Algae Growing On Sand Advice Please Pic Included

[JMagick]

Hi guys i am just cycling my tank for the first time its been going about a month or so i am doing a fishless cycle i added ammonia the ammonia levels have dropped and im waiting for the nitrite to lower however i noticed a couple of weeks ago im getting algae growing on the sand anyone know what i can do to remove it? it seems to be getting worse i have kept the lights off to try and stop it getting out of control is this the right thing to do? i have no fish right now here is a pic any advice appreciated.

 

[01edmn]

ive never had the problem b4 but ive read that people who have had it found that if they there sand level was to deep taken an inch or two of and the problem wen away hth

 

[Dave Spencer]

It looks like green dust algae to me (GDA). It usually prefers the glass to settle on.

The best method for defeating this type is to leave it alone for about three weeks. At the moment yours will be in the zoospore stage where it is free swimming and hard to eradicate. Removing it will just allow free swimming algae to reattach itself and start its life cycle again. After three weeks, the algae will reach its adult stage and start to become a bit slimy and patchy on the glass/sand, with little or no free swimming algae. You can remove it at this point or let it disappear of its own accord.

I run high light tanks and always see this type during the early stages of maturing the tanks. On one of my tanks I got a band of GDA on the glass that obscured my view in to the tank. Leaving it alone was not easy, but after three weeks it started to disappear. After one more week of patience, I manually scraped off the remainder using a credit card.

The glass has been 100% clear of GDA since then.

Dave.