1st cycle of algae?

[sk8rreefgeek]

I bought my girlfreind a JBJ 24g for christmas. We used water from my tank, and she has about 14 lbs of cured live rock, and 1 clown. And a crab (yes, my girlfriend has crabs lol)

anyways, our guy at the LFS said there would be a few cylcles of algae. Its all brown now, I thought we could just scrub it off the rocks with a toothbrush and do a water change.

suggetsions / help?

[The_Browns]

Was it established live rock? If not you should not have the clown in there until the cycle process is complete

[sk8rreefgeek]

what do mean by "established"?

It had been cured for 2-3 weeks I think at the LFS

[sk8rreefgeek]

bump

[sk8rreefgeek]

well, i guess no one cares about our algae haha

but the fish is healthy...

[The_Browns]

Well If it was cured you are fine, Can you get a picture on the algae?

Also check here: http://www.melevsreef.com/id/algae.html

[sk8rreefgeek]

ya, I'm "working" right now, but my girfriend said it looks like someone "covered the entire top layer of rock/sand with a brown layer"

but yea, definitely cured.

Also, we were going to add another 10 lbs or so of the same cured rock

[CleveYank]

New tanks go through browns and or reds or maroons or mixes therein.
It's just part of the process.

Watch the feeding.
Run some carbon.
Keep the glass clean religiously.
TEST your water for nitrate 3rd part of bio cycle if you didn't already know.
TEST for phosphates.
If either is more than -0- to a trace then overfeeding or the rock is still seasoning/curing. And or bioload is exceeded in the tank.

So far that's not the case...I'd try to bump the liverock from 14 up to 24 at least though. Thereby hitting that lb per gallon threshhold...well that I would recommend at least.

Sorry to hear about G-friends crabs...lol.

Good Luck.

[RicGio]

it's normal to get a thin layer of algae at first. Keep the feeding to a minimum, reduce your lighting cycle and do regular water changes. Also a clean up crew of snails helps. Is the algae dark brown or "golden" colored?

[sk8rreefgeek]

haha thanks CleveYank/RicGio. so would 12/12 be a good light cycle? I have it at about 14/10 (14 light)

oh ya, we have 2 snails in there too

[sk8rreefgeek]

oh, and dark brown. any idea how long till its done?

[dcombs44]

Dark brown may be diatoms. I don't think they're actually an algae, but they are a common part of the cycle. Some people battle them continually after their tanks are established.

You can do a search to find different ways to treat them.

[sk8rreefgeek]

she just sent this from her phone. I'd also like some opinions on the "pillar" stuff she has in there. I'm against it personally haha, but it's "her" tank lol!

[Husky_1]

I think 12/12 is pretty aggressive for a new tank. You may want to have only about 6hours of light.

[dcombs44]

Looks like diatoms to me. Typically the end stage of the cycle or right after the end.

Aggresive lighting, overfeeding, silicates, and phosphates can all be causes of diatom blooms, but I'm guessing yours is just the end of the cycle.

[not_sponsored]

The pillars look neat to me, looks like undersea ruins. My gf has a bridge thing in her tank, tried to talk her out of it but it was "necessary."

[sk8rreefgeek]

haha! ya, its not bad. I just prefer the natural look. and, its kinda funny cuz whenever she has a question about her tank I end the answer with "and it might be better without those dang pillars in there! lol" she knows im kidding

so 1 vote for the pillars to stay

[RicGio]

yeah, I agree. 12 is a long time. Maybe cut back to 8 for awhile. I ran mine for 6 during my Hair algae problem.

[sk8rreefgeek]

ya, she cut it down to 9 hrs. she did a water change (25%) today and she said even after brushing the rocks, they stayed brown. she was also worried about agitating the sandbed. there's about 1-1/2" of carab sea live sand. (20 lbs in a 24g)