What is this stuff in my tank??

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone. I'm new to keeping saltwater tanks and I have a couple questions. My 75 gallon has been up and running for a week now and I have live rock in it to cycle it. When I came home this evening I noticed that there's a layer of brownish-orange stuff all over the rock and also on the cruhed coral (which I'll be getting rid of and replacing with sand soon). It seems that this stuff just developed overnight. I tested my water and the ammonia is pretty high ad the nitrites are getting up there too, which I know i all part of the cycle. Also, today was the first time my protein skimmer pulled any foam out. So I'm just wondering, what is this brown stuff, a type of algae maybe? Is it normal? Will it go away, or what do I need to do to get rid of it? I'm going to the LFS tomorrow for some more rock, would picking up some snails maybe help get rid of it? LOL, sorry to ask so many questions, but I just want to make sure I'm doing everything right. Thanks for any help : )

 

[Anonymous]

are the rocks you are buing cured,if not your tank will take a very long and derty cycle to go through.
why would you replace your crushed coral bed.
that brown orange stuff is hair algae.keep your skimmer on 24/7.
wat type of lighting you are using?
type of filtration?
your tank is very new so you will have high nitrites,...

 

[Anonymous]

It sounds like you are going through a perfectly normal algae bloom. These happen during the beginning of the tanks life cycle and can continue for quite a while. At this point, I wouldn't add any snails since you are in the middle of cycling the tank and the ammonia will probably kill them. Just wait until the cycle is over, then you can add snails to help keep the algae in control. Don't worry about the live rock... it can go for a while being covered like that.

Cheers,

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