What Now? 2 Weeks Cycling

[sohoal tang 1]

Hi everyone....
I would appreciate your comments, suggestions, feedback on the following situation....

I set up a 90 gallon reef 2 weeks ago..put 30lbs of choice live rock in, fired up skimmer at that time...and circulation of MAG12....

2 days ago hair algae beginning....

What next? CLean up crew?
Thanks
Tim

[Reefland]

Hi everyone....
I would appreciate your comments, suggestions, feedback on the following situation....

I set up a 90 gallon reef 2 weeks ago..put 30lbs of choice live rock in, fired up skimmer at that time...and circulation of MAG12....

2 days ago hair algae beginning....

What next? CLean up crew?
Thanks
Tim

Welcome to Reefland Tim!

I what are your plans for the tank? Obviously the algae is going to sprout in the beginning but you may be able to limit it. Have you performed any water changes yet? Is the 30lbs of LR the only thing in the tank? If your planning a reef, I would go ahead and add the rest of the LR; 30lbs isn't enough for a 90 gallon tank. Then after some more time, ensuring the ammonia and nitrites are not present, then you can add some "cleaning critters". Be sure to search around for what type of janitors to get, there are a lot of options and some people find some more desirable than others.

Let us know more about your plans, I would love to hear about your tank and equipment details as well.

Regards,

[Sohoal Tang]

The rock is the ONLY thing in the tank other then 2 bags of live
type of sand from Coralife I believe...figi pink it is called and it comes
with water in the bag and apparently helps cycle and start up the system because of the bacteria already in it etc....(if ya believe that!) hehe

It will be a reef tank with very few fish and mostly LPS and SOFTIES

NO SPS...at least I am not planning on any....


You mean there is NOTHING I can do to get rid of this hair algae NOW?

I DO NOT want it all over my rock etc....

Tim

[Tervill]

Hi Tim,

Welcome to Reefland. You are initially going to get some algae devellopment in your tank. This is normal. There are ways, however, to control the amount of algae growth. Doing regular water changes will help. What kind af water are you using? Water that contains silicates and phosphates is not an option. Algae and diatomes thrive on these. RO water, IMO, works best. I also use Phosguard by Seachem to remove andy lingering silicate and phosphates. This can be purchased at any LFS. Also, are you adding enough calcium to your water. The coraline algae that will grow on your rock will somewhat overtake the hairline algae. 30 lbs of live rock, however, may not be sufficient. I am in the process of setting a 90 gal. aswell, and I am planning on adding roughly 90 lbs of live rock. To get the algae off your rock now, I would take a soft bristled toothbrush and clean the rock. Then collect the algae that will be floating around with a large fish net. I find this works the best. Good luck!

Terry