New tank and Algae - does it always happen?

[BigDora]

Is hair algae and cyano a "necessary" or standard occurrence in a new tank? Is this something that some people are able to totally prevent, or is it something you live with and get past when your tank has matured a little? I am asking because my fish QT tank had the cyano and some hair algae, but it wasn't a problem and has gone away after I moved the fish and cut out the light. In my main tank (54 corner) I want to encourage the growth of the purple coralline algae which is on a few of the live rocks I added (the rest is Marco rock). So how do you balance out the light to encourage the growth of what you want and not the nuisance stuff? I see the beginning of the hair algae on the rocks and the cyano starting. There are a few zoas on the live rock so I can't cut out the light completely. So, to stop rambling, how much light do I need to encourage the coralline growth? I have a 250W MH DE and 54w T5 Actinic.

Thanks.

 

[Jennifer]

Yup the algae just seems to be a normal occurance. If you have a high nutrient level this may be an excessive amount of algae. Good water quality, and a good skimmer should make this go a way quickly.

It sounds like you have plenty enough light to promote coraline algae growth. Carefull what you wish for tho, before you know you are sick and tired of scraping it off of the pumps and glass. I heard you can speed it up by shutting off the skimmer for a while and scraping the glass. Let the scrapings drift around the tank and settle.

 

[BigDora]

I've been watching the Phosphates and keeping them low. the Nitrates are also low (around 5 or so). I did a second water change this week of 10%. There is no purple coraline growth on my glass, so nothing to scrape off except hair algae...dont' want to spread that.

 

[Jocko]

It's hard to control the levels perfectly in a new tank. There are waves of growth and death and it takes a while for a true balance to be achieved. It can seem random sometimes, but don't automatically assume you are doing something horribly wrong. Just do the things you know you are supposed to do and eventually it will stabilize.

 

[Jennifer]

^^^x2 Well said Jocko.

 

[jtma508]

My new tank also had an algae bloom (as all do). The crabs and snails got most of it but I was left with long flowing manes of hair algae coming off the top return outlets. The snails would try but they couldn't cope with it. Then I got a yellow tang. 48hrs and you couldn't find a shred of algae anywhere. He kicked the living poop out of it.