Algae in my sump

[Zirco]

Just finished cycling my 150g tank about a week ago and finally added a couple of tiny (1") clowns. The day before adding the clowns I did about a 60% water change to try to bring down my very high nitrates. It brought them down to about 50, so still quite high.

Got a bunch of algae growing in the refugium area of the sump which is lit with a "warm white" 900 lumen bulb. Mostly brown, but some green and a bit of pink. Could the pink actually be coraline so soon? Or is it something else?

 

[ichthyogeek]

It doesn't look like coralline algae to me. It seems too filmy. What's the texture of the algae? If it's hard, then it's most likely a calcareous algae, and most likely coralline. If it's filmy, then it might be cyanobacteria.

 

[pyithar]

not coralline..most likely cyano

 

[Dkuhlmann]

I keep the lights on in my sump 24/7 and let anything that wants to grow there, grow. When I do water changes every two weeks I'll remove most of the unwanted algae but not all of it. This in a way is working like an algae scrubber and it keeps the unwanted algae out of my DT. The only algae that I have in my DT is some bubble algae on a few frags. I can remove them once then it takes a while for them to regrow. Not really a big deal and I don't stress over it. My tank looks amazing and I feed my fish and corals very heavy, so the nutrients are there for any algae to grow, I just keep it in my sump the way I described with 24/7 lights.

 

[Keithj32]

Doesn't look like a coralline algae looks like a cyano as stated above

 

[platypusklr]

+1 Cyano for the pink blob. The rest looks like dinos and some good old fashioned slime.

 

[Zirco]

Thanks for the replies.

If it's filmy, then it might be cyanobacteria.

It's definitely filmy.

I keep the lights on in my sump 24/7 and let anything that wants to grow there, grow. When I do water changes every two weeks I'll remove most of the unwanted algae but not all of it.

Ah, I was wondering if using a paper towel to remove some of the algae in the sump would be a good idea. I think I'll also start leaving the lights on 24/7.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

The lights on 24/7 in my sump has sure helped me. My sump looks like crap LOL But my tank looks great! All of my corals and fish are doing fantastic with no uglies in my tank.