brown & green algae in new tanks

[DianaKay]

Wow, this thread has been going for awhile, but a great read!
So my tank has been up for about a week now with live sand and live rock..I have one yellow tailed damsel in the tank(I know people say not to put livestock in this soon, but it was a suggestion someone gave me before I knew not to). Anyways, the brown algae just started popping up, covering the sand, and spreading to the rock. Is this super early to be getting the brown algae? Most people report getting this like a month or more after they set up, just seems like it came really fast. Also, I shouldn't add any CUC yet, correct?
Thanks!

Brown & Green algae came & went in cycles the 1st 6 months my tank was running. So it's not too early for you to see it IMO. Not time for any CUC YET! You should be testing your ammonia, nitrites & nitrates everyday to make sure your tank is progressing through the nitrogen cycle. This is very needed!
As for the (Blue?) yellow tail Damsel, this is notoriously a very aggressive fish (as most damsels are) and having it as your 1st fish (and also subjecting it to ammonia) might not be a good start to your tank if it even survives.
I'm glad You are here & doing some reading up on things you need to know. Keep asking questions and getting here because the advice you get here will make you more successful than what you will be told at the LFS.
Are you testing your water daily? Starting a tank thread will be an excellent thing to do also!

 

[DianaKay]

You can't see a lot of the algae very well in the picture, but you get the idea.

Very PRETTY RockScape!!

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Pretty normal

You really don't want to add anything alive... until your tank Cycles:

Cycling tank:

Watch for the ammonia to soar then fall to zero, then the nitrites soar & then fall to zero, then the nitrates soar, once this happens, do water changes to get rid of the nitrates - tank cycled

Depending on the state of your LR (how cured it was & how much die off it had), in general it will look something like this...

 

[aquaman183]

Okay, thanks for the help! And the compliment on the rockscape.
Since I posted that picture the algae is wayy more significant! It's spreading like wild fire!
I plan on buying a test kit this Friday.

 

[aquaman183]

Well my blue yellow tailed damsel took a late night swim through the overflow and wound up dead in the sock..

 

[BryanCLS]

good read. Noted! Thanks a lot!

 

[Uncle99]

Green will go when phosphate and nitrate are zero, and light is balanced.
You can also carbon dose with RS NoPox and speed up the process a bit.
Pull off as much as you can. When algae is tough to pull off, it means it's very healthy. As you bring your nitrates and phosphates, and ammonia to a lesser extent the algae with turn from dark green to a light brown and easy to pull off. Lawnmower blennies are experts at green hair.

 

[brian whitman]

Great advice, and remove as much by hand as you can. Only thing on clean up crews, after watching this I'm going a lot more conservative on the CUCs now, this makes a lot of sense...

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

for new tanks... good read