Grass Everywhere

[tony1021]

just new to this forum and so far i've gotten a lot of useful information, however, i have this one question...

I have grass growing all over my sand, rocks, and glass. I know this can't be normal so what should I do.

I just finished doing a 25% water change and the tank is only 3 weeks old. I have 1 fish 5 crabs and 1 snail that were given to me from the previous owner. I also have 1 rock with a few red mushrooms on it.

Thanks,
tony

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[thominil]

Looks like it's just algea, pretty common in new tanks. Mine tank's comming up on 3 months old and I still have algea. Check your nitrates if above 20, do a pwc and cut back on lighting if you want to get rid of it. I just leave it alone except when its on the glass, otherwise I just let my snails have at it.

 

[tony1021]

i leave the light on for about 10 - 12 hours a day as i have the red mushrooms growing...would they be fine if i cut back lighting say to 8 hours a day?

 

[thominil]

Try and aim for 8-10, thats what I try to go for. Get a timer if you don't have one, I have one but just havnt gotten around to setting it.

 

[roka64]

That looks like hair algae on the rock and possibly the start of cyano (possibly diatoms if the tank is newish) on the sand. I would cut the lights to 8 hours, reduce feeding, use RO/DI water.
What fish do you have in the tank?
How old is it?
What/how much/how often are you feeding?

 

[melosu58]

Agree with hair algea. Read this

FantasyReef Databases-Viewing item "10 Step Plan for Nuisance Algae Control"

 

[tony1021]

I have 1 chromy and 2 goby's...about 5 hermits and 1 snail

I've read that I should have 10 hermits and 10 snails as part of the cleaning crew, is it bad to have more?

tank is just 3 weeks and a couple days old

i am feeding once every other day. I drop pellets until fish stop eating them, typically about 10 pellets. I feed them Nutrafin Max.

i buy water for water change from local aquarium. do i still need ro/di?

thanks for the responses and i will try those 10 steps

EDIT:

also, swept up the dirty looking sand and threw it away, is this bad, should i let the tank fight the algae on its own?

 

[roka64]

That's a lot of food (at least it sounds like it, not sure how big the pellets are).
You still have a newer tank so the brown on the sand could be diatoms and they will burn out on their own.
Also, with newer tanks, a smaller CUC is better since there is not as much for them to eat.
Personally, I'm not a huge fan of a lot of hermits. I like nassi, cerith and margirita snails, maybe a few hermits.
RO/DI is ideal, since you can control what goes in your tank and when the media needs to be changed...not to mention, you don't have to lug water back from the LFS.