grass like macro algae!

[bboyin4lyf]

my soon to be reef tank has been up and running for about 2 weeks and ive noticed that the rocks and glass are becoming covered in a grass like macro algae! is this a good/bad sign? should i buy a snail or something that will eat the algae? im worried that if i attempt to remove it all "theres alot" the die off could cause a ammonia/foul water spike!
any help would be appreciated!
cheers

 

[krullulon]

sounds more like micro algae than macro.

new tanks frequently go through a series of algae blooms -- when you first start a tank there's frequently a lot of algae food in your system from the live rock that feeds initial blooms and eventually gets used-up... and then the algae starts to recede.

my tank is at 2.5 months post-cycle and i went through first a brown diatom bloom that lasted for about a week, then a hair algae bloom that lasted for 2 weeks (this was when i bought a clean-up crew of different snail types, and they really helped), then a bubble algae bloom that's just now starting to recede (and i helped-along by manual removal), and finally a bryopsis bloom that i'm still dealing with.

2 weeks is super-early for a tank, so don't sweat it... once you're confident that your water quality is stable, get a few different types of snails and they'll help a lot. don't worry about removing it by hand -- it's fine... just do sections of the tank each day.

and make sure you're water is pure and not feeding the algae!

 

[bboyin4lyf]

thanks for the advice
did a bit of manual removal today!
the algae is on the bare bottom of my tank and makes it look like a seaweed bed lol
cheers