One Week into Cycle need some help.

[Joshua W.]

Hi everybody, 

I am about a week and half into cycling my new tank and I am seeing some growth of an orange brownish algae. I just want to get some feed back that this is what I think it is and that it is Diatoms. 

I guess my question is do I siphon it off the wood and plants that it is growing on or leave it and continue to monitor things through the cycle. (It is exciting to see the growth in the tank even if it isnt the prettiest thing to look at) 🤣

But I am wondering do they go away after the cycle is complete or do I just remove them manually? I am dosing with Easy Green, and I dose with Easy Iron once a week. I also have easy carbon but I have not dosed with that yet. 

Thank you for your help! I have been learning alot as I go throw the process and learn from you all! 

[CT_]

Diatoms arent stringy like that.  If it were me I'd just pull out what I can.  It won't hurt your cycle.

 

[Schwack]

4 hours ago, Joshua W. said:

Hi everybody, 

I am about a week and half into cycling my new tank and I am seeing some growth of an orange brownish algae. I just want to get some feed back that this is what I think it is and that it is Diatoms. 

I guess my question is do I siphon it off the wood and plants that it is growing on or leave it and continue to monitor things through the cycle. (It is exciting to see the growth in the tank even if it isnt the prettiest thing to look at) 🤣

But I am wondering do they go away after the cycle is complete or do I just remove them manually? I am dosing with Easy Green, and I dose with Easy Iron once a week. I also have easy carbon but I have not dosed with that yet. 

Thank you for your help! I have been learning alot as I go throw the process and learn from you all! 

I've gotten a similar algae when cycling in the past. I was able to clean it up by dramatically reducing the photo period in the tank. Typically I'd drop down to 5 hours or so of light until the algae cleared up.

The last time I started a brand new tank, I dosed with easy carbon early on and that took care of it. Be aware that killing a bunch of algae at once might result in a bit of an ammonia spike unless you suck all the dead organics out of the tank.

If you don't care about the tank being temporarily icky, I'd play with the lighting a bit and let your tank find its balance. Some shrimp or snails will take care of any detritus that crops up during the cycle.