New tank ugly stage - what should I do?

[Shiva]

Hi everyone, my wife and I recently set-up our RSR 250 with Red Sea Coral Pro Salt and Caribsea Live Sand/Life Rocks. We got the nitrogen cycle running in the aquarium, and I guess the aquarium’s going through the ‘ugly stage’ now. I’m not quite sure what’s growing in there right now, so I figured I‘d get some opinions from you more experienced reefers on how we should handle it. I stopped testing the nitrates and phosphates once the algae (and I’m not sure what else) started to bloom. The last I checked, about two weeks ago, nitrates were at 20ppm and phosphates at about 0.1 ppm (it was quite hard to determine between 0.03 and 0.1 on the test kit). My skimmer is running fine, and our corals seem to be doing alright too. What are your opinions on how to handle such a situation.

I’ve added some pictures for reference!

 

[Ron Reefman]

It's the ugly stage. Do the maintenance. Blow off the bubbles, suck out algae and cyano where you can. Pick off algae where you need to. Feed a bit less and maybe run lights a bit less.

In time (1 to 3 months) this stage should pass.

I just rebuilt the rockscape in my tank and I'm going through a bit of a new ugly stage with some light algae slime growing on the sand. I end up blowing it off into the water current so it gets sucked through the weir and down into the filter socks every day or two.

 

[drewwCh]

looks like dinoflagellates to me with the bubbles coming off the brown stuff. like Ron Reefman said, just blow off the algae on occasion and suck out the algae when you do a water change. I'm also going through what looks like dinos too not really sure, I've just kept up with maintenance and occasionally blow off the brown stuff, snails get the rest that I can't easily reach

 

[Shiva]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I tried it out, and it seems like some of it is receding. Its slowly getting clearer. Would adding Vibrant help the situation, and if so, would there be any repercussions to using it? Cause based on what I've been reading online, there seems to be a divide in how some people approach the ugly stage; some people prefer to let the ugly stage come in full swing and wait it out, and some try to avoid it with additives. What are your takes on this?

 

[drewwCh]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I tried it out, and it seems like some of it is receding. Its slowly getting clearer. Would adding Vibrant help the situation, and if so, would there be any repercussions to using it? Cause based on what I've been reading online, there seems to be a divide in how some people approach the ugly stage; some people prefer to let the ugly stage come in full swing and wait it out, and some try to avoid it with additives. What are your takes on this?

if i were you i'd just let it pass by naturally. i wouldn't add any chemicals in the water to combat anything of the ugly stage. imo the ugly stage is an essential part of the maturity of a tank so let it ride!