Ugly stage

[elorablue]

Mines the 35.2 waterbox mate

Right!

Anyway your tank is looking pretty normal. manually remove what you can and stay the course :cool:

 

[chrisgold]

You dont have to do any but if appearance is an issue, start with blowing with a turkey baster. Once loosened, siphon. In most cases, you are dealing with diatoms. Diatoms are a brown algae that typically appear in a reef tank that has just completed its cycle but they can also appear in an established reef tank. They can cover sand, rock, pumps, glass, you name it. Diatoms look ugly but in most cases they are harmless so the key is to not panic when they appear.
Diatoms feed mainly off of silicates but also consume dissolved organic compounds, phosphate and nitrates. Unfiltered tap water can contain silicates and is a good way to jump start a bloom if you use it to mix salt or to replace water that evaporated from the tank. The best way to prevent this from happening is to filter water through a RODI unit , although you can still get a diatom bloom when using RODI if the cartridge that removes silicates expires.
diatoms are typically harmless to a captive reef and can be beaten once their food source expires. Once you put the kibosh on the source, the outbreak should last a couple of weeks so just be patient and it will pass. For major outbreaks you may want to consider the three day blackout. Diatoms are easily wiped from the glass with a mag float, a turkey baster or a toothbrush can access other areas of the tank. Be prepared for them to re-establish themselves quickly, they are likely to be able to resettle and have exponential growth rates.
To prevent their return, practice good aquarium husbandry by doing regular water changes, keep the substrate clean, don’t overfeed the fish, ensure your skimmer is running at an optimal level and rinse out filter socks and sponges on a regular basis.
Some cleaner crew to help control it are : Cerith snails, Nerite snails and Trochus snails and also Astraea snails are effective at removing diatoms.

Aye i have an rodi unit inthink this is normal the tank is only 49 days old i have a kole tank and 3 trochi snails but they dont seem to do much the tang is none stop tbf like would be miles worse without it

 

[brandon429]

*your tank actually looks very nice, look at that clean sandbed.

merely lift out one rock and clean off a test section, put peroxide on the clean portions but avoiding all non targets, rinse off after about 2 mins outside the tank and set back.


that sandbed is so clean we dont need to rip into it. this is expected rock growth, uglies, as they work towards taking on more coralline. this is merely hand guiding to get a cleaner look but there's nothing wrong with that maturing tank thats for sure its great. if it was mine Id actually save the work of deep cleaning sand, it looks great, but I'd be lifting out those rocks and fixing them on the counter, rinsing off, back to clean without messing with aquarium water parameters and set the rocks back in gardened. no doser can beat this element of control but if your stack is locked into place that'll be tough to do.

 

[chrisgold]

*your tank actually looks very nice, look at that clean sandbed.

merely lift out one rock and clean off a test section, put peroxide on the clean portions but avoiding all non targets, rinse off after about 2 mins outside the tank and set back.


that sandbed is so clean we dont need to rip into it. this is expected rock growth, uglies, as they work towards taking on more coralline. this is merely hand guiding to get a cleaner look but there's nothing wrong with that maturing tank thats for sure its great.

Oh sweet so thanks so ya think i should just wait it out ? Till tanks more mature and it wil go on its own?

 

[chrisgold]

Right!

Anyway your tank is looking pretty normal. manually remove what you can and stay the course :cool:

Thanks pal

 

[chrisgold]

Hey how many gallons is this tank

Check this guy's 30 we transformed:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/algae-identification.707457/
gotta admit we have a tank on file already fixed to match any work job needed. Power man cleaning should be considered for all accessible reefs. Does not harm a cycle or set one back. Causes awesomeness

I will watch now thanks mate

 

[brandon429]

nobody knows how long it takes to come back around, open ended wait. the rock detailing merely forces the look you want now, without wait, and its harmless to any aspect of the cycle or tank stability. its is 100% preferable to adding bacteria over and over repeatedly, that's a bioload addition. ours is an export method. by manually clearing out plants, we force room to allow for coralline. another benefit of manual cleaning vs dosing and waiting.

our method is physical work though, its lifting out rocks for direct work just like a dentist does directly on teeth and avoids scraping or medicating the gums lol, we're a targeted manual cleaning approach there. their tanks really had messed up sand so we rinsed those out too, its no harm to do to your reef if you want but it already looks nice on the sand.

 

[chrisgold]

nobody knows how long it takes to come back around, open ended wait. the rock detailing merely forces the look you want now, without wait, and its harmless to any aspect of the cycle or tank stability. its is 100% preferable to adding bacteria over and over repeatedly, that's a bioload addition. ours is an export method. by manually clearing out plants, we force room to allow for coralline. another benefit of manual cleaning vs dosing and waiting.

our method is physical work though, its lifting out rocks for direct work just like a dentist does directly on teeth and avoids scraping or medicating the gums lol, we're a targeted manual cleaning approach there. their tanks really had messed up sand so we rinsed those out too, its no harm to do to your reef if you want but it already looks nice on the sand.

Yeah its one of those things a can do without lifting the rocks out to scrub them really i have tried with a toothbrush but it doesnt come off. Aye the sands not the problem i vac it regular its just the rocks i cant seem to stop algae on they wer those purple aquaforest ones about 2 weeks ago haha

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Whats a rip clean?

You just stepped in it!

 

[Uncle99]

Check phosphate level.
I might employ Vibrant, a toothbrush, weekly water change and turn off the lights.

 

[elorablue]

Yeah its one of those things a can do without lifting the rocks out to scrub them really i have tried with a toothbrush but it doesnt come off. Aye the sands not the problem i vac it regular its just the rocks i cant seem to stop algae on they wer those purple aquaforest ones about 2 weeks ago haha

Everything is going according to plan Chris

courtesy arcreef.com

""Many times the hobbyist will purchase a new saltwater aquarium, set up his brand new reef tank and after 3 or 4 weeks go by will start to see diatoms on their new reef rock. Diatoms appear as a brown filamentous coating. These diatoms will be on the rock, on the glass, and will look like sprinkled cinnamon on the sand. After 1-2 months these diatoms will now die off without silicates present in the water column in which to feed off. After diatoms now will come different types of green algae. One green algae that does not need to be introduced is called. Remember, any coralline algae must be introduced to the tank, it will not grow on its own, this included green coralline algae. This type of green looking algae can appear almost neon in color. It is fast growing, and can coat your rocks in a matter of a week. This is usually the time where you may want to freak out, but don’t. This green algae is actually a precursor to coralline algae. It can be even taken as a sign that your tank is well on it’s way to being a healthy, mature, and fully cycled reef tank. This alga will 100% of the time, be replaced by actual coralline algae in time. People often confuse this alga for green coralline algae, it is not though. Green coralline algae is very slow glowing. It will never propagate over an entire reef tank like your common species of coralline. People often give misadvise, stating that if you have to scrape it, or if it can’t be removed with your finger then it must be green coralline algae. This is not at all accurate. This green algae will not turn to coralline algae either, it will be replaced and grown over by coralline, this will only happen though once your tanks water quality is up to par. If your water parameters fluctuate, your nitrates are high, or your flow is low then it can take up to 1 year to be replaced. Normally if everything looks good then the average timeframe will be 2-4 months for this phase of your tanks cycle. This is the last phase befor your aquarium officially graduated to a “mature tank”. It should be viewed as a confirmation that your tank is on the home stretch. Do not panic, do not acid wash all your rock and reef work. Be patient and enjoy this finaly stage properly. Green coralline algae does exist though but these species are extremely slow growing, they often only grow in small circles and will never spread over an entire tank.""

 

[brandon429]

Notice the peroxide step we detailed in that work thread, that's the difference.

Only do a test section, put back and compare it over a week to the untreated areas. See what controlling just one area looks like. Upscale when ready, they did their whole tank at once.

 

[chrisgold]

You just stepped in it!

?

 

[chrisgold]

Everything is going according to plan Chris

courtesy arcreef.com

""Many times the hobbyist will purchase a new saltwater aquarium, set up his brand new reef tank and after 3 or 4 weeks go by will start to see diatoms on their new reef rock. Diatoms appear as a brown filamentous coating. These diatoms will be on the rock, on the glass, and will look like sprinkled cinnamon on the sand. After 1-2 months these diatoms will now die off without silicates present in the water column in which to feed off. After diatoms now will come different types of green algae. One green algae that does not need to be introduced is called. Remember, any coralline algae must be introduced to the tank, it will not grow on its own, this included green coralline algae. This type of green looking algae can appear almost neon in color. It is fast growing, and can coat your rocks in a matter of a week. This is usually the time where you may want to freak out, but don’t. This green algae is actually a precursor to coralline algae. It can be even taken as a sign that your tank is well on it’s way to being a healthy, mature, and fully cycled reef tank. This alga will 100% of the time, be replaced by actual coralline algae in time. People often confuse this alga for green coralline algae, it is not though. Green coralline algae is very slow glowing. It will never propagate over an entire reef tank like your common species of coralline. People often give misadvise, stating that if you have to scrape it, or if it can’t be removed with your finger then it must be green coralline algae. This is not at all accurate. This green algae will not turn to coralline algae either, it will be replaced and grown over by coralline, this will only happen though once your tanks water quality is up to par. If your water parameters fluctuate, your nitrates are high, or your flow is low then it can take up to 1 year to be replaced. Normally if everything looks good then the average timeframe will be 2-4 months for this phase of your tanks cycle. This is the last phase befor your aquarium officially graduated to a “mature tank”. It should be viewed as a confirmation that your tank is on the home stretch. Do not panic, do not acid wash all your rock and reef work. Be patient and enjoy this finaly stage properly. Green coralline algae does exist though but these species are extremely slow growing, they often only grow in small circles and will never spread over an entire tank.""

Thanks for taking the time to explain that mate you should be charging appreciate people like u in reefing

 

[brandon429]

I like reef proofs better when they come as threads. solely long paragraphs with no readable pics, outcomes, patterns means it sounds made up.

I would like to see arcreef's invasion correction work.

that's not to say it was all wrong, cycling and alternation of intial/primary generations of attachments

but they also imply self correction, and thats why I think they may not have even the slightest work threads to log the jobs as we did here:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/reef2reef-pest-algae-challenge-thread-hydrogen-peroxide.187042/

notice a trend: we can make massive work threads that show total opposite results from claims that dont come with any inspectable work.
that link above is initially guiding new reefs, and its fixing old reefs, its in total opposition to arcreef's claims but with inspectable patterns. if I'm presenting an unfair slant on that work, message any participant directly and ask them how the tank fared long term. the entire thread is built on the premise that self correction without intervention does not work for the masses.

Your tank indeed might self correct it really might. heck murphy's law might make it that way just because I advocated practice in manual control before its packed in sps :)

but we wouldnt need pages of work if tanks self-corrected above. We think the practical outcome of an average reef tank is those guys' before pics right when they were pressed into action.

also notice I mentioned a couple times now a practice section of the rock and how to attain control with it, that's not all the rock. its for comparison...to have one section you did control, against the ones you didnt, see what looks better in July.

removing those green surfaces directly helps purple coralline take hold, it’s shown in example works above.

my goal isn't to have you burn your whole reef ~ its to show that direct control saves tanks, without negative consequence and that no aspect of filtration or cycling is harmed in the work. THe top two reasons people let their tanks get as bad as they were when they presented above: didnt want to harm bacteria, didn't want to cause a recycle.

the practice now can save your reef later.