How can I improve my levels?

[tkao]

Hey all I recently started up a 5g. This week I added in my first frag and I have been running 10 hours of full spectrum. The past two days, I've started to get a lot of algae growth on my rocks and it is pearling. It's a deep brownish color along with some green, but I don't have too much on my sandbed yet. Does this sound like cyano?

 

My water params are:

 

Ammonia - 0 ppm

Nitrites - 0 ppm

Nitrates - 10-20 ppm

Phosphates - 0 ppm

Calcium - 40 ppm

KH - 161.1 ppm

 

Any suggestions? I did a 50% water change three days ago... Could I have caused a mini cycle? Before this water change, I had not done any because it was cycling with only LR for a month and a week.

 

Thanks in advance

[seabass]

Hard to say what it is by color alone. I'd guess it's microalgae. You say phosphate is undetectable. What phosphate test kit are you using. The reason I ask is that API kits are very popular; however, their phosphate kit is a high range kit. As such, it goes up in 0.25ppm increments (so you won't be able to detect a problem until the level is about ten times higher than the recommended range of 0.01 to 0.03ppm). When you start to see algae, that's usually a good sign that phosphate is present.

[drexel]

Could be a couple of things, but depends on how long your tank has been up and running (with lights)? If it's new, could be diatoms, cyano, phosphates, etc.....? How is your flow? Any dead spots? Fish load? Feeding? Salinity? Temp? See, I can keep going and the laundry list never stops. A little more info and a pic will help.

Also, I would get into the habit of doing a 10% to 20% water change every week, just make sure salinity and temp match your tank before w/c. Stability and nutrient export is the key to small nano's.

Just my two pennies.

[tkao]

I totally understand what you're saying with the laundry list. I do roughly 1L water changes every other day and a 25% change on Saturdays. My nitrates have gone down to 0,but now my ammonia is between .25 and .5. I've only got 3 snails in there, but they poop A LOT. Coral wise I only have a one headed hammer and a zoa frag.

[seabass]

... my ammonia is between .25 and .5. I've only got 3 snails in there, but they poop A LOT. Coral wise I only have a one headed hammer and a zoa frag.

Having any detectable ammonia is bad. You shouldn't add any livestock until the nitrogen cycle is established; which if you can detect ammonia, it isn't. Definitely don't add any more livestock until ammonia becomes undetectable for a week straight. You might also want to pick up some Seachem Prime to detoxify the ammonia for your existing livestock.

 

Calcium - 40 ppm

I assume you mean 400ppm.

 

[drexel]

Also, I would stop doing water changes for now. Let the bacteria build for now, then when ammonia goes to 0, then do small (10% or less) water changes every week or two until your parameters are stable.

How much LR and sand do you have? Was the LR cured or uncured?

[tkao]

I have around 3lb of LR. I cycled my tank for a month and a week and for the last 2 weeks I had perfect water levels. I have around 5-6lb of sand.

[ReefWeeds]

I have around 3lb of LR. I cycled my tank for a month and a week and for the last 2 weeks I had perfect water levels. I have around 5-6lb of sand.

 

Were you feeding the tank and/or giving it an ammonia source? It will need a source of ammonia to build the biofilter. Anytime you add livestock it adds more ammonia to the bioload so you want to make sure you build the biofilter properly.

[drexel]

If the LR was cured, then the cycle can happen rapidly, but if it's uncured, it can take months. Remember, if the rock has a lot of nooks and crannies, then sponges and other organisms can live in there and die off when exposed to air (for long periods of time).

[tkao]

If the LR was cured, then the cycle can happen rapidly, but if it's uncured, it can take months. Remember, if the rock has a lot of nooks and crannies, then sponges and other organisms can live in there and die off when exposed to air (for long periods of time).

 

The LR was cured, and one piece was aquacultured and cured.