Is this stuff bad?

[rossim]

This green hairy alge wasn't there this morning, but all of a sudden its appeared. It isn't on any of the LR (tank is only 1.5 weeks old so there isn't anything else in it). Its on the glass on on the LS.
It looks light green, and almost looks like very fine, light green grass. You can't really tell on the pictures that much.
Any ideas what this is and what we should do? We've had the tank cycling for about a week now. Had a frozen shrimp in there for a couple days and the amonia spiked. PH levels were high so we did a 10% water change (which we probably shouldn't have). Current levels:
Amonia - .25
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 40
PH - 8.6
Salt - 1.024
Temp - 79

 

[grindzgreg]

Wow, ur fish are going to die with numbers like that
Stay cute:scared:

:cheer: :cheer:

 

[yellowtail]

Originally posted by grindzgreg
Wow, ur fish are going to die with numbers like that
Stay cute:scared:

:cheer: :cheer:
he siad there was nothing in it

. but that is just part of your cycling proccess. dont worry about it.

 

[neotrin17]

the hair algae is just part of the cycling process...nothing to worry about..

 

[rossim]

Thanks for the feedback. In the meantime we're gonna cut back on the amount of time the lights are on it. They were on about 12 hours, but we only have LR and LS in there.

 

[viper_930]

Fish can't die from that algea.

 

[kistler]

even with fish light at 12 hours is kinda long, i mean how long is the sun up for? not 12 hours at all well at full strangth, I keep mine around 7 1/2 hours a day. I might move it up bit only by 15 min a week. and really when i started my tank i was tonld only to turn on the lights only for like 4-5 hours and then move it up an hour a week untell i hit 8 hours and then have the fish.
i barely had an alge problem, i had a small case but it was gone not long after

 

[pontius]

if it's hair algae, I'd take every step possible to get rid of it. mine wasn't bad in the beginning, now 4 months later, it's pretty much taken my tank, and I'm running out of things to try. it won't hurt the fish, but it does hurt the look of the tank and it can smother corals.

 

[dskidmore]

Originally posted by Pontius
if it's hair algae, I'd take every step possible to get rid of it. mine wasn't bad in the beginning, now 4 months later, it's pretty much taken my tank, and I'm running out of things to try. it won't hurt the fish, but it does hurt the look of the tank and it can smother corals.
Pontius, what kind of water source are you using? Sounds like out of control nutrients.

 

[pontius]

I use RO water. phosphates are 0, nitrates 15ppm. everything else is good.
I added a bunch of blue legs and snails, they did nothing.
I added a coral beauty and LMB, they did nothing.
I added a couple of emerald crabs, nothing.
I added 2 more powerheads, nothing.
I have T5 lights that were on 10 hours, I cut it back 2 hours yesterday.
I added a yellow tang yesterday and I've put in an order on here that includes emerald crabs and mexican turbos. I've also started adding red legs to see if they do better than the blues. If this doesn't work, I don't know what else to do. I've already tried picking it by hand, but it grows back faster and thicker.

 

[birdy]

Pontius- perhaps you should start a new thread to talk about your hair algae problems, I have some suggestions but I don't want to hijack this thread.
Ross- algea growth is a normal part of a cycling tank, if you are using a proper water source and maintaining your tank it should disapear, reducing light photoperiod is a good idea.