# Fresh Start



## Guest (Mar 14, 2009)

Hi, I am starting a new reef tank. 34"X34"X20" high' 100gal. I have had saltwater tanks before and had some problems with algae. What can be done from the very start to keep all algae growth to a minimum? If anything. Is there anyone out there that has a saltwater tank and has never had any bad algae outbreaks in it ? The tank is empty right now so I am up for any suggestions...........................Thanks...


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## petlover516 (Nov 12, 2008)

algae is caused by high nitrate levels or too much lighting. To prevent it, don't slack on those water changes and make sure the tank is not getting a whole lot of light. Cut lighting periods to 8 hours a day and make sure the tank does not recieve natural sunlight.


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## Guest (Mar 14, 2009)

petlover516 said:


> algae is caused by high nitrate levels or too much lighting. To prevent it, don't slack on those water changes and make sure the tank is not getting a whole lot of light. Cut lighting periods to 8 hours a day and make sure the tank does not recieve natural sunlight.


Thank you, I can do that............... :fish2:


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## ladyonyx (Apr 20, 2009)

When starting a new reef tank, especially if you're patient, just wait it out. When a tank is cycling, it is going to go through a heavy algal growth period and probably a diatom bloom as well. Just let is run it's course; it'll take a little while and it won't look very pretty, but if there's nothing in it other than live rock and substrate, it doesn't matter much. My tank took about 5-6 weeks to get through the "ugly" phase, and I've never had an algae issue since. Just let it do it's own thing for a while


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## FishyFish (Jun 1, 2009)

so then what do you do if you're having algae problems and don't want to lose your coral? won't decreasing the lighting negatively affect the coral?


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## phil_pl (Apr 10, 2009)

i just had a cyno outbreak in my tank about a week ago, caused by overfeeding my corals. i ran lights only when feeding my fish for 4 days, along with sucking out all the cyno off the sand that i could. doing this didnt affect my corals at all.
I know this doesnt tell you how to prevent it but petlover516 covered that pretty well


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