brown algae and cycling?

[VAreef]

Hi everyone,

My tank is on it's 3rd week of cycling. Last week I added the live rock and lighting. I was using about 8-10 hours of MH light per day and the live rock started growing brown algae. I thought the live rock could use it for some reason. I cut the lights down to 2-3 hours per day after reading an article on it. My Ammonia and nitrites are now zero and nitrates are 20. Can I go ahead and do a water change to further kill the algae? Cutting the lights back didn't help at all in fact it still spread more over the next 3 days. I'm building a sump and refuge this weekend and adding in a protein skimmer with about 10 lbs of live sand in the refuge. Should I wait till after all of that is done before messing with a water change? The live sand will start another mini cycle right? Is it safe to go ahead and add a few snails and hermit crabs? I'm taking it slow so don't mind waiting another week or two before adding anything to make sure its right.

Thanks for all your help in advance and I'm loving this new aquarium

 

[bobby]

Welcome to the site. You can do a water change now. I dont think the LS will start another cycle. What kind of skimmer are you adding? I think it would be safe to add a clean up crew now. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[Bifferwine]

I agree with Bobby, make sure you have enough circulation in the tank, try and keep your phosphates and nitrates down, algae outbreaks are common in new tanks, after a while you'll get things under control and it won't happen as frequently. A water change would help.

 

[jhnrb]

Welcome to the site. You can start to establish your clean up crew and it is ok to do some water changes to lower the nitrates. Keep us posted.