New reefer - just cycled tank I've already got a few issues :(

[Latte]

Hey all, just cycled my tank and I've already got a few issues unfortunately.

Issue #1: I think it's diatoms, Dinos or cyano bacteria. It grows all over the rocks and glass of my tank but seems mostly to grow on the sand bed. It scrubs off easily, I don't think it notably retracts during the night and I tried that test where you shake it up in a container and strain it through a paper towel: the towel caught almost all the particulates leaving clear water and bacteria didn't reform in the water after left to sit in the sun.

Issue #2: unsure if it's some kind of hair algae or bryopsas? It seems to sway in the flow. There's a lot over the rocks.

Issue #3: unsure if hair, turf or bryopsas. Also growing all over rocks.

I used 0-1 TDS RO water.
My toxic ammonia levels are 0.002 (from seneye)
My nitrate is very high (off charts of my red sea test)
Salinity is 35ppm
Temp is ~22 (haven't installed heater yet as just cycling)
pH is around 8-8.1
I don't yet have a phosphate or alkalinity checker sorry

And I made the stupid mistake of cycling with lights on! I read a thread on here that said it was purely a matter of preference and made no real difference, wish I didn't listen

Please help me ID these issues so I can deal with them ASAP! I am quite new to this and a little lost

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

I didn’t read through your post. But the brown stuff on the sand are diatoms and the stuff that looks like hair is green hair algae. This is all normal in a new tank. It’s called the ugly phase. Relax!

 

[Latte]

I didn’t read through your post. But the brown stuff on the sand are diatoms and the stuff that looks like hair is green hair algae. This is all normal in a new tank. It’s called the ugly phase. Relax!

If you're sure they are diatoms it's a huge relief. At first I was excited to see them as I thought it meant the cycle was happening. Then I read up about cyano and Dino and how diatoms can be confused for them and I panicked again. It definitely has a few of the characteristics of both.

Are both #2 and #3 just GHA?

 

[PeterC99]

Have you thought about a refugium with chaeto to manage the high nitrates?

 

[Latte]

Have you thought about a refugium with chaeto to manage the high nitrates?

I have but it would be hard to implement as it's a small AIO 20G. I do have some ideas though if you're curious you can see in my build thread more info but I was planning on turning the small ATO box into a mini refugium of sorts. Please enjoy my beautiful paint schematics

 

[PeterC99]

I have but it would be hard to implement as it's a small AIO 20G. I do have some ideas though if you're curious you can see in my build thread more info but I was planning on turning the small ATO box into a mini refugium of sorts. Please enjoy my beautiful paint schematics

Heres my homemade chaeto refugium made out of cheap egg crate. Keeps my overstocked 90g with low nitrates and phosphates.

 

[Lavey29]

Heres my homemade chaeto refugium made out of cheap egg crate. Keeps my overstocked 90g with low nitrates and phosphates.

Is that a Neptune light? You keep your cheato inside the egg crate?

 

[PeterC99]

Is that a Neptune light? You keep your cheato inside the egg crate?

Yes - Neptune grow light and the chaeto stays very nicely within the egg crate.

 

[Lavey29]

Looks like normal tank ugly phase. If you have no corals you can minimize the affects with shorter light duration and intensity. Use mainly blues and uv, very minimal white.

I kept my lights off the first 3 months before corals.

 

[Tamberav]

The cycle looks pretty much done. Just do a large water change to get rid of nitrates and add a clean up crew. You can start with a few tester snails or hermits and if all is well. Add a more beefy crew as they have plenty to eat.

The last image appears to be a macro algae and once tank is more stable, a tuxedo urchin will likely take care of that.

 

[Latte]

Heres my homemade chaeto refugium made out of cheap egg crate. Keeps my overstocked 90g with low nitrates and phosphates.

Looks awesome, super keen to do something like this though it is hard with my current size tank (can't get much bigger as I live in a small apartment at the moment).

Looks like normal tank ugly phase. If you have no corals you can minimize the affects with shorter light duration and intensity. Use mainly blues and uv, very minimal white.

I kept my lights off the first 3 months before corals.

Ok thanks for the tips - I should've really kept off the lights it seemed for the cycle, I have two small zoanthid polyps that came in on my liverock (a cool surprise) but other than that no coral so I'll try and limit the light until I can add a bit of a CUC.

The cycle looks pretty much done. Just do a large water change to get rid of nitrates and add a clean up crew. You can start with a few tester snails or hermits and if all is well. Add a more beefy crew as they have plenty to eat.

The last image appears to be a macro algae and once tank is more stable, a tuxedo urchin will likely take care of that.

Awesome to hear thanks! I'm planning on getting a tuxedo urchin, love the idea of them, so that's good news for sure


It seems likely that none of these algae are actual problems just a natural part of cycle which is a big relief. Thanks for all the help everyone