what is this?

hey guys,

just a few questions regarding algie. first i wanted to know what type of algies these are and if they're bad.

in the first picture its a bright green, almost neon.

in the second picture theres a brown hairy algie that at one point was green. its all over the rocks and on the powerhead. i'm assuming its becase of the lights so when it started growing i threw in about 10 hermits, 1 emerald crab, 2 snails and 1 sandsifting star.

the third picture is some sort of slime thats accumilated just above the waterline, the power head seems to clear it where its hitting off the glass, i'm assuming a water change would help with this?

another thing too is that i went from having 160 PPM nitrates to 0 over 2-3 days during the initial cycle. is this normal?

oh and i just wanted to meniton that i'm only running a canister filter with the stock media. dunno if this info will help

You have a combo of brown and green diatoms with a smattering of hair algae.I call this the algae phase,brown diatoms then green then hair.At least its a type of algae that snails will eat.There is plenty there for a truckload of astreas,ceriths,trochus and even a couple Mexican turbos.Maybe the algae is using up the nitrates is why it went from high nitrates to none at all.

Nutrients rise to the surface is why you are seeing the surface slick.Without surface skimming it will keep accumilating.I seen people use paper towels to catch it and point a powerhead to ripple the surface.Long term fix is to have water pulled from the surface.Some skimmers have them,all sumps with overflow boxes have them and some canisters come with that attachment.

+1 Reef

reeffreak said:

You have a combo of brown and green diatoms with a smattering of hair algae.I call this the algae phase,brown diatoms then green then hair.At least its a type of algae that snails will eat.There is plenty there for a truckload of astreas,ceriths,trochus and even a couple Mexican turbos.Maybe the algae is using up the nitrates is why it went from high nitrates to none at all.

Nutrients rise to the surface is why you are seeing the surface slick.Without surface skimming it will keep accumilating.I seen people use paper towels to catch it and point a powerhead to ripple the surface.Long term fix is to have water pulled from the surface.Some skimmers have them,all sumps with overflow boxes have them and some canisters come with that attachment.

Click to expand...

is it ok to add fish in yet? i want to add in a cowfish and take out my chromis...

As long as ammonia and nitrites are zero,then you fine to add a small fish or a few CUC members.

+1 Yote

Ammonia and nitrite at zero then go for it.