Is this a micro green algae the ‘ugly stage’?

greeno1645

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Greetings! New to this forum. I’m a hobbyist from way long ago. My son and I set up a 30 gallon bow front tank as an experiment, using a minimalist approach to equipment.

I’m writing to ask if you would consider this green algae a serious problem?

So, it’s been 4 1/2 weeks since set up. We cycled with live sand, dry rock, and some mollies - lights were on full power 8 hours/day from day one.

Tank cycled in about 2 weeks. Algae started growing on rocks. Added hermits, snails and copipods. The algae continues to grow on the rocks and glass, but not on sand.

Added cleaner shrimp, fang blenny, and purple square anthius around the same time (2 weeks ago) and recently removed the mollies and added some mushrooms, and frag if green star polyps.

Everybody is eating, acting healthy, water is super clear, water chemistry shows low levels of nitrates (between5- 10ppm) but phosphate is slightly elevated (.25 ppm).

Nice population of copis throughout the tank, and the green algae has spread on the rocks, but not beyond.

I was hoping to see the green algae die back and see coralline algae take its place, but is it just too soon?

I really don’t mind how it looks… kind of pretty, but is this going to prevent coralline algae from growing, or some other problems?

Thanks.





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Lavey29

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Looks like normal evolution of the tank in its early stages. You skipped the diatom phase going bare bottom. I would just stay the course. You actually don't need lights unless you have corals. I left my lights off the first 4 months to allow my tank to develop biodiversity and microfauna first. This made my algae stages very manageable.

Coralline generally starts around 5 months typically on plastic parts first like powerheads long before the rocks.

20220325_164400.jpg
 
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greeno1645

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Looks like normal evolution of the tank in its early stages. You skipped the diatom phase going bare bottom. I would just stay the course. You actually don't need lights unless you have corals. I left my lights off the first 4 months to allow my tank to develop biodiversity and microfauna first. This made my algae stages very manageable.

Coralline generally starts around 5 months typically on plastic parts first like powerheads long before the rocks.

20220325_164400.jpg
 
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greeno1645

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Thanks for the info on when to expect coralline algae.

The tank actually has black sand, but yes, we never got any brown diatom algae.

There’s a few splashes of color on the rock, but it’s either remnants of old coralline algae (since the rock came from a tank I had ten years ago) or perhaps some other algae types trying to make an appearance.

The copis seem to be doing a good job in the sand - probably why I don’t have algae there.
 

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Greetings! New to this forum. I’m a hobbyist from way long ago. My son and I set up a 30 gallon bow front tank as an experiment, using a minimalist approach to equipment.

I’m writing to ask if you would consider this green algae a serious problem?

So, it’s been 4 1/2 weeks since set up. We cycled with live sand, dry rock, and some mollies - lights were on full power 8 hours/day from day one.

Tank cycled in about 2 weeks. Algae started growing on rocks. Added hermits, snails and copipods. The algae continues to grow on the rocks and glass, but not on sand.

Added cleaner shrimp, fang blenny, and purple square anthius around the same time (2 weeks ago) and recently removed the mollies and added some mushrooms, and frag if green star polyps.

Everybody is eating, acting healthy, water is super clear, water chemistry shows low levels of nitrates (between5- 10ppm) but phosphate is slightly elevated (.25 ppm).

Nice population of copis throughout the tank, and the green algae has spread on the rocks, but not beyond.

I was hoping to see the green algae die back and see coralline algae take its place, but is it just too soon?

I really don’t mind how it looks… kind of pretty, but is this going to prevent coralline algae from growing, or some other problems?

Thanks.





2C9C0C08-FF23-4795-813A-DACD267D0AE0.jpeg
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5A406F8A-3C79-451D-988C-3BFE07C76DEF.jpeg
Looks normal for that stage.

You probably need to add algae eaters, Astrea or Trochus snails would be good. Probably 10-15 to start with in that size tank.

Or you can get out the toothbush and start daily scrubbing.

Snails are easier :)

You're unlikely to see coralline for another few months.
 

Lavey29

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Thanks for the info on when to expect coralline algae.

The tank actually has black sand, but yes, we never got any brown diatom algae.

There’s a few splashes of color on the rock, but it’s either remnants of old coralline algae (since the rock came from a tank I had ten years ago) or perhaps some other algae types trying to make an appearance.

The copis seem to be doing a good job in the sand - probably why I don’t have algae there.
Probably remnants, coralline dies if it gets exposed to air. Get some decent size trochus snails and they will have coralline on their shells. Scrape flakes off to seed your tank.
 

CookieRdReef

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Coralline is pretty hard to get going for some. Adding rock with coralline on it and maintaining high PH usually helps. I wouldnt worry about coralline, it will come or not.

The green aglae will likely turn a few shades of brown/grey. Your best bet for it not to turn into a problem are to turn down the lights if they are on high. Most people run lights 40-60% depending on set up. For new tanks the less light better for algae control. Algae loves light but the mushrooms and acans you have there prefer very little. Good bacteria and micro critters that eat the algae need no light.

Adding more pods, bottled bio products (I use PNS Pro Bio) may help age the biology of the rock. Young dry rock is usually ugly for a while before it looks nice again.
 
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greeno1645

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Thanks for all the feedback. I’ll pick up more snails.
The tank has a mini-refugium we built in the back of the tank that has macro algae that we’re trying to grow, so I’ve left the lights on full, in part, to get the macro to grow.
Anyway- if all is normal, then likely in a month or so we’ll start seeing the algae recede, and the coralline growing.
Thx
 

reeefish

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Thanks for all the feedback. I’ll pick up more snails.
The tank has a mini-refugium we built in the back of the tank that has macro algae that we’re trying to grow, so I’ve left the lights on full, in part, to get the macro to grow.
Anyway- if all is normal, then likely in a month or so we’ll start seeing the algae recede, and the coralline growing.
Thx
How’s the tank looking since the last update? My tanks in the same stage now, only 2.5 months old.
 
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greeno1645

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How’s the tank looking since the last update? My tanks in the same stage now, only 2.5 months old.
aquarium 3.5 months.jpg

Hi! Sorry for the delay in responding. This is the tank today, about 3 months and 3 weeks since set up.

So, you can see the green algae that was covering the rocks is nearly gone. The few areas of rock that are green seem to have just a very fine covering.... perhaps green coraline algae.

Top right, you can see a patch of green algae that is rather long, but I suspect my hermit crabs and snails will clean that up once they run across it. It does seem that they don't always find algae, even when there's a big patch.

Water quality is very stable... nearly zero nitrates (zero on my test, but there must be some) and zero phospates (again, my test shows none, but there must be some traces).

As you can see, I've added a few fish and a few corals. The goniapora has been in there for 3 weeks and seems to have double in size. Most likely it is just fully extending its tenticles vs. when it was at the store, but it does look happy.

I think there have been three key factors for the tank's success (thus far).

First, copipods are very well established. I never got a bad case of brown diatom algae. When I had a few patches, it dissappeared in just a few days.

Second, my clean up crew of blue hermit crabs, trochus snails, and conch seem to knock out any green algae blooms, but there have been very few (I think) due to the low level of nitrates and phospates.

Third, my drop in filter design is my own creation and serves as a deep sand bed refugium and has a very effective flow mechanism.

It is a protype ... I'm hoping to improve it, and perhaps sell to other hobbiests.

The biggest issue I've had with my filter so far is that I used white plastic that I painted black, but the snails ate the paint off when they were eating the algae (LOL).

I'll likely re-make the filter with black plastic, and swap it out.

I'm interested in how your tank looks. Will you post a photo?
 

reeefish

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aquarium 3.5 months.jpg

Hi! Sorry for the delay in responding. This is the tank today, about 3 months and 3 weeks since set up.

So, you can see the green algae that was covering the rocks is nearly gone. The few areas of rock that are green seem to have just a very fine covering.... perhaps green coraline algae.

Top right, you can see a patch of green algae that is rather long, but I suspect my hermit crabs and snails will clean that up once they run across it. It does seem that they don't always find algae, even when there's a big patch.

Water quality is very stable... nearly zero nitrates (zero on my test, but there must be some) and zero phospates (again, my test shows none, but there must be some traces).

As you can see, I've added a few fish and a few corals. The goniapora has been in there for 3 weeks and seems to have double in size. Most likely it is just fully extending its tenticles vs. when it was at the store, but it does look happy.

I think there have been three key factors for the tank's success (thus far).

First, copipods are very well established. I never got a bad case of brown diatom algae. When I had a few patches, it dissappeared in just a few days.

Second, my clean up crew of blue hermit crabs, trochus snails, and conch seem to knock out any green algae blooms, but there have been very few (I think) due to the low level of nitrates and phospates.

Third, my drop in filter design is my own creation and serves as a deep sand bed refugium and has a very effective flow mechanism.

It is a protype ... I'm hoping to improve it, and perhaps sell to other hobbiests.

The biggest issue I've had with my filter so far is that I used white plastic that I painted black, but the snails ate the paint off when they were eating the algae (LOL).

I'll likely re-make the filter with black plastic, and swap it out.

I'm interested in how your tank looks. Will you post a photo?
Your tank looks to be moving in the right direction, perhaps in a month or so the algea will subside and replace with coralline. I started my tank with caribsea rock so I understand the maturity will take time to establish. Attached picture was from last week at night with just white lights turned on. I am starting to see GHA in some spots but primarily just green algea covering the rocks and sand. I’ve been debating if I need to increase the CuC, currently have 2 large turbos, 3 mini turbos, and 5 nassarius snails.
 

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greeno1645

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Your tank looks to be moving in the right direction, perhaps in a month or so the algea will subside and replace with coralline. I started my tank with caribsea rock so I understand the maturity will take time to establish. Attached picture was from last week at night with just white lights turned on. I am starting to see GHA in some spots but primarily just green algea covering the rocks and sand. I’ve been debating if I need to increase the CuC, currently have 2 large turbos, 3 mini turbos, and 5 nassarius snails.
Very nice!

I used some old dry rock that I had in storage, so everything started out very sterile and white at the begining. Now, not so much.

I like how the caribsea rock looks from the start...colored so it looks to have some living growth on it, so with the addition of your algae, it looks well established.

Maybe you should try some hermit crabs.

I like my blue legged hermits... they kind of cool to watch and I think they do a better job on the rock than the snails. Many years ago, when I use to go to the Florida Keys, I'd see them in the billions as they cleaned the algae on rock near bridges and such. Things have gotten pretty bad ecologically for the Keys since then, and my last visit a few years ago, I saw almost none and the rocks were essentially covered in brown diatom algae and silt. Very sad.

What's that you have growing on the back wall of your tank? I'm thinking of mounting some plugs to grow over my backing since the snails have made such a mess of the black paint.
 

reeefish

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Very nice!

I used some old dry rock that I had in storage, so everything started out very sterile and white at the begining. Now, not so much.

I like how the caribsea rock looks from the start...colored so it looks to have some living growth on it, so with the addition of your algae, it looks well established.

Maybe you should try some hermit crabs.

I like my blue legged hermits... they kind of cool to watch and I think they do a better job on the rock than the snails. Many years ago, when I use to go to the Florida Keys, I'd see them in the billions as they cleaned the algae on rock near bridges and such. Things have gotten pretty bad ecologically for the Keys since then, and my last visit a few years ago, I saw almost none and the rocks were essentially covered in brown diatom algae and silt. Very sad.

What's that you have growing on the back wall of your tank? I'm thinking of mounting some plugs to grow over my backing since the snails have made such a mess of the black paint.
I was considering hermits, I just need to also pick up some larger empty shells so they don’t pick on the snails. The back wall is green star polyps GSP that I glued down, over time it will spread across.
 
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greeno1645

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I was considering hermits, I just need to also pick up some larger empty shells so they don’t pick on the snails. The back wall is green star polyps GSP that I glued down, over time it will spread across.
OIC! The GSP are inside... that's the coral body - neat!
My trocha snails have breed already, so I have dozens of small snails all about. So, at this point, I think I have an everlasting supply of shells for my hermits if they need, but I don't see much aggression over shells.
 

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