5 month algae on rock question

hawk1 · 01/18/2014, 03:45 AM

Hey all, my tank is about 5 months in. Everything seems to be doing pretty good. I have a purple firefish, and a pinkspot goby in. And some paly, xeina, and gsp, all doing well also. I started with most dry rock, and few pieces of live rock. All my dry rock now is getting brownish hair algae all over it. I can see a few spots turning purple, so I guess thats good. Will the purple overtake all the brown in time? I just added a bunch of nerite and cerith snails yesterday but so far they are all on the glass lol. Will they help out the rocks? Here is some pictures of my rocks, should i worry about the brown, or just let it take its course? I dont wanna take all them out and scrub them.

JokersAce69 · 01/18/2014, 04:40 AM

Rock looks good! Just let the cycle take it's course bacteria is taking place. Give it a few more months and yes purple coraline will be all over them. As far as the snails helping out, you bet. But if they have nothing to munch on now you can feed them. Check your levels often.

oscarinw · 01/18/2014, 08:28 AM

Low nutrients, high water quality, consistent and frequent water changes, Nitrates and Phosphates close to 0, short light cycles and you should dodge the algae curse with no problem.
Some tools that help with all this is an efficient skimmer and some sort of chemical phosphate and nitrate reduction such as GFO or carbon dosing among several available... I personally don't even require the chemical filtration. Only water changes and the skimmer.

ponda · 01/18/2014, 08:38 AM

i was wondering the samething. i placed some rocks in my tank 2 weeks ago- they were pretty much pure white when i placed them into the tank. and now they are sort of turning brown in areas.
so this is not natural?

mike_cmu04 · 01/18/2014, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ponda

i was wondering the samething. i placed some rocks in my tank 2 weeks ago- they were pretty much pure white when i placed them into the tank. and now they are sort of turning brown in areas.
so this is not natural?

Yes that is normal

hawk1 · 01/18/2014, 09:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oscarinw

Low nutrients, high water quality, consistent and frequent water changes, Nitrates and Phosphates close to 0, short light cycles and you should dodge the algae curse with no problem.
Some tools that help with all this is an efficient skimmer and some sort of chemical phosphate and nitrate reduction such as GFO or carbon dosing among several available... I personally don't even require the chemical filtration. Only water changes and the skimmer.

Yes, I have been doing water changes once a week. And I have chemi pure elite. Nitrates are under 5. Skimmer is skimming good, pulling out alot of stuff, and smells like a sewer lol.

01/18/2014, 03:45 AM	#1
hawk1 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: South Carolina Posts: 146	5 month algae on rock question Hey all, my tank is about 5 months in. Everything seems to be doing pretty good. I have a purple firefish, and a pinkspot goby in. And some paly, xeina, and gsp, all doing well also. I started with most dry rock, and few pieces of live rock. All my dry rock now is getting brownish hair algae all over it. I can see a few spots turning purple, so I guess thats good. Will the purple overtake all the brown in time? I just added a bunch of nerite and cerith snails yesterday but so far they are all on the glass lol. Will they help out the rocks? Here is some pictures of my rocks, should i worry about the brown, or just let it take its course? I dont wanna take all them out and scrub them.

01/18/2014, 04:40 AM	#2
JokersAce69 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Arizona Posts: 164	Rock looks good! Just let the cycle take it's course bacteria is taking place. Give it a few more months and yes purple coraline will be all over them. As far as the snails helping out, you bet. But if they have nothing to munch on now you can feed them. Check your levels often. Last edited by JokersAce69; 01/18/2014 at 04:45 AM.

01/18/2014, 08:28 AM	#3
oscarinw Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Western Massachusetts Posts: 1,091	Low nutrients, high water quality, consistent and frequent water changes, Nitrates and Phosphates close to 0, short light cycles and you should dodge the algae curse with no problem. Some tools that help with all this is an efficient skimmer and some sort of chemical phosphate and nitrate reduction such as GFO or carbon dosing among several available... I personally don't even require the chemical filtration. Only water changes and the skimmer.

01/18/2014, 08:38 AM	#4
ponda Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2013 Posts: 293	i was wondering the samething. i placed some rocks in my tank 2 weeks ago- they were pretty much pure white when i placed them into the tank. and now they are sort of turning brown in areas. so this is not natural?