some green slime...and bubbles....yum!

[FreDre]

So today I added some more live rock to my new tank that is still cycling....I know this may cause the nitrites and ammonia to spike even more. My question is that this morning, I noticed more of my coral is starting to be covered by a few spots of bright green algea...but mostly, a very thin coat of dark brown/green algea/slime. Some of this slime is also on the parts of my live sand. When I started putting in some of the live rock I just bought, i noticed tiny bubble coming up from the sand....I realized there are little bubbles forming on top of the sand that has the brown algea....what's going on...is this all part of the cycling process? The sand used to look so pure....and well pretty???

 

[Nano Chris]

What is best is to add all the lr at once so it goes threw one cycle, having corals in the tank and adding lr to the tank can cause another cycle, which what you see on the sand is diatoms, was the lr cured that you added? If not you will defiantly see a spike in ammonia and you may loose your corals if it gets too high. Id do some water changes.

 

[FreDre]

My tank is brand new...so I haven't put any corals in yet. I'm waiting for my tank to finish cycle...I would assume another 2 weeks before I will see stable water conditions void of ammonia and nitrite. The live rock was cured before I added it....but I was also told that if not, the rock will cure itself in a new tank, which is why i've waited on adding any fish or corals yet...wouldn't wanna put the little guys through that stress...Anymore good info on what diatoms are?

 

[danch]

The bubbles are most likely oxygen produced by the algae's photosynthesis. It'll happen any time a micoralgae mat gets to a certain density.

 

[FreDre]

Being it's a new tank....I just wait it out, right? And then once my water is good, but a cleanup crew right? What are some species that make a good clean up crew?

 

[kuoka]

Certain snails and slugs for the hair algae. Blue legged hermits will eat hair algae too. I've used Chemi clean for slime algae. I wouldn't spend too much on the cleanup crew though because since your tank is still cycling, you're bound to lose some. Good luck.

 

[FreDre]

ok thanks. Well I will wait for more stable conditions before I buy a clean up crew....I can't have their deaths on my conscience!!!