Oh, the algae!

I had no idea this tank was going to speed through the cycling process the way it has. I'm wondering if, because it was a seasoned African cichlid tank and got added buffer and salts, maybe it was somehow primed to become a SW tank? We're using the same lace rock (with added live rock), the same sand (heavily vacuumed but not rinsed), and I wonder if there weren't already some bacteria just waiting for ideal conditions. Adding LR that had been sitting in an undisturbed tank for months seems to have put the cycle on a rocket sled.

Levels are all at zero, despite a rotting shrimp on the sand (what's left), and daily additions of fish food (we're feeding the tank as though it has fish in it).

But the algae has arrived. Diatoms, green hairy fuzzy stuff, and a little Caulerpa, all growing like ...well, weeds.

This weekend, weather permitting, we're going to another 'LFS' (it's an hour and a half away!) for cleaners. Meanwhile, I'm on algae patrol, along with the Malayan trumpet snails, who do not seem to have received the 'you're in SW now, you're supposed to die off' memo.