new to the forum and have my first ?

[flytiehunt]

Hello to everyone. My name is Jeremy and I live in Branson, Mo. I am a flyfishing guide here and I love everything about fish. Anyways, my question that I have would be regarding the algae that I recently got setting up my saltwater reef tank. I set it up about 3 weeks ago and just lately I have been noticing a real stringing type of green algae growing on the glass. I really would like to know how and why that came about. I am knew to the saltwater world but I have done everything else with freshwater so I kinda understand things that would be related to that but clueless on salt. I just want to say that I know you get these ? all the time but I would really appreciate anybody who can take the time out to explain what I need to do to understand how this came about. Thank you for your time. Jeremy

 

[JohnNLuc]

What your experiencing right now is due to your tank cycling. Many algaes will appear only to leave again when your cycle is over. green algae and diatoms (brown algea) are common when your tank is going through these steps of producing bacteria I would give it some time and it should disappear on its own.

Oh and welcome to the boards

 

[flytiehunt]

Thank you,... Also I recently bought 2 clowns and one likes to eat and the other one just comes up and smells and then swims away. He has been doing that now for about 5 days. What is that all about? Jeremy

 

[Phyl]

green algae <snip> are common when your tank is going through these steps

I don't think that green algae is as common a byproduct of cycling as the diatoms are. If you have green stringy algae (hair algae) then there's something in the water that doesn't belong there. The diatoms (brown algae) are from silicates which are very very very common in new tanks. The hair algae is more likely the result of phosphates in your water. You need to identify the source of the phosphates (are you using tap or RO/DI? what kind of food are you feeding? what additives are you using? what kind of carbon do you use?). Once you pin down and eliminate the cause of the hair algae it will go away. In the mean time keep it under control by manually removing it from your system. Ask you LFS to test your water (or purchase a test kit) to see if they can detect phosphates in your water both tank and source water.

Welcome to AA! You've found the best, most friendly source of information on saltwater aquaria on the net! Keep asking questions! We're happy to answer them regardless of how many times we hear them!

 

[gooyferret]

I agree with Phyl green hair algae is not common in the cycling of a new tank....Algae growth is common you may have possibly got the hair algae from live rock or something introduced into the tank. Like Phyl said have your water test and maybe do a water change to redue the phospates...My own experience i would not recommend trying to pull it off the rocks while in the tank...I have found that to only spread the problem. Get some hermit blue legs after tank has cycled and emerald crabs...and possible a tang or some sort to take care of the problem and doing water changes will help a lot. JMO

 

[afilter]

Concur with what is stated above. Check your water source. If using tap water that is likely the source. I would switch to RO if you are not using it. I started with tap water and had the same problem. I did water change after water only to eventually discover the source was my tap water thanks to someones advice on this site.

You do not have to buy an RO unit right away to do this. I purchase my water locally for $.50/gallon. Down the road I look to get my own RO unit, but for the time being it works for me.

Good luck,