Cycling information - 2 weeks + in already

[AnthonyiLLMaTiC]

Hi all,

Looking for some help along my way as i'm finally back into the hobby after a long break. In with a Red Sea Reefer Deluxe 170.

Began cycling with Red Sea starter kit Reef Mature. Followed all instructions down to the T. They said I should've already introduced clean up crew and a fish but I've been purposely waiting as I felt the parameters were too high. Currently at 0-.25 ppm Ammonia, 0ppm Nitrite, and 23.3ppm Nitrate using the newest Nitrate checker from Hanna. Here's a shot of my log. Some differences have been noticed from testing incorrectly and the ammonia/nitrite tests have been done with the AFI kit but using a screen shot of a color chart on my phone for the results reading so sometimes I can't distinguish exactly the color (if it's 0 or one level above).

Recommendations? I really would like to add 2 clowns to get the process moving along but I've been waiting for the Nitrate to get lower.

 

[AnthonyiLLMaTiC]

Here is some tank pics showing the very minor algae grow that just sprung a few days ago as well. I’m 18 days in from water.

 

[homegrowncichlid]

Looks like cyano or diatoms on the sand bed, don't worry, it's all inevitable. No reason not to start stocking the tank. You can get a nice pack from online like, Reeftopia or reefcleaners, for that huge 170. When you add the snails, hermit crabs, macro algae, etc, you will have a functionally active ecosystem within the month. You will be also getting a whole bunch of bacteria and other micro organisms with the cleaners that will seed your system building a diverse food web. They are quite hardy. At the end of the month, you can use any product to eliminate the inevitable pests, of cyano, diatoms, dinoflagelates, using total black out or other biological cleaning solutions, like microbacter 7, or I prefer Dr Tim's. If you've got a live seafood market nearby, clams will also seed the system. You can eat the clams later. Don't get oysters or mussels, they may die on you, before you can eat them.
After you clear the pests, and everything is stable, add your favorite fish!

 

[AnthonyiLLMaTiC]

Looks like cyano or diatoms on the sand bed, don't worry, it's all inevitable. No reason not to start stocking the tank. You can get a nice pack from online like, Reeftopia or reefcleaners, for that huge 170. When you add the snails, hermit crabs, macro algae, etc, you will have a functionally active ecosystem within the month. You will be also getting a whole bunch of bacteria and other micro organisms with the cleaners that will seed your system building a diverse food web. They are quite hardy. At the end of the month, you can use any product to eliminate the inevitable pests, of cyano, diatoms, dinoflagelates, using total black out or other biological cleaning solutions, like microbacter 7, or I prefer Dr Tim's. If you've got a live seafood market nearby, clams will also seed the system. You can eat the clams later. Don't get oysters or mussels, they may die on you, before you can eat them.
After you clear the pests, and everything is stable, add your favorite fish!

I’ve got a pack from ReefCleaners shipping out tomorrow. I guess I should give it a week after adding the CUC before introducing livestock.
Plan on adding just 2 clowns and a bunch of Frags and let them sit for at least a month or so before adding more.

 

[AnthonyiLLMaTiC]

Hi all,
Still cannot get my nitrates down for the life of me. Here’s updated readings. Added CUC 2 days ago, also have been doing the 5% water change once per week and today did a 8% water change and cleaned the hell out of the sump/overflow. Nitrates still >20ppm.
Any idea what may be causing this?

 

[homegrowncichlid]

Your rocks are probably leaching nutrients. Not a deal breaker, just keep cycling. I think it took 3 or + months for my dried out live rock to leach everything out. In the next few weeks, you're going to see algae start to grow on the rocks, sucking nutrient's right up. You don't need to do water changes, you need to complete the cycling, so you can measure the rise, then fall of your nutrient's. So the algae will start to grow in, soaking up nutrient's, which will then move to the clean up crew's bio mass. You'd then want to export their waste.
The algae spores, would have been imported with your clean up crew. could be good stuff, or bad. Nothing to do but wait and see.

 

[Timbo]

Hi all,
Still cannot get my nitrates down for the life of me. Here’s updated readings. Added CUC 2 days ago, also have been doing the 5% water change once per week and today did a 8% water change and cleaned the hell out of the sump/overflow. Nitrates still >20ppm.
Any idea what may be causing this?

Ride out the cycle. Can’t rush your tank doing what it should be. Patiently wait is all you can do.

 

[ReefnQueens]

I started cycling my rock last November in a 44 gallon brute (just my rock) then when I set up my tank around Christmas I added “live” sand and a few 4x8x8 marine bio blocks about a week and a half later , I added some fish , week later clean up crew and I been adding clean up crew a few at time , added some sps and zoas ,water was clear parameters were good then BOOM!!! I mean BLOOM!!!!! I’m dealing with a super duper bacterial bloom for about a week now , almost looks like aloe Vera swimming around under my leds.... of course it bugged me out so early on I was doing 60 gallon w/c’s back to back in my 150 gallon tank for two days , which did nothing , all my parameters still normal as they should be , all the sps frags surprisingly seem to be loving it , full polyp extension day and night , fish seem normal , im running activated carbon in the reactor and in a clean filter sock temporarily, I stopped with the paranoid water changes, I’m keeping only the uv and blue lights on my xr30s at 20 percent , skimmer on , extra air pump in display tank.... I do now have some pods populating in my sump so I just decided to chill out and leave everything alone ..... hardest thing in this hobby is PATIENCE and I feel I’m only now starting to get a taste of that lol ....... there’s no instant gratification! Hopefully my experience helps you out!

 

[jadakiss]

Just let it take it course at the same time keep testing and see where the parameters are at.