need help with identification, possibly algae?

[Afaylenerich88]

low D on the tank,
29 gallons,
Has been up for 3 months.
no excess nitrates, phosphates, cal, mag, strontium lvls.
SG 1.026, PH 8.1, Alk 9, cal 425 ish, TEMP is between 77-79.

clean up crew, 2 turbo snails, 6 nas snails(that have been breeding like crazy), 1 peppermint shrimp, 1 coral banded shrimp, 1 emerald crab.

fish in tank, 2 clown fish(mated pair), blue and yellow damsel, fire hawk.

im running 2 fluval 5 stage filters, 2 power heads that produce up to 1600 lph at 100%,

have noticed red spots appearing they went away for about 2 weeks then came back, seems to be in high flow areas also that have strong lighting,
some of the spots have hair growing on them not sure if this is because hair algae is trying to grow through red coloration, they do not go away at night. and my sand does not have any on it, also not many low flow areas in my tank. so im sure its not cyano but then again im still new to the whole reef thing.
have been running the lights at 50% as of discovering these red dots again this morning. hope to combat algae growth alittle.

any advice on this would be much appreciated.

have up loaded pictures please view.

 

[mcgyvr]

Not sure exactly...too small to really id from those pics...but I will guarantee they are not something to worry about.. You have the typical new tank algae.

 

[Afaylenerich88]

Hope your correct will post more pics very soon closer up to them so you can have a better look.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Three months - new tank algae.

Nobody escapes an algae phase. Like the dawn of life on Earth, we need the cyanobacteria, diatoms and other micro algae to form the base of the food web in our tanks. In fact, I have found that it is best to encourage new tank algae to get established sooner, rather later. By keeping new tank algae at bay, it only delays the inevitable, and it will take longer to get through it.

So embrace your algae phase, and prepare to add new clean up crew members as needed. Reproducing snails like Ceriths and Mini-Strombus, as well as pods are great for keeping algae from overtaking your tank, and their populations will self-adjust to meet the needs of your bio-load. For a tank that size, you only need one Nassarius snail. They are great leftover food scavengers, but starve if there are too many of them.

Good luck with your tank!

 

[Afaylenerich88]

Thanks for the info. But you never stated what the red dots were. That was the whole point of this lol, Also I feed snails at night when they come out around 11pm. They seem to enjoy omega one veggie rounds. I drop a small piece about the size of a dime into tank and they run over to it superfast and munch. Haven't seen any issues with them being malnurshed but will keep an eye out. Have noticed another clutch of eggs in my tank that would make 4 clutches, in 2 months. Hope this is normal.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

The red dots are probably cyanobacteria. Too small to tell at this point, which is why I just called it (and the green stuff) new tank algae.

 

[Afaylenerich88]

But the dots are growing in the highest flow areas. I thought cyano only could reproduce in low flow conditions ?

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Cyano does like low flow areas, but I don't think it's a requirement. It could be something else. Too hard to tell from your pics. It really doesn't matter what exactly it is. You've got an algae phase starting up. You'll have several species shortly.

 

[Afaylenerich88]

Okay so start the vibrant and HP dose? Or should I just let it go?

 

[Michael Hoaster]

If it was my tank, I'd let it run it's course for now. And start beefing up your clean up crew. It's a necessary phase of all new aquariums. But you can get lots of posts suggesting otherwise. It's up to you.

 

[mcgyvr]

Don't do anything... This is totally normal and you should just let it do its thing...

 

[Afaylenerich88]

Here are some more photos of the RED STUFF, i know the green is hair algae.

and for a little bit of a chuckle my coral banded crab (shrimp) wanted to come up and say hello. he loves to clean my finger when i reach in to clean and feed and what not, dont know if this is normal for him to like interaction he walks right over to my hand and jumps on...... i feed him 2 times a day. but always come to front of tank when im around, almost to get my attention. any thoughs on this as well besides the RED dots, would be much appreciated.

thanks.

 

[Afaylenerich88]

also here are some pics of tank. hope you enjoy, dont be too harsh, this is my first ever salt water tank, 15+ years Fresh water tank exp tho. also havent cleaned glass in about a week just letting slime do its thing for a bit

 

[Afaylenerich88]

More pics of tank.

 

[tomreefer]

What size tank? How much flow you have right now? As this tank is new you will get algae blooms just try to keep it in check and start beefing up your clean up crew. You can check reefcleaners for clean up crew, I used to like them a lot but my last couple of orders not very happy just saying.

You using a filter not really necessary unless running carbon? Really need a skimmer if you don't have one. Some debate on that for a small tank though. The rock can act like a filter if you didn't know this already.

You can add a HOB skimmer; or better yet add an overflow (Lifereef) + Sump + Skimmer in sump. Again you really don't need filter for saltwater

 

[Afaylenerich88]

more pics of fish, love how some of these came out. taken with 6k camera.

 

[Afaylenerich88]

What size tank? How much flow you have right now? As this tank is new you will get algae blooms just try to keep it in check and start beefing up your clean up crew. You can check reefcleaners for clean up crew, I used to like them a lot but my last couple of orders not very happy just saying.

You using a filter not really necessary unless running carbon? Really need a skimmer if you don't have one. Some debate on that for a small tank though. The rock can act like a filter if you didn't know this already.

You can add a HOB skimmer; or better yet add an overflow (Lifereef) + Sump + Skimmer in sump. Again you really don't need filter for saltwater

"30 gallon" with 1 pump moving water at 550gph,another moving at 110 gph down the back of reef, 2 30 gallon fluval 5 stage filters with carbon but honestly cut both those in half so about 15gallon rating each.. also have added small chuncks of live rock to the final stage of filters for an added bacteria population. aslo have a 5 gallon ATO res under stand. you can see relay and yellow wires for float switch in pictures above of the tank.
i also have 28 lbs of rock. 32 Lbs of sand.. about a 2 inch sand bed depending on spot and how tide has formed it. i dont have a skimmer im still in the process of designing my sump and over flow so i can implement a skimmer , but i am doing weekly 20% water changes to keep up with tank stability. :reading: