Algae uses light energy to eat up Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and Phosphate. That's it's food and it eats a lot of it. When the sun goes down or the lights are off, algae stops eating/growing and starts breathing Oxygen instead of Carbon Dioxide. That's why, in a pollution emergency in an existing tank or for a few days when setting up new tanks, I turn on the lights 24/7 over algae to make it grow and eat up all the pollution. The result is NO CYCLE.
Algae sucks up so much pollution that when a lot of it is used, a new tank doesn't even go through a cycle. It's still a good idea to go slow on adding fish, but lots of soft coral can be added. Coral filter the water. Fish pollute.
Get as much Macroalgae as possible at first, then over the course of the next 4-8 weeks, as the biofiltration in the LS and LR grows and increases, sections of macroalgae can be removed until what's left is a nice patch that you can live with.
Caulerpa is awesome. It's much better looking than Chaetomorpha and becomes a good place for fish to hide out. Tangs love to eat Caulerpa so it makes them feel very comfortable when there is plenty of it in a new home.
Edited by Mark Peterson - May 17 2012 at 8:57pm
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