Algae taking over tank within a week.

A

AllHailRain

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I did a full cleaning of my CFBN's tank 2 weeks ago, got a new filter, and scrubbed everything nice and clean except for the moss. I just swished that around. anyway, in the past week this has grown in the tank and it's all over everything. i've never seen anything like it and today was the first day i noticed it. so i know that it has definitely all grown within the past week.
here's pictures...
DSCF5118.jpg

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DSCF5110.jpg


It's hard to get a good picture through the glass, so I took several.
I even noticed my little newt shaking some off of his foot. It looks terrible in there, what is it and why is it there?
 
and as a quick note, i had JUST put food in when I took these so it looks overrun with bloodworms but they hadn't even been in there for 10 mins.
 
That´s most likely to be fungus.
 
I don’t think it’s algae either. It looks more like a mould. When you completely cleaned your tank you effectively removed all the good bacteria that processes the waste. Until the tank cycles (see: this article) you will have an excess of nutrients in the water and moulds which feed on them may occur.

Remove as much of the mould as possible by hand, do regular 10-20% water changes and vacuum waste. When the tank has cycled again the mould should disappear.
 
I definitely looks like a fungal bloom. Likely, when you cleaned it out your upset the microrganism and nutrient balance. As your tank cycles the explosive fungal growth should use up what ever nutrients it's enjoying and start dying off. I'd double check that you don't have any old food festering in the water, do some water changes, and you can try to remove what you can. I'd suspect it will die off after a few days. You may want to check your water's parameters.
 
it did look like there was less this mourning.
well, i used some of the old water about 1/4 or 1/5 to try to not upset the bacterial balance, but I guess that wasn't enough.

Okay, well I'll go do all of that and then it shouldn't be a problem anymore. Thanks!
 
For future cleanings, keep in mind that most of the good bacteria are found on tank surfaces and not in the water itself. So don't scrub off everything - leave some surfaces slick so you still have needed microorganisms.
 
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