) First time participant here. About a month ago, I freed 2 supershrimp from one of those baseball-sized Ecospheres I had received as a gift about 6 years ago. They weren't showing any signs of failing health or anything, but after having them for so long and becoming attached, I decided to attempt to free them before it was too late. After setting up my tank and letting it cycle for a week, I freed the shrimp and got them in there successfully. Here is my set up:-2.5 gallon glass Mr. Aqua tank
-Nature's Ocean Bio-Active Aragonite Live Reef Substrate (supposedly cycles tank instantly)
-"live" rock
-plastic plant
-Marina C10 10W heater
-Utilitech 3000K LED bulb, 60W equivalent (9.8W actual), 800 lumens, from hardware store
The room has north-facing windows, so there is some indirect light, but not too bright. Also, the lamp lights up the tank much more than it appears in the photo.
Anxious over whether or not they were in desperate need of some food after being in the Ecosphere so long, I Immediately dropped an algae wafer in the tank after placing the shrimp in (they didn't eat any of it). Mistakenly, I let it sit in there a few hours longer than the recommended 2hrs, and I could subsequently see a green layer floating in there - it eventually dissipated, and all appeared fine. A week or 2 later, a fuzzy, brown growth appeared on everything in the tank, mainly on one side. Not sure if the wafer has anything to do with the growth, but I thought I would mention it just in case. I haven't added any other food since. The growth appeared before I set up the 3000k LED bulb (many online indicated that algae grew best in red-spectrum light). When it first appeared, I just had a 5000K CFL bulb in that lamp which was only on for about 6hrs at night. Otherwise, there was only the very mild indirect daylight from the window.
The growth has progressed fairly quickly, especially on the rock, and is beginning to spread to the other side of the tank. After doing some research on algae and other aquarium growths, it seemed like it may be DINOFLAGELLATES due mainly to the spikes with bubbles on the ends of them. But the bubbles (which any type of algae can produce I guess), the color, and its texture also point to other (and more favorable) possibilities like DIATOMS or CYNOBACTERIA. The color isn't as green as it appears in the photos - it's more brown with just a hint of green. When disturbed, it seems more powdery (which some said is a characteristic of diatoms) than snotty/viscous/stringy (signs of dinos supposedly). But it also seems to have some viscosity as well since some of the bubbles that float to the water surface carry pieces of substrate up with them. Here are some photos (have more if needed):
About 10 days ago, I also added a couple of snails that I bought from a supershrimp/snail tank that I was told Mustafa himself had set up at Aquatic Warehouse here in San Diego. The snails and shrimp all seem ok, but it also makes me a bit nervous that I've never caught any of them eating from the surfaces where the growth is really thick, as if it isn't tasty to them and therefore may be dinos. The shrimp are molting periodically, though, and I can always detect the line of excrement passing through them (and see it in the tank). And the snails are constantly snacking.
So, can anyone identify definitively what the growth is (dinos? diatoms? cyno? will eventually turn into green algae? something else?), and whether or not it is something I need to be concerned about? And even if it appears NOT to be dinos or anything else detrimental, can anyone tell me what I need to do to get that nice bright green algae growing in there like other tanks I've seen (including one posted in this forum and like the one Mustafa set up at Aquatic Warehouse)? Is it indeed true that algae grows best in red-spectrum light like with 2700K or 3000K bulbs? Are LED's the most effective type of light? Being that my tank began in a relatively low-light environment, could that have induced the less-than-optimal (assuming that's the case) growth? Do "live" substrates and rocks actually hinder algae growth?
Any advice on the optimum environment for healthy algae would be greatly appreciated. After saving these guys from an Ecosphere, I would love nothing more than to have them live long, healthy lives! I'll most likely add additional shrimp and snails once I'm confident I have a healthy tank in effect.
Thanks a lot in advance for your time and attention!
Hopefully you'll cross paths with that future post so you can let me know what you think. Thanks again!