[CoryLover8]

I am making the move from ecocomplete to sand for the sake of my cories. This poor tank dealt with BGA and hair algae along with the usual GDA and brown algae when it was just started. Right now I am terrified that changing substrates will cause an algae bloom. Is there nothing to worry about or is there something I can do to prevent anything from happening?

 

[CowBoYReX]

You will likely get diatoms, it looks like a brown algae, but regular water changes and wiping it off will take care of that. Aside from that I don't see why it would do anything

 

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi CoryLover8,

With new substrate there is always the possibility of having the tank go through another nitrogen cycle where ammonia, nitrites, and then nitrates will spike sequentially until the nitrates drop to zero. During nitrogen cycles I typically will have algae outbreaks, especially hair algae during the ammonia spike. The best way to possibly avoid this problem is continue to use the existing media in your filter, do not clean it. The existing colony of beneficial bacteria in the filter media may help populate the new substrate well enough to avoid the nitrogen cycle.

 

[cininohio]

Why not just cap it? Are you doing it because it's rough?

 

[CoryLover8]

Thank you for your responses. I feel a tiny bit better, though I am worried as I live with OCD people who will freak over a tiny bit of algae.

I am worried about the tiny barbs on my pygmy cories who are moving into the tank.