dandelion Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 Hi all, I'm new to the hobby. I've had my 29 G tank set up for about a month now. I'm still doing a fish less cycle and I dose ammonia to about 3ppm when ammonia and nitrite goes below 0.25. Right now it takes about 48 hours for both to be all converted to nitrate, so I hope I am pretty close to being done. I noticed the coralline algae on my seed rock is fading. It's bleaching slowly but surely. I took a picture last week, and today when I look at the seed rock it has certainly bleached more. Should I do anything to try to save the coralline? Some people on other forums says to worry about the coralline later because it'll come back slowly after the cycle is finished. I'm just wondering if I should cut short my fish less cycle and do a water change? After all 48 hours to get 3ppm of ammonia (and subsequently nitrite) to 0 shouldn't be all that bad? Or should I pull the seed rock and put it in a bucket? Link to comment
Murphs_Reef Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 How long are you running your lights? Link to comment
Grom Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 all algae needs light and nutrients to grow.at this point you probably have low to no nutrients in your tank,when you add a fish and start feeding it im sure the color will come back Link to comment
dandelion Posted May 30, 2015 Author Share Posted May 30, 2015 I try to run it during the day and off for about 8 hours when I go to bed though I haven't been too careful about it since I'm still cycling with nothing but that rock alive in my tank. My nitrates hover around 20-40 depending on how long ago I dosed ammonia. I thought that should be enough nutrients? I don't have a test kit for Calcium though Link to comment
NorthGaHillbilly Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 If its processing the ammonia already Id say your good to get started Link to comment
seabass Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 Ideally, you'd prep your dry rock (with bacteria and dosing ammonia) separately. Then, when it's ready, you could add your live rock (to help seed more life). That way you wouldn't be exposing the beneficial life on your live rock to ammonia (which could kill some of it). However, I agree with GaHillbilly. It is processing the ammonia, so you could stop dosing additional ammonia, start doing water changes, and (when ammonia is completely undetectable) slowly start adding livestock. Link to comment
dandelion Posted May 30, 2015 Author Share Posted May 30, 2015 Thanks for the replies. Ammonia was near 0 last night so I'm sure it'll be 0 now. I'll do a water change tonight and then get some peppermint shrimps from my LFS. They're on sale. I have a quarantine tank set up so once it's biological filter is mature I will put new fish in there. Figured I should start off doing it right and save the headaches and heartbreaks. Link to comment
CJJon Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 I would wait on the shrimps and get some snails first. Link to comment
dandelion Posted May 30, 2015 Author Share Posted May 30, 2015 I'm surprised I do not have algae or diatom bloom in my tank. Maybe I added chaeto in my hob fuge in time. So whatever cuc I put in I probably have to feed them. Link to comment
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