Cycling?

[Bodhi-Licious]

Ok today I went to the LFS to get my water tested (Im getting kits just dont have the money yet) my levels were

 

PH 7.9

Ammonia 1.5

Nitrite 0.3

 

I am at day 11 does this sound ok?

I lso have some little green hairs growing on the glass, Im assume this is green hair alge which Iwas hoping to avoid cause I used RO/DI water oh well. I have some small pink spots growing on the glass, could this be coraline? so soon? the rock that I bought is covered in it well any coments would be apreciated

 

15gal

40lbs oolite live sand @ 3 1/2"

3lbs base rock

14lbs live rock

50w heater

powerhead 402

powersweep 212

(395 gal/hr water movment)

coralife 20" 96w quad 50/50 actinic/10,000k (6.8w/gal)

s/g 1.024

water temp 80/81 deg f

 

 

lots of feather dusters that came with live rock

a bit of cynobacteria

some sargassum macro alge started growing on live rock

and a hitch hiker blue leg hermit about 3/4"big

 

thanks:D

[tylernt]

If you're starting to see nitrite, the ammonia is probably about to drop to 0 so I'd say you're halfway there.

 

Even if you did use RO, algae will grow any time there is phosphate, or high nitr*te levels... some of which which you have because you are still cycling. So don't panic yet. When the cycle is done your cleanup crew should take care of it. If it gets really bad you can reduce lighting to fight it.

 

Speaking of lighting, do you like the 20" 96w powerquad? I'm thinking of doing a 10g next and am seriously considering that exact light. Does it fit well over an 18" 10g tank? Sorry to hijack your thread.

[Bodhi-Licious]

the lights awesome and it fits over a 10 or 15gal perfect. the only problem is it only has one on/off switch so you have to pic a 50/50 or 10,00k . Im planing on building a small retro actinic to simulate dusk/dawn lite cycle and coral watching when i get some(a few months)

 

could the pink spots on my glass be coraline allready?

and my powerhead is moving LOTS of water and this is creating some bubbles is this good or bad?(the bubbles)

[tylernt]

Hey thanks for the info on the lights!

could the pink spots on my glass be coraline allready?

Uh... I'm too new to reefin' to answer. I have pink and red spots too, that are hard to clean off, so I assume they are corraline.

and my powerhead is moving LOTS of water and this is creating some bubbles is this good or bad?(the bubbles)

Bubbles can irritate some corals, but other than that, they're not real bad. They can break up the surface tension of the water and reduce surface scum, but many people don't like the way they look, so it's kind of six or half dozen...

[Dingo]

Try scraping off an algae spot. If it is hard like rock, it is coraline. You need to use your nail or an edged scaper to get that stuff off. If not, it is probably cyano living off of the nitrogen from your cycle.

 

Bubbles splatter water when they pop and create a lot of salt creep, so I try to minimize them.

[audi206rs4]

yeah scrape off that coraline, good on rocks, ugly on glass, imo...

 

pick off as much hair algae as possible by hand (makes your clean-up crew more efficient when you add them, i would lower your photo period and let that baby cycle.

[Bodhi-Licious]

I have my lights set on a 12 hour photo oeriod rite now, is this good? when can I add a clean up crew?

[Dingo]

Some here advocate only having your lights on for a few hours a day during cycle in order to minimize algae. It can look pretty ugly when everything gets crud on it. 12 hours is good after you introduce corals.

 

You can add your cleaning crew after your nitrItes get to 0. You will see your ammonia go to zero and your nitrItes will spike. Then your nitrites will go to 0 and your nitrAtes will rise. At that point, do a major water change to pull out some of the nitrates, and add your cleaning crew. A week or two after that, you can start sloooowly adding livestock.

 

Each time you add a critter to your tank, it will create more ammonia as waste, and your tank will have a mini-cycle until it reaches a new equilibrium. If you add too much at once, you will end up with dead critters.

[birdman204]

Dingo, what about animals like zoos , or star polyps, is their am impact as large on the cycle as say , some sps? or what about say , frogspawn , torch or rics , They are more meaty food eaters, will they affect the am levels as badly as say a fish who makes ammonia in their gills when they breath , not including waste products?