Newbie with new grass growing (algae)

Rsailor · 08/16/2009, 04:22 PM

I purchased a new Oceanic 29gl Bio Cube and set up in August. I put in 29lbs of live rock in Aug 5th with sand. Am waiting for the 5weeks before adding anything else to the tank, as the levels stable out. I should go out tomorrow and purches a protien skimmer to mature that also. A few questions of which I am unable to locate among threads.
The algae growth started 6 days ago and is growing green like a lawn. Do I take the algae out?
The rocks are turning purple. Is that a problem?
Other people I've noticed have quite a few different pumps and filters,whereas I only have bioballs, pump(circulation), heater, lights, protien skimmer (tomorrow), carbon filter. Adequate?
Thanks for the help, soon to come. Randal

milkit · 08/16/2009, 04:53 PM

purple rocks are good. green gass hair algae is bad.

get rid of the bio balls as they cause nitrates (hair algae and basically everything else bad feeds on nitrates and phosphates).

get a skimmer and add some chaeto algae in the sump to suck up some nitrates. pull out as much hair algae as possible and then get your phoshates and nitrates down with water changes

ERICinFL · 08/16/2009, 09:19 PM

The purple on your rocks is Coraline Algae and that is a good thing. I agree with taking out the bio-balls. When I first got my tank, it came with bio-balls in the sump and when I took them out, my H.A. problem went away in a week or so. Your skimmer may or may not produce any skimmate until you have some sort of bio-load, so don't be surprised if it's not churning out green sludge right away.

08/16/2009, 04:22 PM	#1
Rsailor Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada Posts: 1	Newbie with new grass growing (algae) I purchased a new Oceanic 29gl Bio Cube and set up in August. I put in 29lbs of live rock in Aug 5th with sand. Am waiting for the 5weeks before adding anything else to the tank, as the levels stable out. I should go out tomorrow and purches a protien skimmer to mature that also. A few questions of which I am unable to locate among threads. The algae growth started 6 days ago and is growing green like a lawn. Do I take the algae out? The rocks are turning purple. Is that a problem? Other people I've noticed have quite a few different pumps and filters,whereas I only have bioballs, pump(circulation), heater, lights, protien skimmer (tomorrow), carbon filter. Adequate? Thanks for the help, soon to come. Randal

08/16/2009, 09:19 PM	#3
ERICinFL Rejisturd Mimbur Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Brevard County, FL Posts: 1,346	The purple on your rocks is Coraline Algae and that is a good thing. I agree with taking out the bio-balls. When I first got my tank, it came with bio-balls in the sump and when I took them out, my H.A. problem went away in a week or so. Your skimmer may or may not produce any skimmate until you have some sort of bio-load, so don't be surprised if it's not churning out green sludge right away. __________________ Ummmm... yeah... don't touch the Mag Float. Sorry kids, your college fund is gone, but the tank looks SWEET right? Current Tank Info: 150gal mixed reef. ER CS135, 65gal sump/fuge with a Mag12 return. (2) Korillia 4s, (1) modded MJ1200, two SunSun 3200gph powerheads. 250+lbs LR.

08/16/2009, 04:53 PM	#2
milkit Registered Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: Dallas Posts: 325	purple rocks are good. green gass hair algae is bad. get rid of the bio balls as they cause nitrates (hair algae and basically everything else bad feeds on nitrates and phosphates). get a skimmer and add some chaeto algae in the sump to suck up some nitrates. pull out as much hair algae as possible and then get your phoshates and nitrates down with water changes