orange algae is it normal?

ap2honda · 10-12-2007, 07:59 PM

A few weeks back i made my first 55g. salt water tank my plans are to build a reef tank. I am still in the process of buying live rock so far I have 5 peices. My tank was experiencing some orange algae groth but it was nothing to crazy. I just recently bought 4 live rocks that were not cured yet and i just got my new light for the tank, it is a:

Marine Land T5-48
-48" quad HO T5 strip with 2-54 watt daylight lamps 2-54 watt actinic lamps.

i started getting a algae groth is it beacuase of the light or because of the uncured live rock? how do i go about to fix this problem? i have not scraped off the algae of the rocks because i wouldnt want to end up killing some of the good stuff that might have hitch hiked in the live rock.
or is this algea crazy groth normal? The tank only has about 2 months.
I mean thier is even algae circulating on top of the water too you can see all the lil dots moving around in the water when viewed from the top.

Laggs2003 · 10-12-2007, 08:23 PM

Do you have a skimmer? I really don't know how far along you are in your project to be able to give you a direct answer. One thing is for sure since your just cycling your tank you can keep your lighting on only for several hours a day. The more your lights run the more algae your going to get. I would get a UV sterilizer hooked up and it should clear the algae outbreak in your water.

ap2honda · 10-12-2007, 08:31 PM

I was thinking on that UV sterilizer. I dont have a skimmer yet that is going to be my next item to buy. I was thinking on a REEF OCTOPUS the store also has a pro clear.

also on my lights do i run the normal 2 whites for one hour then all 4 lights most of the day and then at night for the last night run the 2 blue lights? or how should i go about running these lights?

betamed · 10-12-2007, 08:39 PM

honestly at this stage algae isn't a big deal. Let it grow use up what is feeding it and then it will crash. Keep adding more uncured rock and this will keep happening. UV and a skimmer are great but not necessairy until you have set up and allowed this part of the cycle to pass.

ap2honda · 10-12-2007, 09:10 PM

oh ok i think thats what the store person was telling me that the algae was going to be normal since its a new tank. Im planning to buy the skimmer right after i have all my life rock finished and before i buy the coral and reef stuff.
Its just that when i saw how much algae grew over the past nights it kinda freaked me out. so i dont scrub the tank or do a water change? and should i move my blue demon damsel to my ten gal. hopsital tank while the algae grows or can i leave it in the tank?

betamed · 10-12-2007, 11:32 PM

Yeah the first few months can be pretty ugly. The damsel will be fine with the algae(which looks more like diatoms). I've heard good things about the octopus skimmers. That and a bit more rock and I you'll have a good start. A modest water change after you add the last of the rock would be ok, but right now it would have no long term benefit.

DevilBoy · 10-12-2007, 11:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ap2honda

should i move my blue demon damsel to my ten gal.

yes i would move it out as soon as you can

betamed · 10-13-2007, 12:06 AM

well, tank is been up for two months I think a damsel would be Ok durring a diatom outbreak. If you add a lot more uncured live rock you could have an ammonia spike and that is bad for him.

Geoff · 10-13-2007, 09:10 AM

if this is the first time you have had lights on the tank and the tank has not had a skimmer, then you are in store for a pretty big algae bloom. without the skimmer all of the die off of the LR is fueling the phosphate levels in the tank. the algae will really like this. have you been siphoning out the detritus when you have been doing water changes? if so then the algae bloom may be tolerable. if not then start now.

G~

El Latino · 10-13-2007, 03:04 PM

I'll have to agree with Geoff on this one. Also, the lights do not need to be on for a long period of time since you don't have any live stock. To be honest, you really don't need them on at all until you've cured the rocks and gone through a complete cycle.

As for cycling the lights, after you start dropping in livestcok/corals, you shouldn't have the lights on for a major part of the day. What worked for me was 8 hours of atinic and 6 hours all on. To break it up, I set the timer for the atinics to run alone for 2 hours, then all the lights for 6 hours and then 2 hours just atinics. This is when I had a similar lighting setup to yours.

Just my opinion and I'm sure you'll get some more from other members. There is a wealth of informaiton on this board!!! Good luck with your cycling and the tank to be.

ap2honda · 10-13-2007, 05:03 PM

thanks all