Hair algae in brand new tank?

[JessicaK]

So my tank has just finshed it's cycle. Yesterday it had 0 ppm nitrites and ammonia and 10 ppm nitrate. BTW it's a 46 bow with a good amount of LR no snails, crabs or fish yet. I just started to get the brown diatom algae yesterday.

A few days ago - before my cycle ended - some hair algae started popping up and now it's starting to get everywhere. I'm thinking it's briarium and it probably came in on my LR?? Or could it just be hair algae feeding off the nitrates? I've only used RO water.

Here are some pics of it on the rock and on the glass. Any thoughts??

46 bow
current light fixture w/ pc and actinic 96w ea
emperor 400 HOB
2 ph : maxijet 900 and penguin 1140 on opposite sides of the tank

 

[roka64]

It looks like Cladophora, possibly. I could be wrong, but I don't think that is hair algae. Where did the LR come from, origionally?

 

[JessicaK]

I got it at a LFS. Not sure if it came from one of their tanks or if it came in shipped...I'll have to ask next time I'm there.

 

[melosu58]

That looks like the emporer bio wheel you are using behind the tank. Have you removed the wheels? they are nitrate factories that are feeding your algea. I believe also you could use some more LR. 1.5-2 lbs per gallon and a skimmer is all you need for proper biological filtration. Just some suggestions. Hope all goes well.

 

[JessicaK]

I dont think that the biowheels are the problem since the tanks been set up for only 3 weeks. Right? Isn't it too soon for that? I was going to take the wheels out eventually and then get a skimmer. Maybe I'll do this now. It's worth a shot.

I've had hair algae in my previous tank and it never started out looking like this. The individual pieces look like small ferns...that's why I think it's briarium.

 

[tecwzrd]

It's not that uncommon for newly cycled tanks to get algae. Cycling a tank produces excess nutrients right off the bat which feeds bacterial/algae blooms and your no3 isn't high enough either to be the cause IMO.

Bio-wheels work like wet/dry sumps basically and if the filters aren't cleaned weekly will convert waste trapped on them to no3 very easily.

As Mike mentioned 1.5-2+ lbs of lr per gal and a quality skimmer will provide all your bio-filtration needs. Until you have sufficient lr to handle bio-filtration I'd keep your wheels spinning and remove one for 2 weeks and then the other.

Lastly ro water won't filter po4 out of tap so I'd check your source water and the water in the tank for po4 which also fuels algae.

 

[JessicaK]

Thanks for all of the advice everyone. I'm thinking it came in on my rock and when the nitrates bloomed it spread like wildfire.

I went to my crappy LFS here in town tonight and got some emerald crabs. (I have to drive an hour to get to a good store so I'll be doing that Saturday) Whatever kind of algae I have these guys are devouring it. Hopefully they'll make a difference. I was looking closely at my rock tonight and noticed 2 small (pin head size) algae bubbles so they'll have plenty to eat.