Algae During Cycle

[Abelardo]

Hey Guys 👋🏻  
This is my first reek tank. It’s currently cycling. Amm:0-0.25, 0, 0. I added in a bottle of Dr Tim’s One and Only when I first started this tank. I made the mistake of turning the lights on?? I’m getting this algae, correct me if I’m wrong, all over the sand bed and over the live rock. It’s like a green/brown color. What do you recommend, should I turn the lights off until the cycle is finished? There’s two clown fish in there assisting with the cycle.  Should I go in there and clean it off??, if so how. Any advice about this mistake would help, thanks in advance ! 

[Humblefish]

It looks like cyano, but it's probably just diatoms. It will burn out once all the silicates (from your sand) are used up.

[Abelardo]

14 minutes ago, Humblefish said:

It looks like cyano, but it's probably just diatoms. It will burn out once all the silicates (from your sand) are used up.

Thanks for the reply! 
That sand is the CaribSea reef sand, advertising it having “No Silica”. 

 

Should I jus continue with the lights on? I also have an option to turn on a UV sterilizer but I’m not sure if I should during cycling? Any advice would help! 
 

I’ll post a better picture of whatever is growing on the rocks and sand bed. Did you mean it’s just going to disappear itself??

[Humblefish]

I would definitely turn on the UV, as it will kill algae spores + bacteria in the water. Your latest pics are looking more like cyanobacteria to me. Have you tested nitrates & phosphates recently?

[Tamberav]

Just FYI even though it says no silica...silica ends up in the tank on everything...even plastic pumps but it does burn up eventually.

[Abelardo]

2 hours ago, Humblefish said:

I would definitely turn on the UV, as it will kill algae spores + bacteria in the water. Your latest pics are looking more like cyanobacteria to me. Have you tested nitrates & phosphates recently?

Great, thanks for the advice! I will run the UV light at night to help with water temperature. Should I be worried about Cyanobacteria? Is this okay during cycling. I have some MicroBacter 7 coming in tomorrow from amazon. I was thinking about starting to dose that as soon as it came in.

Ive tested for Nitrates, ammonia, and Nitrite. I actually dnt have a test kit for phosphate, I will pick one up tomorrow if necessary?? 

1 hour ago, Tamberav said:

Just FYI even though it says no silica...silica ends up in the tank on everything...even plastic pumps but it does burn up eventually.

Thanks! I was hoping somebody would clear that up, I assumed the advertising wasn’t all 100%. 

[Tamberav]

I had green cyano all overrrr but I just kept up with regular maintance and stirring the sand bed every week with a water change and it eventually went away on its own. It was when my sand bed was new and not enough filter feeders yet. Was just a lot of debris being trapped there in my case.

[Abelardo]

7 hours ago, Tamberav said:

I had green cyano all overrrr but I just kept up with regular maintance and stirring the sand bed every week with a water change and it eventually went away on its own. It was when my sand bed was new and not enough filter feeders yet. Was just a lot of debris being trapped there in my case.

Thanks for the help! I’ll just keep up with regular maintenance then. Yea this is a brand new tank, it’s been running for about 2 weeks now and I dosed Dr Tim One and Only once of the initial start day. I’m getting a bottle of MicroBacter7 today which I will start dosing. I heard this stuff was good at keeping phosphate levels low. Should I check or maybe adjust my powerheads? There’s two Koralia 565. I have an extra one laying around that I could add to the tank but I’m not sure if that’s “too much” flow?? 

[Tired]

Algae is normal and expected in new tanks. Let it do its thing. Keep your parameters reasonable (ammonia 0 and nitrites 0 to avoid killing your fish, phosphates and nitrates low but present so your corals don't starve), add cleanup crew after a bit, and it'll go away on its own time.

[Abelardo]

14 hours ago, Tired said:

Algae is normal and expected in new tanks. Let it do its thing. Keep your parameters reasonable (ammonia 0 and nitrites 0 to avoid killing your fish, phosphates and nitrates low but present so your corals don't starve), add cleanup crew after a bit, and it'll go away on its own time.

I’m literally relieved to hear that. I feel like I see more and more everyday!
 

I started dosing MicroBacter7 yesterday, I’m hoping it’ll help with the cycle and too keep nutrients low.

 

I don’t have any corals in there yet, just two clown fish. Are you able to add coral during early stages like this??? 
 

Yea the cleanup crew are the next to go in the tank! I was thinking after the cycle though?? Any advice 

[Tired]

Frankly, you shouldn't have fish right now. You're not supposed to add animals until the cycle is done, because ammonia is bad for them. It stresses their immune system, is very likely uncomfortable for them, and in higher levels (i.e. almost anything readable) can burn their gills. You're supposed to dose pure ammonia, or use rotting food, to cycle the tank. 

 

You should be doing a lot of water changes. Have you read up on fish-in cycling? It can take longer, since you can't let ammonia build up. And don't take any further advice from whatever fish store told you to put fish in a non-cycled tank. Add cleanup crew AFTER the tank is cycled. If it's stable for a couple weeks, you can add some hardy corals, like zoanthids. If you plan on an anemone for the tank, you should probably wait until it's at least six months old. 

 

Don't take any measures to keep nutrients low. If your phosphates are 0.02 to 0.05 or thereabouts, and your nitrates are under 10-15, it's fine. You need to get assorted non-pest algae to grow, which requires nutrients, so it can take over the available space and outcompete pest algaes. You'll also need to keep those nutrients present when you add corals. 

[Abelardo]

57 minutes ago, Tired said:

Frankly, you shouldn't have fish right now. You're not supposed to add animals until the cycle is done, because ammonia is bad for them. It stresses their immune system, is very likely uncomfortable for them, and in higher levels (i.e. almost anything readable) can burn their gills. You're supposed to dose pure ammonia, or use rotting food, to cycle the tank. 

 

You should be doing a lot of water changes. Have you read up on fish-in cycling? It can take longer, since you can't let ammonia build up. And don't take any further advice from whatever fish store told you to put fish in a non-cycled tank. Add cleanup crew AFTER the tank is cycled. If it's stable for a couple weeks, you can add some hardy corals, like zoanthids. If you plan on an anemone for the tank, you should probably wait until it's at least six months old. 

 

Don't take any measures to keep nutrients low. If your phosphates are 0.02 to 0.05 or thereabouts, and your nitrates are under 10-15, it's fine. You need to get assorted non-pest algae to grow, which requires nutrients, so it can take over the available space and outcompete pest algaes. You'll also need to keep those nutrients present when you add corals. 

I got this tank started with the information from the 5 min guides on videos from BRS TV 🤷🏻‍♂️, and is solely the reason why there is two clown fish assisting the cycle right now.

 

I read somewhere that water changes during cycling while having algae can “fuel” the algae grow? Is this correct?? Any information will help. 
 

I just tested for ammonia: 0.25 Nitrate: 0-5ppm and a phosphate reading of less than 0.05. 
 

Is there anything I can do to slow the algae during this cycle. Now there’s little strings with bubbles at the tip (assuming it’s some type of gas exchange? Or oxygen) I’ll post a picture. 

[Tired]

You could turn the lights off until your cycle is done. But, again- algae is normal and expected, especially when you don't start up with a lot of ocean rock. You're going to have an algae bloom at some point. It may be a good idea to keep the lights off until you're done cycling and can add a cleanup crew. 

 

Your clownfish are "assisting the cycle", sure, but they're also being put under stress. There is absolutely no need to have fish in a tank during a cycle, you just dose ammonia instead. For future reference. 

[Abelardo]

6 minutes ago, Tired said:

You could turn the lights off until your cycle is done. But, again- algae is normal and expected, especially when you don't start up with a lot of ocean rock. You're going to have an algae bloom at some point. It may be a good idea to keep the lights off until you're done cycling and can add a cleanup crew. 

 

Your clownfish are "assisting the cycle", sure, but they're also being put under stress. There is absolutely no need to have fish in a tank during a cycle, you just dose ammonia instead. For future reference. 

That was the first option I could think of, but wasn’t really sure if it would affect the clown fish in anyway since I started the tank with the light on? 

 

I was under the impression that clownfish were a good “hardy” fish that were able to process ammonia through their gills much better than other fish. I wasn’t really aware of dosing ammonia but did read somewhere that you can actually stall a cycle when dosing??? I didn’t fully read through that as it wasn’t relevant to what I was searching at the time. 

[Abelardo]

Also started the tank with Dr. Tim One and Only. Two weeks after that (Yesterday) I started dosing MicroBacter7. Ive been trying to support the clown fish by any means. 

[Tired]

Clownfish are more resilient to stress and bad conditions than other fish. That doesn't mean the ammonia isn't stressful, potentially painful, and likely damaging. It just means they're less likely to die than something delicate. You need to be doing water changes to keep the ammonia very low, which is going to cause your tank to cycle more slowly, but will help keep your fish from being permanently harmed. The bottled bacteria is good, but, if you still have ammonia and nitrites, your cycle isn't complete.

The healthy amount of ammonia and nitrite to have your fish in is 0. Anything more than that is toxic. Just not lethally toxic right away, if it's a smaller amount. 

 

You can stall a cycle when dosing if you dose way too much. If you're testing frequently and dose the proper amount, which is easy enough, you won't stall it. And frankly, a stalled cycle is better than fish with ammonia-burned gills.

 

You shouldn't keep fish in complete darkness, but they'll do fine without a tank light, assuming the room they're in is lit during the day.

[Abelardo]

19 minutes ago, Tired said:

Clownfish are more resilient to stress and bad conditions than other fish. That doesn't mean the ammonia isn't stressful, potentially painful, and likely damaging. It just means they're less likely to die than something delicate. You need to be doing water changes to keep the ammonia very low, which is going to cause your tank to cycle more slowly, but will help keep your fish from being permanently harmed. The bottled bacteria is good, but, if you still have ammonia and nitrites, your cycle isn't complete.

The healthy amount of ammonia and nitrite to have your fish in is 0. Anything more than that is toxic. Just not lethally toxic right away, if it's a smaller amount. 

 

You can stall a cycle when dosing if you dose way too much. If you're testing frequently and dose the proper amount, which is easy enough, you won't stall it. And frankly, a stalled cycle is better than fish with ammonia-burned gills.

 

You shouldn't keep fish in complete darkness, but they'll do fine without a tank light, assuming the room they're in is lit during the day.

Awesome! This is extremely helpful, I will be on top of water changes and continue dosing the bottled bacteria and won’t add anymore livestock until I have a cycled tank. 

 

I didn’t get into this hobby to hurt fish 😓, I will take a more educated/experienced approach on any future tanks. 
 

I will research about fishless cycling in the near future, for now I can use any info/tips you guys may have to keep these clowns comfortable and get this tank cleaned up and settled. 
 

So knowing the light won’t affect the clowns, I’m thinking about shutting of the lights tonight once they go off via timer.

[mcarroll]

On 8/9/2020 at 5:45 PM, Abelardo said:

I got this tank started with the information from the 5 min guides on videos from BRS TV 🤷🏻‍♂️

On 8/5/2020 at 4:57 AM, Tamberav said:

@Abelardo I'm still laughing at this reply I got the other day in a different thread, and it just happens to apply again.  It's just for reference (and humor value).  Check out that thread....you can click the curved arrow on the right of the quote to see it.  👍

 

But mainly, check out the book (or ebook) Marine Aquarium Handbook Beginner to Breeder by Martin Moe.  

 

Once upon a time, this was the book that EVERYONE read before starting a saltwater tank.  

 

For a better base of understanding, start by reading that.  It's still widely available used (cheap!), new...and even in eBook format on your favorite device. 

 

Then reach out (other books, magazines, online, local user groups, et al) to fill in the gaps and answer the questions that will naturally come up. 

 

There are many other great books that you should also read....such as Robert Fenner's, Dana Riddle's, John Tullock's, Eric Borneman's, etc.

 

If you want even more depth, check out the epic book series by Baensch & Moosleitner, Delbeek & Sprung and Svein & Fossa. 

 

There are many, many...I've left a ton a great ones off the list.  Even read Moe's other fish/reef related books!

 

Check out this thread: