On my way to hair algae heaven!!:)

I thought I would post my first algae sightings on my L2 after only 9 days of setup time. Let me know what you guys think!

 

Btw, do you think the algae above is a type of hair algae?

 

Sounds good, Garf. I just "cleaned" my screen for the 1st time today in exactly 2 weeks. I took off some rogue strands of chaeto ( all chaeto was taken out before adding the L2), and swiped a little bit with my palm. Interestingly enough, nothing really came off. The algae looks well embedded within the canvas. I did notice 3-4 small patches of dark green algae. I wish I could have remembered to zoom in and take a pic but I forgot. I left those alone hoping they continue to grow. Here are a couple pics I took:

 

Thanks Bud. Yeah, I definitely did not see any slime algae or diatoms. Should I ramp up my water flow? I also remembered to install the false bottom this time.

 

Ok, will do.

 

I had to take a peek today at the algae and discovered that those small, dark green patches of algae have grown. Here is a pic taken a few min ago. This is 4 days after my first initial minimal cleaning. It's obvious that the dark green patches have grown. Do you think they are patches of turf algae?

 

Sounds good, Bud. When do you think I should increase the photo period?

 

Ok, sounds like I'm at least a month away then.

 

It's now been 12 days since my last cleaning (26 total days since the ATS has been up) and here are a couple pics:

 

Here's a pic of the other side. Sorry it's not as clear as the other pics. I think the ATS is doing great considering I don't have any fish in there now. I had to pull the fish as one of them came down with ich and they are all in my quarantine tank. The tank will be left fallow for 10 weeks and the fish will go in May 1st. I still feed the tank pellets every few days and dose amino acids, Reef Roids, Reef Chili and Oyster Feast a few times a week. I can't imagine what the growth rate of the algae will be like once I put the fish back in! Any idea when I should increase my photoperiod? I'm currently at 9 hrs.

 

Yes, I'm basically feeding the corals. Ok, I will definitely scrape off most of the clumps this weekend and leave the photoperiod alone. Do you think fish waste or food added to the tank is more responsible for turf algae growth?

 

Makes sense, thanks Bud. I'll clean off the algae this weekend and will take more pics and post them.

 

I cleaned the screen for the 2nd time and I definitely have hair algae growth! Considering that I have zero fish in my tank now, I think it's impressive. I can't imagine when I put my fish back in and really start feeding my tank. Here are a few pics I just took today. This is 16 days after my first light cleaning.

Before cleaning:




After cleaning: