What Algae Will Grow Cycling A Marine Tank

First, you should not stock your tank with any livestock when you first set it up. You need to wait for your tank to cycle first. If you put livestock in your tank before it cycles it will die from the imbalance in the water. There are many types of algae that will grow in your marine tank when you set it up. Many people might not know what this means when they grow different kinds of algae in their tanks right when they set it up. There are 3 stages of algae in your aquarium. Everything that is going on is completely normal. If you are having obsessive algae growth it is still normal. Your tank will just take a little longer to cycle.

Three Algaes That Will Grow During The Cycling Peroid

There are three different kinds of algae that will grow while cycling. Here they are:

First brown algae stage. This is the first cycle of your tank. The algae in your tank is cycling out the ammonia in your tank and if you add livestock the ammonia will kill your animals.

Second is the red algae stage. This stage is when your tank has converted all the ammonia to nitrates. The nitrates will grow red algae in your tank to keep them down, during the late stages of your second algae stage you can try to add livestock like damsels and see if they live. If they do then you are free to add what you want.

The third stage is the light green algae stage. This is the stage where your tank is done with the cycling. When you grow this algae, this is not noticeable. You are ready to start you reef.

Other Types Of Algae In The Reef

Red algae: this means you have high nitrates in your tank and probably need to do a water change with reverse osmosis water or distilled water.

Green hair algae:this means you have high phosphate levels. You can either try to do water changes with reverse osmosis water to get rid of it. Or run go in the tank.

Pink coralline algae:this is good algae to have here. Coralline algae really makes your reef look great. Don’t try to kill it. If you don’t like it then swap out all the rocks that have it with dry rock.

Those are all the common algae growths. Please leave a comment on a different problem you have and we will try to help you with it.