Ugly Phase?

[WhyMe?]

Back into reefing hobby after 20+ year hiatus. I have a 100g rubbermaid tub that I added 200 lbs of live rock from an established FOWLR tank and sand. Placed sand then plastic tile on top, then established live rock on top, see pictures. Added about 50 lbs of BRS Marco dry rock. Circulation is with EcoTech MP60 for water flow. No heater (water temp 77 degrees), no lights from February to mid May. In sense, guess you could call "dark cure". Have ATI T5 bulbs and reef brite 03 actinics over last 2-3 weeks. Green algae is growing, does not look like hair algae, more firm in nature.
1. I think going through UGLY phase due to adding light. YES, I could go dark again BUT GOAL is to have all rock, sand "cycled" so when I setup main display tank, I can just transfer all Live Rock, marco dry rock, sand over and avoid the ugly phase.
2. pH 8.0, NH3 barely detectable, salinity 1.026, Phosphate 0.15, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 40ppm. have NOT done water change yet to lower nitrates.
3. Should I start adding CUC, urchins, Fish at this point?
4. Will green algae go away on its own over time?

Appreciate the advice.

 

[MoshJosh]

You are probably more experienced than me, so keep that in mind haha

But. . .

Yeah, looks like the "uglies" to me. Yes, I would add a CUC and feed accordingly. . . fish. . . I don't know, guess it sort of depends on what your final stocking will be and how many fish you plan on adding day 1 (in the display).

 

[Dan_P]

Back into reefing hobby after 20+ year hiatus. I have a 100g rubbermaid tub that I added 200 lbs of live rock from an established FOWLR tank and sand. Placed sand then plastic tile on top, then established live rock on top, see pictures. Added about 50 lbs of BRS Marco dry rock. Circulation is with EcoTech MP60 for water flow. No heater (water temp 77 degrees), no lights from February to mid May. In sense, guess you could call "dark cure". Have ATI T5 bulbs and reef brite 03 actinics over last 2-3 weeks. Green algae is growing, does not look like hair algae, more firm in nature.
1. I think going through UGLY phase due to adding light. YES, I could go dark again BUT GOAL is to have all rock, sand "cycled" so when I setup main display tank, I can just transfer all Live Rock, marco dry rock, sand over and avoid the ugly phase.
2. pH 8.0, NH3 barely detectable, salinity 1.026, Phosphate 0.15, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 40ppm. have NOT done water change yet to lower nitrates.
3. Should I start adding CUC, urchins, Fish at this point?
4. Will green algae go away on its own over time?

Appreciate the advice.

The “ugly” phase is by definition growth of unwanted surface (benthic) photosynthetic organisms. No light, no uglies. When you illuminated the rocks, the dormant algae grew. This process is just ecology in action where we watch a sterile surface go through a changing collection of organisms, The trajectory of this evolution is probably a happy ending most of the time with a small fraction of the time the ecology seems to get stuck at an intermediate ugly stage. The happy ending probably depends on many factors that we have yet to fully understand.

When you move the rocks and sand to the aquarium, the surface ecologies could be disturbed enough for the uglies to return. With the introduction of inverts and fish, there will also be the introduction of algae that might find suitable surfaces to grow on and produce a hair algae or other algae outbreak.

 

[WhyMe?]

MoshJosh: working on 500g project. looking into CUC 1st the grazing fish
Dan_P: Good info. Should I mechanically remove green algae?

 

[Dan_P]

MoshJosh: working on 500g project. looking into CUC 1st the grazing fish
Dan_P: Good info. Should I mechanically remove green algae?

It seems mechanical removal of macro algae can be a useful way to manage it. I don’t know whether it is useful for micro algae removal.

Dipping rocks in hydrogen peroxide has been advocated as a way to get rid of unwanted algae. Without the presence of coral on the rocks, you are in a good position to test this idea. I have no idea about how much peroxide to use.