mkhan Posted November 4, 2003 Share Posted November 4, 2003 hey i had my tank for about 2 weaks and i already have corals and i see the diatom and purple algae is starting to take over, should i just leave it alone?, is this a good thing and should i do water testing?? also wen would i know wen the tank is done cycling sorry im asking so much questions, its just that i spent so much money starting the tank and i want to make sure everything is going ok? Link to comment
Quash Posted November 4, 2003 Share Posted November 4, 2003 diatoms should run its course. however i suspect bad water as a source of my diatom problem. is the purple algae slimy. if so, do a search on cyano, lots will come up. water testing is a good idea, when your ammonia spike starts, your cycle has begun, when that is gone to 0 and nitrites have gone to 0 but you have lots of nitrates, do a water change, and your cycle is finished Link to comment
mkhan Posted November 5, 2003 Author Share Posted November 5, 2003 the purple algea isnt slimy, and i have nothing in the tank except 4 four pieces of corals and 9 turbo snails.......so is the ammonia testing necessary yet cause my pet shop told me its not ??? Link to comment
Quash Posted November 5, 2003 Share Posted November 5, 2003 yeah ammonia testing that way you know where you are in your cycle, but during your cycle your snails mite die if ammonia levels get too high. if the purple algae is encrusting on rock its a good thing thats just coralline. oh woh i noticed you got 4 corals, yeah test kits would be good, those corals will prolly die, if you are lucky they will stay alive, seems you are since tanks been up for two weeks. what does this purple algae look like? Link to comment
mkhan Posted November 5, 2003 Author Share Posted November 5, 2003 its on the rock but my diatoms are also on da rocks and lastnight i had stirred up the sand and wipe the front of my glass, exactly what should i test and whats a good test kit? Link to comment
Quash Posted November 5, 2003 Share Posted November 5, 2003 Ok, so there are a variety of brands that you can get for testing your water. People generally shun the nitrate test kit by tetra. Basic tests include: pH, Nitrite, Nitrate, and ammonia. You will prolly also need some type of alkalinity or KH test. Other good tests to have are the Ca, and maybe Mg. A good test kit you ask. Salifert makes great kits, if not, SeaTest and FasTest. if not just stay away from tetras nitrate kit, they tend to give bad readings. Also, pH, alk (KH), Ca, and Mg, are related in one way or another. low Mg keeps Ca low, which keeps pH low. Low alk, keeps pH low and Ca low. all types of discussion on this. As far as purple algae on the rock, if you cant rub it off, its coralline algae, and most like the pleasing look of it. The diatoms on the rock will die off eventually. Mine did. Link to comment
mkhan Posted November 5, 2003 Author Share Posted November 5, 2003 so wat sho0uld be the reading for my ammonia to know if the cycle is done, also my diatoms keep on spreadin, wen they start to die off is that a sign that the cycle is alomost done Link to comment
Quash Posted November 6, 2003 Share Posted November 6, 2003 ammonia 0, and nitrites 0 with some insane number of nitrates, like 20 ppm or even 10 ppm for that matter. And your cycle is done. From what they say, diatoms should die off in a few weeks. not necessarily indicative of when cycle is over. Diatoms live off phosphates, once those are gone, diatoms will soon head out. If your water is high in phosphates, I would look into some RO/DI water. And that will control your diatoms to die out Link to comment
JohnnyMTB Posted November 6, 2003 Share Posted November 6, 2003 Dude, you should have read this before you ever started posting, do a little research, it's not a hobby you just jump into. http://www.nano-reef.com/articles/?article=8 Link to comment
mattie Posted November 6, 2003 Share Posted November 6, 2003 okay here goes brown algae lives off of silcates in the water so if you use tap water you will always have these. cyno bacteria purple/red algae can hitch hike in on lr or corals. it feeds off of phosphates but will spread like crazy if you have high nutrient count in your tank. cyno can be siphoned out with an airhose and chemi clean will keep it from coming back the brown will fade in a few weeks if you switch to ro/io water or distilled or spring water most tap water hsa silcates and phosphates in the water and some even have nitrates algae bloom is seperate from the cycle but most tanks go thru a few algae blooms as they are becoming broken in or shorty after they finish cycling Link to comment
mkhan Posted November 6, 2003 Author Share Posted November 6, 2003 thanks man u answered all my questions Link to comment
mkhan Posted November 6, 2003 Author Share Posted November 6, 2003 1 more question i forgot some of the diatoms got onto 1 of my corals will it just come off? Link to comment
mkhan Posted November 6, 2003 Author Share Posted November 6, 2003 1 more question i forgot some of the diatoms got onto 1 of my corals will it just come off? Link to comment
mattie Posted November 6, 2003 Share Posted November 6, 2003 it depends on the color of the algae and the coral that it growing on most of time algae can not grow on live tissuses of corals Link to comment
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