My cycling 5 gallon

[BKtomodachi]

This is a cycling regent acrylic 5 gallon with a coralife mini pc ficture and also the stock flourescent tube. Be warned the water is extremely cloudy and also kind of yellow. lr has been there for almost a week, and I think cycling is quite a ways from being over:

 

[Domino_Tang]

whoa cloudy.... remember you should change the water ... well i would do a 100% water change who knows .. how much ammonia is in the hrm... wonder what would happen if you added more rock .. need i say "kaboom"

[HumblePie]

I agree. A water change appears to be in order. Do you have a skimmer or other filtration?

[SeaSide]

Its almost week you said, cloudiness will clear our in a few days.

Water change? Do less than 30% of WC ONLY IF you can't stand that sewer like smell. That will take care of smell, bit that will also slow down your cycle a little.

[1fish2fish]

I agrree with Seaside. Let it be. I have noticed that most tanks go at least a little cloudy as they reach the nitrite spike. Yours does appear to be somewhat extreme though. hehe

I'm a firm believer that the more you mess with the tank while it's cycling the longer it will take. Every time you remove water you remove nitrites and ammonia which are essential for the cycling process.

[Whitten]

Let that bad boy be if you can.

[HumblePie]

So here's a quick question for all of you... I understand that if you don't change your wateruse additional filtration you can speed up your cycling. However, I have also read that if you don't use something like protein skimming and some incremental water changes you risk losing more of the desired livestock on the rock. By that I mean you delay the growth of the inverts that come with your rock because of the extreme water conditions. I realize that it is a trade off from taking longer to cycle versus preserving the rock inhabitants but is the information above accurate? Between the various books and posts, there is a lot of conflicting info out there concerning this. What are your thoughts?

[BKtomodachi]

Well I'm not to keen on saving any of the hitchhikers except for the bacteria and maybe some coralline, but yesterday I just did a 10 percent wc and it actually helped a lot.

[ReeferMonkey]

Hitchhikers you may not see but may want to keep include isopods/copepods/etc., bristle worms, various filter feeding organisms, tubeworms, etc. etc.

[BKtomodachi]

Well I figured that those could survive an ammonia level of 6 or so... which is what is has been at. Also what are some common hitchhikers that people have comonly seen on marshall island rock? Thats what I have and the rocks are just filled with a labyrinth of tunnels, etc, and I already see a couple tiny feather dusters, and one creepy moving thing that makes popping noises. BTW WTF is that?

[Chyendra]

either a pistol shrimp or a mantis shrimp

[Whitten]

Pop...Pop.....splash......drip drip drip......BZZZZZZZZZz(sound of near by computer sucking down 5 lbs of LR, 5 gallons of salt water and peppy the false perc).

[BKtomodachi]

ummmm thanks I think I get what you're saying about the mantis whitten but its a pistol I caught it and looked it up so I will trade back to lfs. Thanks!