Hair Algae or Start of Coraline - HELL

[Clee2158]

Looking for some confirmation. My tank is about 3.5 months old. I introduced my lighting about two weeks ago. I have radion g4 running for about four hours a day at 60% intensity. I believe the dreaded brown phase is kicking in which I expected. I am also noticing spots of green starting to pop up all over the place. I am hoping this is coraline and not the start of a hair algae bloom. I attached some pictures, but it might be hard to see. Hoping a more experienced reefer can shed some light on the green spots.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Looking for some confirmation. My tank is about 3.5 months old. I introduced my lighting about two weeks ago. I have radion g4 running for about four hours a day at 60% intensity. I believe the dreaded brown phase is kicking in which I expected. I am also noticing spots of green starting to pop up all over the place. I am hoping this is coraline and not the start of a hair algae bloom. I attached some pictures, but it might be hard to see. Hoping a more experienced reefer can shed some light on the green spots.

Kick the lights to 100% white and no blue for the photo. Will made id’ing easier.

 

[Jekyl]

Probably not coraline. Hard to tell with the blue lights.

 

[Jekyl]

Rocks will go from being completely covered in green to finally showing small purple spots that spread. Regardless of what you do the ugly phase can't be avoided. It's normal and a natural part of starting a reef tank.

 

[Clee2158]

Thank you, here are the updated photos

 

[Jekyl]

I'm guessing you have a long way to go before coraline. By the looks you haven't even gotten passed the uglies yet. Coraline will show up in small dots at first and will be on rocks, glass, and powerheads.

 

[Clee2158]

Rocks will go from being completely covered in green to finally showing small purple spots that spread. Regardless of what you do the ugly phase can't be avoided. It's normal and a natural part of starting a reef tank.

Thank you, is there any treatments I need to do at this stage that might be helpful?

 

[Jekyl]

Thank you, is there any treatments I need to do at this stage that might be helpful?

Just ride the wave. If you have a snail or crab with coraline you can scratch it off into a powerhead. However coraline is the last of the algae to grow and the slowest growing.

 

[KrisReef]

Yup. You gots algae hair coming in real nice on those naked rocks. That’s what happens in these start ups.

 

[Clee2158]

Just ride the wave. If you have a snail or crab with coraline you can scratch it off into a powerhead. However coraline is the last of the algae to grow and the slowest growing.

Thank you, so things seem to be normal then? Just be patient.

 

[Clee2158]

Thank you both for the input helps! I was expecting the brown phase, but didn't realize that came with hair Algae. My last tank had hair Algae issues so I was worried that I was doing something wrong. My last tank I started with live rock from the LFS this is the first time I have dabbled with starting with dry rock. I did cure that rock for about a month in a 30 gallon container prior to putting it in my display tank.

 

[Jekyl]

Thank you both for the input helps! I was expecting the brown phase, but didn't realize that came with hair Algae. My last tank had hair Algae issues so I was worried that I was doing something wrong. My last tank I started with live rock from the LFS this is the first time I have dabbled with starting with dry rock. I did cure that rock for about a month in a 30 gallon container prior to putting it in my display tank.

Ugly phase can't be avoided

 

[elorablue]

Will that necessarily turn into hair algae? My 2 month old tank looks very similar to that and the algae has stayed tight to the rocks with no long strands at all. It's just a film which the snails are munching on. I do see a lot of purple spots starting up as well.

 

[Jekyl]

My tank didn't get really ugly until around 5 or 6 months old.