What can I do?

[mac77]

My new 55g has been cycled. I have a large crew of reef janitors in my system who were doing a great job of cleaning the tank when I had 1 blue actinic 40 watt NO and 1 white NO 40 watt bulb going about 8-10 hrs per day. Now as I am getting ready to introduce corals, I have 4 T5's with an Icecap 660 ballast to run them...a LOT more light. I have been advised to run 12 hrs per day. So now, I am noticing a lot of junk in the tank just starting to develop. Brown algae I guess. I have 2 types of snails (about 30-40) and about 20 hermits in there, but they cannot handle it now...especially the stuff just beneath the surface in the substrate near the glass. Do I need to get a Lawnmower blenny or something that will dig down to get this, or do I just need to stir it up with a long scraper, or what?

Here is a pic:

[Michael]

theres no need to run your lights for 12 hrs at present, 7-8 will be fine, when you are packed out with corals then a longer light on time will be needed but 7-8 is enough for now with the tank just cycled and bearly nothing in it

[mac77]

Would getting a lawnmower blenny help?

[an411]

Looks like you have diatoms. which is normal for a maturing tank. Cut the lights back as mentioned above. Sure add a lawnmower blenny. I dont think its going to help that much with diatoms. But they a great fish with alot of character.

[snodine]

Mac, this is normal algae for a new tank. It will go away soon. Work at keeping the water parameters stable and be patient. That is always the hardest part - patience.

[spw4949]

I agree, I am currently battling algae(albeit a different type) but I have been keeping up w/my H2O changes and I can slowly see the problem resolving. It's been about 6 weeks but it looks like it's finally coming to an end. Be patient,I know it's tough but it will work out!

[returnofsid]

As mentioned above...you're experiencing your first diatom algae. This is completely normally and just about all new tanks experience it. I wouldn't get a Lawnmower Blenny just yet. Lawnmower Blenny's are awesome and you may want one later, but right now, there's nothing to feed it. It won't eat your diatoms and you'll have to feed it algae to keep it healthy.

Diatoms will bloom with just about any major change in the tank set up. Your new lights probably triggered it. You don't mention a skimmer. I hope you have one running. Skim real wet for awhile. Since you have nothing in your tank that's light dependent yet, turn your lights completely off for 3 days. After that, go back to a normal light cycle. As mentioned, you don't need 12 hours. For now, I'd recommend 8 hours. If after a week of lights, no diatoms come back, you're probably fine. If they do come back, repeat the 3 days of lights out.

Are you using RO/DI water?

Wait until you get the diatoms under control before adding anything else to your tank. Adding something now will only compound the issue.

[crvz]

Some good question being asked, can you describe your husbandry habits and what kind of water you use? It does look like normal diatom bloom, which should go away by itself after a number of weeks, but there are other explanations.

[REEF-n-Chicago]

Agreed with crvz,
share your husbandry habits so we can make sure everything is normal BUT it does appear to be a normal diatom bloom

Cut the lights back for sure!

[mac77]

I did a water change about 2-3 days ago. I will cut my lights back to 8 hours. I have an RO filter that I have been using, but I just bought a Filter Guys 5 stage ro/di system that I will use from here on out. I am using Red Sea salt. I have been very thorough about keeping on top of my water params. I have recently experienced a problem with my calcium and ph levels. I have asked this question in another thread. Ca levels have gone up to 760ppm (I have checked it about 3 times and my LFS said that if they check it, they will use the same testing kit that I bought from them). My ph has dropped to 7.9. I do not know what to do there. I was wanting to add some soft corals to my setup and had talked to GARF about adding them. They said to keep my janitors in a week, run my lights for 8 hrs per day, and go ahead and add them...slowly increasing my lights to 12 hrs per day. So...there is the facts. Oh, by the way, I have a lot of man-made rock in my system as well. I thought the rock might be boosting the Ca levels. I am clueless.

[melvinudawl]

don't know about the CA levels, but I've seen a big drop in PH coinciding with my diatom blooms. I'm curing LR in my 72 and added rock a couple different times. Caused a diatom bloom each time, and the PH dropped from 8.2 - ~7.8 each time. Couple days and the PH was right back up there again as the diatoms were replaced with various algaes. Not sure how far along you are, I saw this in week 3 initially and it cleared up in 4-5 days.

May be wrong here, but think you may be taking a bit of a risk adding any corals to an immature system. Again, not sure how far along you are, but I don't think well established tanks generally have issues with diatoms. Fluctuations in water quality could be tough on your corals. I'd think you'd want to stablize ca and ph before adding them.

Newb advice here...second opinion recommended

good luck!

[1DeR9_3Hy]

I had a diatom bloom in a small 5.5 gallon i had that kept getting worse and worse, until finally i was able to take it down and clean it up when i setup my 50 cube. I kept at it, but nothing was changing with the bloom...i just hope i have better luck with this 50.

[Michael]

i think temperature fluctuation doesnt help it either