Brown algae (diatoms) new saltwater tank. Should I manage or let it take it's course?

[Salty Lemon]

Welcome! You will have to ride it out -- read closely about the hitchhikers. I'm currently at war with tube worms (not the good kind) and snails. But I will win this battle despite my cursing and threats to the tank. You will love it here. I'm glad you joined us.

 

[rodney]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[riosouza]

Thanks guys, I really appreciate every little bit of each advice.
Patience and self-control are definitely the keys to prevent frustation, money loss and turning the hobby into a stressful and painfull chore.

Cheers!

 

[Ruben's Reef]

!!! Welcome to R2R !!! A lot of great advise from our fellow reefers.

 

[BeejReef]

Welcome!

 

[LiveWire]

Welcome to the REEF!!

 

[Lovemyreef2015]

Welcome

 

[Chefwheredyougo]

Welcome to R2R and the hobby. 1 piece of advice I was given but didn't listen to: keep your hands out of the tank. I wish I had listened before, but try to now. Things go much smoother when you let your tank do it's own thing. Not saying never put them in, but try to do so sparingly.
Buckle in your in for a treat with this hobby.

 

[riosouza]

Welcome to R2R and the hobby. 1 piece of advice I was given but didn't listen to: keep your hands out of the tank. I wish I had listened before, but try to now. Things go much smoother when you let your tank do it's own thing. Not saying never put them in, but try to do so sparingly.
Buckle in your in for a treat with this hobby.

Do you mean literally or figuratively?

 

[brandon429]

There is one benefit to cleaning up your tank during the uglies phase


practice.

consider the sheer number of tanks who took no practice, the primary invasions never abated, then they scoured the web looking for ways to correct massive loss issues or tanks they frankly dont like.

Thats not to say an uglies phase can't go away, its a recommended approach based on the ones that did self cure

but the ones that didnt self cure, they're sparse on help options, you'd be amazed how many we've collected as work thread links.

Consider cleaning your initial invasions that way you learn care boundaries/actions that dont cause recycles up front, before you're packed with delicate corals. Its neat to have both sides of the coin regarding uglies phasing, I can link you to fifty page threads where the initial issues never went away and they flat out werent able to enjoy the tank for months and years in some cases.

Its not the majority of reefs, but its thousands of them...enough to consider some light practice work currently. my two cents

you have ways to keep sand clean, and rocks, so that coralline and corals are what plant there and not algae.
even just keeping one example rock among the others in total control helps, doesnt mean you have to do the whole tank

 

[riosouza]

There is one benefit to cleaning up your tank during the uglies phase


practice.

consider the sheer number of tanks who took no practice, the primary invasions never abated, then they scoured the web looking for ways to correct massive loss issues or tanks they frankly dont like.

Thats not to say an uglies phase can't go away, its a recommended approach based on the ones that did self cure

but the ones that didnt self cure, they're sparse on help options, you'd be amazed how many we've collected as work thread links.

Consider cleaning your initial invasions that way you learn care boundaries/actions that dont cause recycles up front, before you're packed with delicate corals. Its neat to have both sides of the coin regarding uglies phasing, I can link you to fifty page threads where the initial issues never went away and they flat out werent able to enjoy the tank for months and years in some cases.

Its not the majority of reefs, but its thousands of them...enough to consider some light practice work currently. my two cents

you have ways to keep sand clean, and rocks, so that coralline and corals are what plant there and not algae.
even just keeping one example rock among the others in total control helps, doesnt mean you have to do the whole tank

I'm little confused.
Do you mean that I should clean my tank from the diatoms during the ugly phase and not let it take its natural course?
Would you mind be more specific with the procedures?

Thanks!

 

[brandon429]

actions like siphoning out the top layer of sand with a python siphoner is ok for light topical growth removal

also, its possible to stir it ( the top growths ) up into suspension, Ill link some threads for all these moves you can peruse and see if any patterns stand out. Stirring just means insert stick, shake around and liberate the growths up into the tank, which is nice if you have nice water movement and filtration schemes that would remove it.

It does no good to stir a sandbed that isn't being mechanically filtered through the water in some way, it would just cloud up and resettle somewhere else. The people who pre stir, to reduce topical growths, start it at the beginning so that growths don't have time to mass heavily. its a routine they do, and the castings serve as coral food or supplements to coral feed vs just sitting there on the sandbed or rocks

ways they're filtering the water include skimmers, or canister filters hooked up with floss inside, there's many ways reefers have the setups. The main goal is that you can be active without harming your aquarium. You can also fully let it ride, see what occurs, this is the ongoing scope of options.

Additionally, some of the next invaders to show up on live rocks that aren't full of coralline can be anchored invaders like bryopsis or really set in hair algae (vs light slime coatings or cyano coatings that may be common now)

you have the option at any time of simply lifting out the rocks, scraping off the algae with a knife, and setting the rocks back sans algae. Growing it all over your rocks and then working back slowly over 10 months is only one option; some choose to hand garden right at the start, like a new lawn protecting from dandelions and selecting for fescue. Your rocks may never develop any type of green hair algae or bryopsis, but if they do and you want a different look, you need to know that's attainable and its not breaking any rules

don't be overwhelmed with the links; these are years long compilations of works that simply present you with access patterns you can discern from reading before and after jobs. when you have free time to peruse them, ask these types of questions as you are skimming:

-how many tanks died from this work (some of the work is fully intense, disassembly of ten year old systems/very delicate) and what were the access techniques used so people could access their tanks without harm?

-was there an age requirement on these tanks (such as actions only appropriate for old reefs vs new ones etc) or can tanks of any age employ these methods?

-can you find any examples of uglies phases that never went away?

-what were the kill steps people used to keep an invader at bay, what kind of cheats> chemicals> removal techniques

*again its not meant to overload this is showing you tanks that were on the brink, then brought back

how did they get to the brink, whats the recurring patterns that make people need corrective step work threads...what could they have done to avoid being part of these threads?

B

the examples:
preventative stick stirring

" MY WHITE SAND METHOD "

thanks again i know what type im getting next lol Im usually on RC and havent been around R2R much but i think im going to start looking around the site more:) Thats right before i forget to ask ive found the petco type of gardener on #bay (dont know if i can use the name on here yet?) anyone...

www.reef2reef.com

deep access sandbed cleaning, moving houses without losing tanks, making sandbeds stop clouding up the whole tank when you do clean or access them:

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

If you are reading this thread to cure a tank invasion from a link I sent you, we do not need to identify your type of invasion here we do not need you to test anything at anytime regarding nitrate, phosphate etc Above all, we do not need to see a microscope slide picture of your invasion at...

www.reef2reef.com

you can now see the vast range of access options we have for reefs. When I clean my 14 year reef, I set the corals and rocks out on the counter for half an hour in the air. Nobody has to be that extreme, I do it to simply show whats possible so that action boundaries are tested. If there is one pattern that stands out above all, I hope its the pattern that access isn't killing tanks, we really can clean if we desire. either as preventative, or in catch-up.

hundreds of tankers did nothing, developed a little initial growths, it subsided over time, and literally nothing bad happened. Its simply a range of options you have

 

[Chefwheredyougo]

Do you mean literally or figuratively?

Both. Unless you have to have your hands in the tank, (cleaning, spot feeding, coral placement, etc.), it's best just to let it be. Theres so much filth and contaminants on your body, and as soon as you place your hands in the water, it's in the water. Which can lead to their own problems.

 

[vetteguy53081]

 

[riosouza]

Hey guys, few days ago I got my Clownfish from qt to my main display. But today I noticed the little guy swimming in circles and a large white spot on his head and shredded fins.
The only medication I had on hands and used in my qt was Safeguard from Seachem and sg of 1.020 at 74°F.
I am planning on fw dip and put him back to my qt. Any other helpful suggestion to save this little
guy?

 

[GoldeneyeRet]

I think I enjoy keeping a reef because it forces me to be patient, which I naturally am not.

Welcome aboard!

 

[Semper.Reefing]

My tank is only 2.5 months old right now and I get diatom blooms every week. I’ve scraped the glass multiple times and every scraped them off my glass while siphoning them out during a water change. Am I wasting my time? Should I just let them bloom and die out? I have 12 snails but they only clean so much off the glass.

 

[Chefwheredyougo]

My tank is only 2.5 months old right now and I get diatom blooms every week. I’ve scraped the glass multiple times and every scraped them off my glass while siphoning them out during a water change. Am I wasting my time? Should I just let them bloom and die out? I have 12 snails but they only clean so much off the glass.

If it looks better to you to clean the glass than do it. They'll be back anyway. It's part of the "new tank uglies"

 

[Semper.Reefing]

If it looks better to you to clean the glass than do it. They'll be back anyway. It's part of the "new tank uglies"

I can’t wait for the new tank uglies to be over! I’m expecting to deal with it for a few more months i guess

 

[Jcagle09]

Welcome to R2R and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!