Newly Cycled Tank/Algae Cycle Lengths

[flightboy123]

Hello everyone! I am new to this site, but have found lots of information on it while I got started. Now I'll have some questions for the experts!

I have a newly cycled 20 gal tank, tall. I know its small, but I plan to move on to bigger once I learn the ropes.

I cycled it fishless for about 30 days, and got my readings straight. Added damsel (big mistake!) hostile!! , followed by another 2 a few weeks later.

The tank remains perfect. Ammonia 0, nitrite 0 PH Stable

Ive gone thru the brown diatom bloom, which came and went. Now im getting all sorts of algae blooms. Currently, I have spots of dark greenish/black algae growing on the sand bed. I have a turbo snail and 2 red leg hermits working hard but they still cant manage it.

its not horrific, but its not great looking. How many different outbreaks should i expect? Anything to watch out for as dangerous? certain color ?

As i said, the diatom has come and gone, and now its mostly greenish, and some light brown.

The dry rock has taken on hues of pink and brown colors. I also had some wild grass which i took care of.

Your thoughts are appreciated!

 

[Cylias]

I'm assuming the tank hasn't been up longer then 2 months. You have already added too many fish too fast and that could be apart of your algae problem.

At this point you should...

1. Do a 20% water change weekly till the algae stops blooming. You can stir up the sand a little to get the algae floating/clean the glass before you change your water.

2. Buy more clean up crew. Start with 5 more Hermits and 5 more snails and see where that gets you. Give it about 2 weeks and see where they get you.

3. Be patient with livestock. Your tank is still cycling and at this point if its still seeing lots of algae growth it still has more to go.

 

[flightboy123]

Excellent advice. I will pickup some more cleaning crew tmrw. I was unsure if that would be a good idea or not. Thanks

 

[Cylias]

Clean-up crews do need to be replenished from time to time so if you feel as if they are not pulling their weight you can add a few more. But at this point 5 more snails and 5 more hermits will definitely be helpful. Its pretty amazing how quick you will see a difference in a small tank like yours. Goodluck!