New tank... what is this?

[Jd111423]

Hey everyone.  Just started my first tank.  About a week in.  Is this corraline? Or some other type of algae?

[DISQUALIFIED-QQ]

Looks like a type of coralline algae to me. I have it in my tank as well. Coralline algaes can be different colors based on what species is it. I read that there are even green coralline algaes.

[SliceGolfer]

Looks like diatoms on CaribSea Life Rock

[Jd111423]

Also have some algae growing on the sand...  normal during cycle right?  Feel like that could be the diatoms.  Some brown stuff on the rocks but the reddish growth looks completely different

[DISQUALIFIED-QQ]

yeah brown diatoms are generally the first microalgaes in any tank, fresh or salt. all good things, so it may mean you have a measurable level of nitrates. you done a parameter check yet?

[Jd111423]

Yes...

[DISQUALIFIED-QQ]

oh man API kits! the Ammonia for saltwater makes me pull my hair because I overthink my shades of yellow-green!

 

Now nitrite is less toxic in seawater. The adage usually tells you to have 0 nitrites, but I think that's pulling from the freshwater fish playbook. From Dr. Randy Holmes Farley:

 

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-06/rhf/index.php#5

 

Quote

Marine species are less susceptible to nitrite toxicity because chloride (at 19,350 ppm in seawater) outcompetes nitrite for the same uptake mechanisms. Nevertheless, it is possible for some marine fish to take up nitrite via both their gills and their intestines after swallowing seawater. For example, when exposed to 46 ppm nitrite in seawater, the European flounder (Platichthys flesus) takes up 66% of its nitrite via intestinal routes.²⁴ Further, its internal nitrite concentration was found to remain below the ambient nitrite level in the water. At these concentrations, there was some alteration of internal biochemical parameters (such as an increase in methemoglobin levels from 4% in nonexposed fish to 18% of hemoglobin in exposed fish). Nevertheless, there were no mortalities under these conditions, and the difference between this result and what is often observed in freshwater fish at similar nitrite concentrations is attributed to differences in their internal nitrite concentrations.

 

[Jd111423]

Interesting...

 

im just letting the tank do it’s thing.  Can’t wait to be able to put something into it.  
 

Funny because when I was a kid, I had freshwater tanks.  Didn’t know any better.  Usually bought a tank and followed basic instructions and just tossed fish in there.  20 years later, i find myself reading everything and anything haha

[Jd111423]

In regards to the levels... I’m with you on the Shades of yellow and green.  Guy at the lfs said ammonia was at 0 and nitrites were at 1 but no nitrates on Monday.  Was definitely a spike in nitrates after I added the turbo start.  Just realized the nitrate color looks a lot darker in the pic I sent.  Don’t think it was that dark in person

[DISQUALIFIED-QQ]

9 hours ago, Jd111423 said:

In regards to the levels... I’m with you on the Shades of yellow and green.  Guy at the lfs said ammonia was at 0 and nitrites were at 1 but no nitrates on Monday.  Was definitely a spike in nitrates after I added the turbo start.  Just realized the nitrate color looks a lot darker in the pic I sent.  Don’t think it was that dark in person

Yeah cameras are weird like that. It also matters what kind of light is right above you. I try to read my chart in the kitchen since the white light is more white than my living room lamps (bright whites vs soft whites). If I can do it, I try to test my water around the early afternoon since there's plenty of sun. 

 

Fritz Turbo Start is supposed to be a solid product. While you wait, research over what fish you think you're able to keep. I spent about a week researching and reading all kinds of stuff. Speaking from the other side of the coin, I work the fish department at Petco. I always wish that my customers come with their homework done but usually that's never the case. I would estimate 20% actually do their homework and learn on their own time and come to me prepared. Those 20% are generally my regulars (I see them at least twice a month) and actually ask thoughtful questions.

 

I highly encourage keeping a journal online here or offline to track your progress. It's super helpful.

[Jd111423]

Thanks for the advice!  I definitely want a pair of clowns.  Some inverts... eventually add coral.  Just gonna take it slow.  LFS is low on stock so don’t want to limit myself on choices

[banasophia]

That is an awesome scape!

 

I would read that as 0, 2, 20, but the angle/lighting in the pics could be making it difficult to say for sure and I always have to get at least one other person to double check mine cuz Im not great at differentiating, so may not want to listen to me haha. The main point here is, though, it’s cycling. 
 

Unlikely to be coralline showing up this early... does look like diatoms showing up though. 

[Jd111423]

Hey, I read it more or less the same.... feel like the nitrite was between 1-2...  it’s definitely going down.  Shade of purple was lighter today.  This waiting period gives me anxiety! Haha

 

side note... I followed you on IG yesterday or day before... just recognized the username!  Awesome Ig!  I’m jdieppa14 

[Chills619]

Hello, how's everyone doing? My tank's about a month old and yes I've move pretty fast lol. I question is all the green on my live rock. From my past experience I don't belive this is  Algae. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. my   Ammonia is up-and-down but its not out of control. I don't have a set kit yet I take the water to get tested at the pet store. Besides that my salinity is the only thing I can't keep at a steady level 😬🤫🤨

 

[banasophia]

59 minutes ago, Chills619 said:

Hello, how's everyone doing? My tank's about a month old and yes I've move pretty fast lol. I question is all the green on my live rock. From my past experience I don't belive this is  Algae. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. my   Ammonia is up-and-down but its not out of control. I don't have a set kit yet I take the water to get tested at the pet store. Besides that my salinity is the only thing I can't keep at a steady level 😬🤫🤨

 

The green on the rocks is normal, and you just want to make sure you have an adequate cleanup crew (snails) to control pest algae. 
 

However, you shouldn’t add any more livestock to your tank at this time until you address some stability issues. You shouldn’t have a fish in a tank with ammonia that’s up and down, ammonia is harmful to fish. Do you know what the level is running? And you have to be able to maintain a stable salinity too. Can you tell us more so we can try to help? 
 

Also, what’s that green patch in the front and center of the foreground...it looks like a rock full of turf algae?

 

 

[Tired]

First of all, this belongs in a new thread, since your question is different from the one above. 

 

Second, ANY amount of ammonia is "out of control". However, since you have corals that look OK, I wonder if you have ammonia at all. You should really get your own test kit (not API brand) and test it yourself, the LFS may be wrong. 

 

The green stuff on your rock is algae. 

 

Your salinity shouldn't be an issue if you're topping off regularly with fresh (not salty!) water, assuming nothing is leaking. Are you testing the salinity of every new batch of water before water changes? How often do you top off the tank? 

 

How did you cycle your tank? 

 

Stop adding things until everything is stable. 

[Chills619]

4 hours ago, banasophia said:

The green on the rocks is normal, and you just want to make sure you have an adequate cleanup crew (snails) to control pest algae. 
 

However, you shouldn’t add any more livestock to your tank at this time until you address some stability issues. You shouldn’t have a fish in a tank with ammonia that’s up and down, ammonia is harmful to fish. Do you know what the level is running? And you have to be able to maintain a stable salinity too. Can you tell us more so we can try to help? 
 

Also, what’s that green patch in the front and center of the foreground...it looks like a rock full of turf algae?

 

 

So just had the water tested and every is actually really good now. The fish are about  to 2 weeks old I'm trying to really think about the time frame I want to say I'm about 7 weeks in and my salinity is usally around 1.023 I try to keep it 1.025/1.026 but not sure where it goes in my old aquarium you would see salt build up. Maybe cause its included.  And yes that front piece is turf algae. My cousin gave it to me i actually thought it looked really cool. Was unaware it was bad

 

4 hours ago, Tired said:

First of all, this belongs in a new thread, since your question is different from the one above. 

 

Second, ANY amount of ammonia is "out of control". However, since you have corals that look OK, I wonder if you have ammonia at all. You should really get your own test kit (not API brand) and test it yourself, the LFS may be wrong. 

 

The green stuff on your rock is algae. 

 

Your salinity shouldn't be an issue if you're topping off regularly with fresh (not salty!) water, assuming nothing is leaking. Are you testing the salinity of every new batch of water before water changes? How often do you top off the tank? 

 

How did you cycle your tank? 

 

Stop adding things until everything is stable. 

sorry the post at the beginning said whats this so I figured I was on the right page. Next time I will start a new page or look for something more similar.  I definitely will look into getting my own test kit. 

I test the salinity daily actually or every other day it holds at 1.023 and I want to main tain it at 1.025 but everything is actually doing really well for it being 6-7 weeks. I used a bottle of bacteria i let the tank cycle for about 2 weeks. Everything was good then I changed n add different live rock with for some reason brought my ammonia up but it wasn't high,  I just checked the water and everything is back on track. I'm say it could of been over feeding . And I really haven't had to top off the tank to much I want to say like 4 or 5 time. Its a 32 g biocube, Not sure if that is why. 

Thanks for your help btw.

[Tired]

This is a single thread in the identification forum. Someone made this to ask a specific question, about what was on their rock. Anyone who wants to ask about something that's not exactly like that stuff would post here, using the orange "start new topic" button. You can see it's full of ID threads. 

https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/forum/24-identification-forum/ 

 

Overfeeding, in a cycled tank, shouldn't result in an ammonia spike unless it's massive overfeeding. I would be suspicious that your tank isn't well cycled. Stop adding things, and feed lightly, but enough to keep your critters happy, for another month at least. 

 

Did you start with actual live rock from the ocean, live rock from an aquarium, or dead rock? 

[banasophia]

51 minutes ago, Chills619 said:

So just had the water tested and every is actually really good now. The fish are about  to 2 weeks old I'm trying to really think about the time frame I want to say I'm about 7 weeks in and my salinity is usally around 1.023 I try to keep it 1.025/1.026 but not sure where it goes in my old aquarium you would see salt build up. Maybe cause its included.  And yes that front piece is turf algae. My cousin gave it to me i actually thought it looked really cool. Was unaware it was bad

 

sorry the post at the beginning said whats this so I figured I was on the right page. Next time I will start a new page or look for something more similar.  I definitely will look into getting my own test kit. 

I test the salinity daily actually or every other day it holds at 1.023 and I want to main tain it at 1.025 but everything is actually doing really well for it being 6-7 weeks. I used a bottle of bacteria i let the tank cycle for about 2 weeks. Everything was good then I changed n add different live rock with for some reason brought my ammonia up but it wasn't high,  I just checked the water and everything is back on track. I'm say it could of been over feeding . And I really haven't had to top off the tank to much I want to say like 4 or 5 time. Its a 32 g biocube, Not sure if that is why. 

Thanks for your help btw.

Oh yeah I would remove the turf algae... I think it’s pretty hard to get rid of in a tank if it starts to spread. But if you like the look of it, blue sympodium is a really pretty coral you might like once you can add more corals.
 

You definitely do not want any ammonia at all when you have livestock in the tank... 

 

Sounds like you changed your rock mid-cycle after adding your bottled bacteria, so you probably removed most of your beneficial bacteria when you did that. If the new rock you added was live rock, it should have already had beneficial bacteria on it, but may have had other things that started to die off/break down into ammonia during the transfer to your tank. You may need to add Prime to detoxify, and may need to add additional beneficial bacteria so you can protect your livestock from unsafe buildup of ammonia and nitrite. 
 

What are you using to check your salinity?