What is growing in my tank?

ErinAus2020

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Hi all, anyone know what this is? Hair algae? Diatoms? This was a freshwater (goldfish) tank before I recently bought it. I’ve filled it with nsw and added a bit of live rock. All my levels spiked at the start of the cycle, and now my ammonia is nearly 0, but nitrites and are 10 and 20!!!! This hairy brown crap has been all over the back of the tank since the first day.
Any thoughts what I should do here? Should I rip out that 3D background? Thinking maybe there’s a lot of old detritus trapped behind it. Although it’s very well siliconed in.
Any help would be very appreciated!
 

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Kris 2020

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So videos on here are weird, in that they don’t play. If you want a video to show you have to upload it to YouTube and then just copy the url and paste it here. Otherwise, a few pictures should suffice for some of our experts to ID the hairy brown crap.
 

Auquanut

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Welcome to R2R! The stuff on the background could just be dead algae from the FW days. That might explain the high levels you're seeing. Any chance you can scrub it off while the tank is cycling? The background looks really nice.
 

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Hi all, anyone know what this is? Hair algae? Diatoms? This was a freshwater (goldfish) tank before I recently bought it. I’ve filled it with nsw and added a bit of live rock. All my levels spiked at the start of the cycle, and now my ammonia is nearly 0, but nitrites and are 10 and 20!!!! This hairy brown crap has been all over the back of the tank since the first day.
Any thoughts what I should do here? Should I rip out that 3D background? Thinking maybe there’s a lot of old detritus trapped behind it. Although it’s very well siliconed in.
Any help would be very appreciated!
I can recommend vibrant it works on most types of algae and was reviewed by BRS used on 9 tanks with different algae it looked a reasonable result after the test period. I use it on a maintenance level these days to keep green/blue algae balls away which given the outbreak I had was got rid of in 3 months, one night it was there and the next day it was all gone and there was a lot of it in my 60 gal (UK gallons) tank
 
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ErinAus2020

ErinAus2020

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ahh haha i didn’t notice that it wasn’t working! Here’s a few pics.

B69CD23E-AEAD-4265-AD4F-04C836AC1C54.jpeg CE606FC5-E002-48B5-BE0D-D33DAFE0B00B.jpeg 58DAC103-3BE5-4D87-8616-F4A1F545797F.jpeg
 
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ErinAus2020

ErinAus2020

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Welcome to R2R! The stuff on the background could just be dead algae from the FW days. That might explain the high levels you're seeing. Any chance you can scrub it off while the tank is cycling? The background looks really nice.

Yes I’ve been trying to scrub it off, and have got rid of a lot of it. I guess now I’m more worried about the high nitrites and nitrates now. I love the 3D background, as I think it makes it look natural, but worried It may be the cause of the high levels. Do you have any experience with 3D foam backgrounds?
 

Auquanut

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Yes I’ve been trying to scrub it off, and have got rid of a lot of it. I guess now I’m more worried about the high nitrites and nitrates now. I love the 3D background, as I think it makes it look natural, but worried It may be the cause of the high levels. Do you have any experience with 3D foam backgrounds?

Unfortunately, I don't have any experience with 3D foam backgrounds. Hopefully someone else will chime in. If you haven't added any livestock yet, I can't see any problem letting the cycle take it's course. A large water change after the nitrite drops will help with the level of nitrate.
 
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ErinAus2020

ErinAus2020

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Unfortunately, I don't have any experience with 3D foam backgrounds. Hopefully someone else will chime in. If you haven't added any livestock yet, I can't see any problem letting the cycle take it's course. A large water change after the nitrite drops will help with the level of nitrate.

Thanks, hope so too! My first tank cycled very quickly, and the nitrites only spiked a tiny bit. Is it normal for them to spike this much in an Initial cycle?
 

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If there was extra nutrients in the tank behind the background I would say it is to be expected. Also depending on were you get your natural sea water it will have nutrients in it. did you use the natural sea water in your other tank?

Is the foam background covered in concrete or just painted?
 

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Thanks, hope so too! My first tank cycled very quickly, and the nitrites only spiked a tiny bit. Is it normal for them to spike this much in an Initial cycle?

Just a guess, but I'd say the decaying FW algae is producing ammonia which is quickly being converted to nitrite. The bacteria that converts nitrite to nitrate reproduces much slower than the bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrite. Hence the high nitrites. Also, the presence of nitrite in your water will throw off your nitrate reading. If that makes any sense. :confused: Of course, this is all just speculation on my part.
 
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ErinAus2020

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If there was extra nutrients in the tank behind the background I would say it is to be expected. Also depending on were you get your natural sea water it will have nutrients in it. did you use the natural sea water in your other tank?

Is the foam background covered in concrete or just painted?

Thanks for your response. I get my nsw from my lfs, and haven’t had any issues with my other tank. This new one is very deep and I couldn’t reach down to clean it out very well before filling it.
I‘m not entirely sure about the background. It feels like rock when you touch it, but it will give a bit if pushed hard. I’m assuming if it was covered in concrete, it wouldn’t give at all....?
 

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I’m assuming if it was covered in concrete, it wouldn’t give at all....?
Don't push too hard. Even if it is covered in concrete, it's just a thin layer.
 
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ErinAus2020

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Just a guess, but I'd say the decaying FW algae is producing ammonia which is quickly being converted to nitrite. The bacteria that converts nitrite to nitrate reproduces much slower than the bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrite. Hence the high nitrites. Also, the presence of nitrite in your water will throw off your nitrate reading. If that makes any sense. :confused: Of course, this is all just speculation on my part.
Makes perfect sense. I added some nitrifying bacteria, so fingers crossed that helps to kick things off! Thanks so much for your help
 

BrandonS

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Thanks for your response. I get my nsw from my lfs, and haven’t had any issues with my other tank. This new one is very deep and I couldn’t reach down to clean it out very well before filling it.
I‘m not entirely sure about the background. It feels like rock when you touch it, but it will give a bit if pushed hard. I’m assuming if it was covered in concrete, it wouldn’t give at all....?

If it was just a thin layer of concrete it would still give. I was just asking because it could leech silicates and maybe phosphates into the tank. Do you know how long it was a freshwater tank before you switched it to a reef?
 
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ErinAus2020

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If it was just a thin layer of concrete it would still give. I was just asking because it could leech silicates and maybe phosphates into the tank. Do you know how long it was a freshwater tank before you switched it to a reef?

Yes, that’s what my LFS has been concerned about too. If it is covered with concrete, will that help prevent any leeching?
Previous owner had one goldfish in it for about ten years.
 

BrandonS

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Yes, that’s what my LFS has been concerned about too. If it is covered with concrete, will that help prevent any leeching?
Previous owner had one goldfish in it for about ten years.

the leeching would most likely come from the concrete. However at 10 years there shouldn't be any leeching. Whatever was going to leech would have.
 

terraincognita

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I think it’s just dead algae as well as stated.

I recently emptied out my 13.5 and ended up upturning everything and kicking up all the sand etc etc.

I was moving everything to my 45.

matter a few days everything settled and there was an algae bloom. It was gross. Like really bad. But I didn’t care since it was empty.

since I haven’t been feeding anything for about3 weeks and all the lights were off everything died off.

now it looks like this, which to me looks like yours.

9C9523BA-5775-434D-B638-F5CCC679EF91.jpeg

8061CD9D-7656-4539-A788-646645BC7794.jpeg
23702A43-099D-436C-87F3-5768E03828D7.jpeg
 
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ErinAus2020

ErinAus2020

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I think it’s just dead algae as well as stated.

I recently emptied out my 13.5 and ended up upturning everything and kicking up all the sand etc etc.

I was moving everything to my 45.

matter a few days everything settled and there was an algae bloom. It was gross. Like really bad. But I didn’t care since it was empty.

since I haven’t been feeding anything for about3 weeks and all the lights were off everything died off.

now it looks like this, which to me looks like yours.

9C9523BA-5775-434D-B638-F5CCC679EF91.jpeg

8061CD9D-7656-4539-A788-646645BC7794.jpeg
23702A43-099D-436C-87F3-5768E03828D7.jpeg
Yes, it looks very similar! My glass was completely coated too!
 

terraincognita

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Yes, it looks very similar! My glass was completely coated too!

Regardless your CUC will make quick work of w/e it is, dead or not lol.

Add them first if you can't scrub it all off, they're also a good cheap indication if something else maybe is wrong after you do the water change and get your params under control.

yeah I scrubbed the glass for 20 minutes yesterday. I couldn't get it all, and I said why do i even care again XD. it's empty.
 

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