Good algae or bad algae ?

[Ricky1066]

Hello How do you know what algae is good and what algae is bad?

I amnew to the sw thing so I am not sure what algae to leave and what algae to remove I see my rocks have things moving on them are getting some color but I am not sure what to do with it now.the tank is 10 days old today .I know it is new but i would rather read on it now before it comes.

 

[Ricky1066]

I also read that having the lights on to long causes algae at this point I put the lights on at 5pm and turn them off at 11 pm just abasic 40 watt 4 foot flurocent. ow is that

 

[dileggi]

By any chance do you have any pic's of what's growing out of the rocks? Someone may have a better chance of ID'ing it to see if it's a nuisance or not.

Light does have an effect on algae growth, but more importantly so does water quality and flow.

I run my lights a total of 14 hours per day on the actinic's and 12 hours per day on the whites.

Typically for a new tank, it's very common to have a cyano bloom...red slime. This is actually bacteria and not algae. It usually occurs 2-4 months into operation for the most part.

Diatoms are another common issue with new tanks. This will be a brownish covering, mostly on your sand and possibly LR.

 

[Ricky1066]

Here are c ouple I made them big so you can get a look the background is not real

 

[dileggi]

Sorry Ricky1066. I cannot open them. Whatever they're running through, the site is being blocked by our IT dept. Maybe someone else can get them to open.

 

[Ricky1066]

I put themon image shack then copied the link I see them perfect.