae wafer isn't producing enough ammonia and the little bit of hair algae in my tank is taking care of any excess nutrients. I only plan on getting two clownfish for this tank so it's going to be a rather light bioload. Going to have a lot of soft corals though. Waiting on another flash sale from saltcritters in order to splurge a bit.

[Pinner Reef]

LOL sorry, think we might be on different pages... Pic #2 is a type sponge which are generally pretty touchy to keep alive but, as you said, can survive as spores deep within the rock to reemerge when conditions are correct. Those organics deep within the rock will usually show back up as Phosphates, and remain fairly minimal if you've had the rock soaking in freshwater.

 

But, ya, chop up 1/4 to 1/2 a piece of shrimp the watch the params over the next couple of days to ensure you have a robust bacteria population. As long as nothing drastic happens... you're golden.

[VW_TDI_02]

LOL sorry, think we might be on different pages... Pic #2 is a type sponge which are generally pretty touchy to keep alive but, as you said, can survive as spores deep within the rock to reemerge when conditions are correct. Those organics deep within the rock will usually show back up as Phosphates, and remain fairly minimal if you've had the rock soaking in freshwater.

 

But, ya, chop up 1/4 to 1/2 a piece of shrimp the watch the params over the next couple of days to ensure you have a robust bacteria population. As long as nothing drastic happens... you're golden.

Oh, gotcha. That makes sense now. That sounds good to me. Definitely excited to get some fish in there. I'll give it a few weeks after that before I start with the corals.

[VW_TDI_02]

Sorry for the double post but I figured this was better than starting a whole new thread. Have something else growing in my tank. This is actually the second time I've found this algae in my tank. It actually looks like chaeto but I really have no idea. The first time I pulled it out of the filter intake and it was about 2" long. It's like a long green string. If it is chaeto, it's a good thing and the clownfish will eat it right?

[Pinner Reef]

It does look like Chaeto. lol dunno where it could have come from but it isn't a bad thing and no the clown will not eat it.

[VW_TDI_02]

That's what I was thinking. On a side note, I did a close inspection of the rocks in my tank and I'm starting to get some nice coralline algae growth. I can see multiple little specs of purple growing all around. I am starting to get a few little bits of green algae as well. It's different than the algae I posted earlier. This stuff is just like little specs for the most part. You can see a small spec at about 2 o'clock from the chaeto in my last picture. I'm not too worried about them right now. Damn UPS didn't show up with the ammonia test kit. I did put a small chunk of shrimp in the salt tank. The snails and hermit crabs got pretty fat with that. I'm leaving a small piece over night to see how it goes.

[VW_TDI_02]

Figured I would update this thread one last time. The ammonia test kit finally came in today and I'm down to 0 ammonia after adding half a shrimp two days ago. I checked my nitrites and nitrates yesterday and they were at 0 and the same goes for today. I'm getting ready to do a 2 gallon water change and then get my two clown fish.

 

In regards to the algae and tube worms, nothing has really changed. The chaeto disappeared and is probably hidden under a rock or something. I've been pulling off any tube worms that I can but there is still a good bit on the rock. The coralline algae is growing just fine and I'm happy to see it spreading to other rocks other than the one live rock. For further updates I'm going to go back to posting in my original build thread. Thanks again for all the help.