2 weeks into cycling tank

[Ozy2216]

Two weeks into cycling my tank, it’s never been uglier lol. Brown algae everywhere with hair algae sprinkled in. But my ammonia is below 0.02ppm and these are my current parameters tested with api salt/fresh 5 in 1 test strips. Question is, does it look like so good so far? I’m used to freshwater so this is a whole new animal for me.

 

[Ozy2216]

Two weeks into cycling my tank, it’s never been uglier lol. Brown algae everywhere with hair algae sprinkled in. But my ammonia is below 0.02ppm and these are my current parameters tested with api salt/fresh 5 in 1 test strips. Question is, does it look like so good so far? I’m used to freshwater so this is a whole new animal for me.

 

[brandon429]

you are long past done cycling and into time to siphon that out and prevent the uglies.

don't follow the common way of allowing a total takeover, the price of starting with white rocks is the gardening it takes to keep weeds out.

be lifting out that rock and rinse off externally in saltwater, set back onto totally clean sand you siphoned up a few gallons to get those top growths out. be hand cleaning for a good while, cycle is done.

there is no more need to test for ammonia or nitrite for the life of this reef. nitrate is for tuning algae and coral colors, so its time to begin reefing.

 

[Ozy2216]

you are long past done cycling and into time to siphon that out and prevent the uglies.

don't follow the common way of allowing a total takeover, the price of starting with white rocks is the gardening it takes to keep weeds out.

be lifting out that rock and rinse off externally in saltwater, set back onto totally clean sand you siphoned up a few gallons to get those top growths out. be hand cleaning for a good while, cycle is done.

there is no more need to test for ammonia or nitrite for the life of this reef. nitrate is for tuning algae and coral colors, so its time to begin reefing.

No way! I thought it was way longer than that. Tonight I’ll siphon what i can, and Friday I’ll start with some cleanup crew. Thanks!

 

[rubertoe93]

May I suggest adding more rock too, once you have these uglies out of the way?
Also for now there fine but api test kits are renowned for being rubbish,
Red Sea or salifert are the best,
Take your time and enjoy this wonderful hobby!

 

[brandon429]

Ozy
we're using an updated visual tool to make the call, it wasn't the test kits agreed.

literally any system that has sat long enough to develop a quarter of that top growth above is fully cycled for ammonia processing. its a fascinating order of ops nature does and it never fails.

*that doesn't mean some tanks at 2 weeks get that much growth, some are sterile looking but they added bottle bac which gets a tank ready in a couple days. So the absence of that growth doesn't mean anything, but its presence sure does.

 

[Ozy2216]

May I suggest adding more rock too, once you have these uglies out of the way?
Also for now there fine but api test kits are renowned for being rubbish,
Red Sea or salifert are the best,
Take your time and enjoy this wonderful hobby!

Will do, i was also waiting till the cycle is over and i get alot of the uglies out before i add new rock, so hopefully by next week i’ll have alot more rock in there

 

[rubertoe93]

Will do, i was also waiting till the cycle is over and i get alot of the uglies out before i add new rock, so hopefully by next week i’ll have alot more rock in there

Can’t have a reef with no rock!
good stuff enjoy!!

 

[Ozy2216]

Ozy
we're using an updated visual tool to make the call, it wasn't the test kits agreed.

literally any system that has sat long enough to develop a quarter of that top growth above is fully cycled for ammonia processing. its a fascinating order of ops nature does and it never fails.

*that doesn't mean some tanks at 2 weeks get that much growth, some are sterile looking but they added bottle bac which gets a tank ready in a couple days. So the absence of that growth doesn't mean anything, but its presence sure does.

Yeah it’s crazy how much more

Ozy
we're using an updated visual tool to make the call, it wasn't the test kits agreed.

literally any system that has sat long enough to develop a quarter of that top growth above is fully cycled for ammonia processing. its a fascinating order of ops nature does and it never fails.

*that doesn't mean some tanks at 2 weeks get that much growth, some are sterile looking but they added bottle bac which gets a tank ready in a couple days. So the absence of that growth doesn't mean anything, but its presence sure does.

Appreciate the info, it’s crazy how much more goes into salt over fresh lol. But it’s been fun so. Far

 

[brandon429]

I have one buzzkill to relay lol

its about the fish


so in freshwater we select the fattest best ones, buy them, take them home and they do fine 99% of the time

well for marine, literally any fish you buy has a 99% chance of being dead in six months no matter how they do initially. there's a hidden trick

without fallow and quarantine they wont make a year. Gotta see this forum on how to keep fish alive, bottled additives wont cut it.

Fish Disease Treatment and Diagnosis

A forum for discussing treatment and diagnosing saltwater reef fish.

www.reef2reef.com

there is lots of debate on what works for fish disease. Notice how few options are repeated there, or stickies there, not the others folks debate.

use the stickies there for disease prevention in your fish. fallow and quarantine or they will not make 6-12 mos.

when you buy a marine fish from a typical pet store, you buy a diseased fish its as simple as that. so in marine systems we start out by preventing the disease not hoping against it, because that cannot work.

marine fish keeping is nothing like freshwater

skip fallow and qt=buying new fish every few mos over and over.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

The fun part is when Ozy learns that the rock is the key to a cycled tank! I agree that you are set to go and you can put down that test kit. In 3-4 weeks you should consider getting something like a kit from salifert. Ammonia and Nitrite are can be used as paper weights or trash bag holders after today.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

I have one buzzkill to relay lol

its about the fish


so in freshwater we select the fattest best ones, buy them, take them home and they do fine 99% of the time

well for marine, literally any fish you buy has a 99% chance of being dead in six months no matter how they do initially. there's a hidden trick

without fallow and quarantine they wont make a year. Gotta see this forum on how to keep fish alive, bottled additives wont cut it.

Fish Disease Treatment and Diagnosis

A forum for discussing treatment and diagnosing saltwater reef fish.

www.reef2reef.com

there is lots of debate on what works for fish disease. Notice how few options are repeated there, or stickies there, not the others folks debate.

use the stickies there for disease prevention in your fish. fallow and quarantine or they will not make 6-12 mos.

100% disagree but you already know that, don't you Brandon ;)

Ozy, I suggest doing a good bit of research into QT protocols, maybe tell us the fish you are interested in and your setup. I have 12 happy fish that were not quarantined going on 2 years now so I must really be a statistical anomaly! Just research up on the subject.

 

[Ozy2216]

100% disagree but you already know that, don't you Brandon ;)

Ozy, I suggest doing a good bit of research into QT protocols, maybe tell us the fish you are interested in and your setup. I have 12 happy fish that were not quarantined going on 2 years now so I must really be a statistical anomaly! Just research up on the subject.

Honestly i just want a community tank and hopefully way down the line, coral. I was looking into 2 clowns, a watchman goby, two cardinals, coral beauty, and a firefish. But i’ll start researching QT and things alike

 

[brandon429]

yes I disagree due to nobody contributing a single work thread where applicable. its hard to catch ether in a bag :)

that's why I like to neutrally point out what is stickied in the disease forum where people need help by skipping qt and fallow, and we can easily track there what works and what is 100% missing from options.

 

[Jekyl]

Also agree you should add a lot more rock work asap

 

[Rubberfrog]

yes I disagree due to nobody contributing a single work thread where applicable. its hard to catch ether in a bag :)

that's why I like to neutrally point out what is stickied in the disease forum where people need help by skipping qt and fallow, and we can easily track there what works and what is 100% missing from options.

I love what you contribute here. Seriously. You are big about gathering empirical data, analyzing it to come up with a theory, and then testing that theory via work threads. It's a time proven application of the scientific method. Some day we will be able to test the non qt/nutrition theory as well. That data will be hard to collect as long as the people testing that theory are harassed in every thread it is mentioned.

 

[brandon429]

I guarantee about 5000 people disagree with 90% of my typings but that is a snake oil filter aspect of forum gatekeeping that really helps balance claims. plus its a very fun gradient to work in

I like to relay what I think can best be reproduced + the links on where the top data can be found for a given procedure, my own biases included he he

*the fact no reefing method wins out and maintains much past 1 decade means we're all up for change soon, so everyone is vying for the best methods on file.

since so much of this has no peer reviewed papers, we gotta wing it/and I'll rely on demonstrable web patterns for the safe bet recommends. I will not be surprised if one day new methods completely set my recommends back into the stone ages. change will always come in some form and I can't wait to see how they improve fish retention in marine setups.

 

[Ozy2216]

Yeah I appreciate everyones input and knowledge, i’m gonna start getting rid of the uglies via siphoning and getting some clean ups (Unless anyone has other methods they would like to let me know about that’d be awesome!) and start getting some rocks. You guys rock I appreciate it alot.

 

[Rubberfrog]

Yeah I appreciate everyones input and knowledge, i’m gonna start getting rid of the uglies via siphoning and getting some clean ups (Unless anyone has other methods they would like to let me know about that’d be awesome!) and start getting some rocks. You guys rock I appreciate it alot.

That's a great start!

 

[Ozy2216]

Update, WEEK 3 Aloot of the algae is gone, got a Uv sterilizer, turbo snails, and have been doing small weekly water changes. Also got some rocks, i still want to get more rocks for the left side, and i still have a small amount of diatoms and hair algae left. Am i on the right track? I was wondering about adding some boosters, like coralline algae in a bottle or other stuff.