Algae blooming?

[Always Be Reefin]

Started my 20 gallon tank about 3 weeks ago. All dry rock, caribsea live sand, and Fritz turbostart for beneficial. Been following the method of the BRSTV 5 minute guide, where I plan to keep the lights off the first few months so photosynthetic algae can't take hold whole I prep the tank to deal with that


The only time I have lights on is to feed for less than 2 minutes. My wife noticed red in the tank this morning and I wanted to see if this is some type of algae or what exactly I'm dealing with

 

[The_Paradox]

It looks like it “could” be a touch of cyano. Tank being new it’s gonna get algae so nothing to be alarmed about. Just monitor it for anything excessive and be patient through the first 5-6 months.

 

[Always Be Reefin]

It looks like it “could” be a touch of cyano. Tank being new it’s gonna get algae so nothing to be alarmed about. Just monitor it for anything excessive and be patient through the first 5-6 months.

I just thought with algae being photosynthetic, nothing would really take hold as long as I didn't have the lights on. But thanks for the heads up

 

[Reeflix]

Just the uglies, good bacteria should outcompete it later.

 

[The_Paradox]

I just thought with algae being photosynthetic, nothing would really take hold as long as I didn't have the lights on. But thanks for the heads up

Cyanobacteria is a bacteria. They have find the stuff hundreds of feet underground. The lights off method in a lot of cases just allows other uglies to pop up. At some point most new tanks are gonna look like butt no matter how you start them.