Brown algae appearing during cycle?

[Dragonet]

Im new to keeping a saltwater aquarium and am about a week and a half into the cycle of a 29 gallon. I have a small live rock and 3 damselfish in the tank. About a day ago i noticed brown algae appearingon the floor of the tank and when i checked it today there was some on the wall of the tank.

Because I'm new to this i was wondering if this is good during the cycle or if it is a problem that should be taken care of ?



Liam White

 

[Yandapanda]

I've had a brown algae bloom during cycle. It is very common for saltwater. Now is when you need to get your cleaning crew going. It will take another week for that to cycle through.

Also, check to ensure you are using RO/DI water. The phosphates in normal tap water feed the brown cyanobacteria that you are seeing.

YandaPanda

 

[BalaShark]

Why do people keep putting those poor damsel in for cycling??

 

[jo3olous]

Im new to keeping a saltwater aquarium and am about a week and a half into the cycle of a 29 gallon. I have a small live rock and 3 damselfish in the tank. About a day ago i noticed brown algae appearingon the floor of the tank and when i checked it today there was some on the wall of the tank.

Because I'm new to this i was wondering if this is good during the cycle or if it is a problem that should be taken care of ?



Liam White

Why are you cycling with fish? It's much better to cycle WITHOUT.

Your tank should have gone in the order of: cycling with live rock, clean up crew, then fish. It can sometimes take 2 months to properly cycle and get a tank going.

I highly suggest returning the fish, and starting over the right way.

 

[Lorna]

Another point the brown algae you are seeing is most likely diatoms which are perfectly normal during the cycle. You should not be cycling with damsels as it is considered to cruel to the fish. Your tank will cycle normally with just the live rock provided that you have the appropriate 1-2 lbs per gallon in your tank. Once your ammonia and nitrite levels are zero you can then and only then consider putting in a cleanup crew of snails and or hermit crabs which will clean up any diatoms left....after your parameters remain stable for a couple of weeks and the diatoms are gone you can then add fish but slowly allowing the bacteria to adjust to the added bio load of the additions. good luck and welcome to the tank

 

[Dragonet]

Thankyou for the help and like I said im new to this.
I asked the store if I could return them but they said that it was against their policy.
I did get a bottle of cycle though, I know this wont eliminate everything but I hope it will help them. And thankyou for the advice on the brown algae.

Liam White

 

[apr]

Cycling with damselfish

Its normally considered cruel but this is based on a "fish only" setup. If you get a bunch of live rock, let that go for a few days with good water flow through a skimmer/sump system WITHOUT bio filter -or- with bioballs or similar (small live rock pieces are great) that do not function as mechanical filter (considered a nitrate trap), then you can safely add ONE damselfish per 30 or so G after about a week or less.

You can verify all this by testing your water daily or every other day for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. You should feed the fish minimally.

I did the above and the damsel (which I intend to keep permanently) was healthy and happy every single day as judged by deep glowing color and aggressive feeding.

The cycles ended up extremely moderate. After a month things had more or less completely stabilized and no toxic species ever exceeded mid-range levels throughout the entire cycle period.

Please note however, this requires LOTS of attention, correctly chosen filtration and a reasonable ecosystem choice.

 

[strout]

If you want to take the fish back, Tell your LFS to take the fish back, or you will take your bussiness else where, starting a tank is a money maker for the store, and they don't want to lose that bussiness, after they take the fish back, go to another store if you have one. JMO