question about algae and cycling

[ryan0292002ca]

my 30 gallon is just about cycled with 15lbs. live rock and aragonite sand, 0.0 ammonia, 0.3 nitrite, lots of nitrate, around 50, temp. 78, pH 8.2, SP 1.025, alk 70ppm and calcium 360ppm. I am going to do a water change once my nitrites go down to 0. My sand is completely covered with brown algae, is this normal for cycling, and will it go away on its own, or do I have to clean it somehow? Also, two of my live rocks turned partially white and covered with brown algae, all my others look healthy (I bought cured live rock from the tanks at the pet store), the two that turned white with brown algae are quite close to one of my powerheads, could this be the reason why only these two did that? too much waterflow around them? thanks to everyone for responding to my questions lately, you've been great help.

 

[spooda420]

ACK I would have done a WC several weeks ago... with the trites and trates that high your killing the life off the rocks.

I have done WC every week or when ever the trites get above .20 in the past and more, much more life comes out.

you have a skimmer on the tank? I would suck out all the dietritus and algea now, dont let it come food for other algeas

moral of story WC are a new tanks best friend

c

 

[Curtswearing]

I've not seen any of your posts before so you're new to me. WELCOME TO REEF FRONTIERS!!!

These are likely diatoms and are completely normal at this stage of the cycle. It sounds funny to say this but congrats....you have diatoms!!! The reason I say congrats is that their appearance means you're almost done with your cycle. Diatoms typically show up at the end of the cycle....grow like crazy.....feed on silicates and phosphates, and then go away.

Unfortunately this is often followed up by a short period of some cyanobacteria, green algae, or other nasties. However, not always.

Regardless, your post indicates that you are COMPLETELY on the right track with your plans and you're almost done with cycling.

Don't worry about the color of the rocks at this point. They will get nastier, then get cleaner, then get coralline algae as the tank matures. JMO

 

[sdwrx]

sounds good to me. I don't think a water change will hurt anything. I was in your exact shoes a few weeks ago. I threw in some chaetomorpha in my fuge and it dropped my nitrates from ~50 to 5ppm in a weeks time. It grew very fast! The brown alage is likely diatoms. Nothing to be woried about-very normal. I'd throw in a few snails and see how they do. Good luck.

 

[Curtswearing]

Welcome to Reef Frontiers

 

[NaH2O]

sdwrx - welcome to Reef Frontiers (ryan I think I got ya already, but welcome again if I missed ya)!!!

Ryan - we are in the same situation right now, except my ammonia is still at 0.25 Anyway - I noticed some diatoms and a small amount of cyano today, and was excited to know I'm headed in the right direction. Water changes will help to decrease your params. I haven't done very many water changes with my tank during the cycle (curing the rock in the process). I believe I have done one small one (~5 gallons) and a medium sized one (~30 gallons) in my 120. My tank probably has ~180 gallons of water including the sump and fuge. My "ever changing" plan is to do a large water change once I get to the very end of the cycle. Hang in there and when your nitrites hit zero, order your clean-up crew. BTW - my rock looks white, too....with a few rust colored spots and smaller cyano areas. Here is a link to the thread I started about my cycle process (in case you haven't read it): Nitrogen Cycle Explained. I'm going to make an attempt to post some algae pictures on the thread as they develop.

 

[ryan0292002ca]

thanks for the input, when I do water changes, do I just replace the water, or do I vacuum the substrate also? and if I vaccum the sand, will it effect all the little critters that are in there