Almost at week 4 and no diatoms

[Jonas Bergkvist]

Just over a week ago my Ammonia dropped to zero (using Dr. Tims ammonia and bacteria), and a couple of days ago i added 10 kg of live rock and when i did that it hit me that i don't have any sign of diatoms at all. Nothing. I have been cycling my tank without the lights on, but it does get some ambient light for sure. Is this normal? I often read that people gets some diatoms already after a week or something.

My Nitrite is probably at 2 ppm now and going down.
Alkalinity is 7.
Ph 8.2
Nitrate: 30?

 

[brandon429]

you are all done, have met the times from the cycling chart plus met the times needed for live rock transfer, and the bottle bac # of days.

the test kits report some drift readings/expected that's all on track above/completed.

the diatoms are indeed variable tank to tank, remove em once that feeding + light starts. disallow the uglies. lucky to have none, its independent from being cycled although interestingly, no tanks that do have diatoms are uncycled

the confirmation works in reverse...if you looks at a reef tank that recently had water, dry items, bottle bac and feed added and it has a sheen of any kind of growth, that's confirmed cycled meaning the system will move down ammonia when requested. bacteria that perform nitrification reside in primary film deposits. first on scene. reef ambulance chasers, first on open ground are slimes and filters.

what nitrate and nitrite says don't matter, they're usually guesstimate readings. nondigital.

per old cycling rules, you are stalled. Per the online video from macna on cycling with Dr. Tim's.


but on 100% of threads using new cycling science, you were cycled independently/all surface area active at: a. the date on the bottle bac and then b. when you added live rock already full of bac and massive surface area. you have to choose which system you ascribe to

knowing when a cycle is done/can start safely has ran all reef conventions for decades no fails no stalls. so that means one way of cycling you wait until your tests permit the go, no matter what


and in another way you already have known timeframes on file, ahead of the start of the tank in a cycling chart and on the bottle bac, and this new science believes those sources over the test kits and you can start reef conventions on time
that universal clue of nh3 dropping is the hallmark signal above all. we're still using that portion of testing to make the call in new cycling science.

 

[brandon429]

I feel my call would seem crazier if this was closer to day eight


closer to day 30 is literally 20 days past ammonia control on all cycle charts.

 

[Jonas Bergkvist]

All good then! I like good news I might add a fire fish when my LFS gets one in. LFS claims because of Corona fish is harder to find, and they are also more expensive now unfortunately.

 

[iamacat]

You added the rock after the bacteria?

you have to start the cycle over if so. The rock needs to be cycled

 

[brandon429]

did u catch another one L

remember last week heh

if so, clint eastwood tips hat with a wiry brow meme. if there is a new rush to build tanks in opposite flow then that's no time warp I can navigate

 

[Jonas Bergkvist]

You added the rock after the bacteria?

you have to start the cycle over if so. The rock needs to be cycled

The rocks are cycled, it's live rock from Asia. But maybe you mean that it has some die off on it? I can see some small stuff that is no longer alive on it, but on the other hand there are also a lot of live things on it. This makes me think that i got pretty good rocks. I guess. At least i don't have any ammonia in my system yet.

I think all in all i have 45 kg of sand and 60 kg of Marco rock. And two Maxspect nano tech bio block with a nice surface area. Maybe my system can handle 10 kg of live rock that has some die off on it, even if it's early days. I will monitor Ammonia daily just to make sure.

I should mention that i have been added some fish food every now and then just to get a source of carbon for the bacteria too. Time will tell, and thank you for your input

 

[iamacat]

The rocks are cycled, it's live rock from Asia. But maybe you mean that it has some die off on it? I can see some small stuff that is no longer alive on it, but on the other hand there are also a lot of live things on it. This makes me think that i got pretty good rocks. I guess. At least i don't have any ammonia in my system yet.

I think all in all i have 45 kg of sand and 60 kg of Marco rock. And two Maxspect nano tech bio block with a nice surface area. Maybe my system can handle 10 kg of live rock that has some die off on it, even if it's early days. I will monitor Ammonia daily just to make sure.

I should mention that i have been added some fish food every now and then just to get a source of carbon for the bacteria too. Time will tell, and thank you for your input

I wasn’t sure of what you had prior to the 10kg thanks for clarifying.

diatoms can come at any time. If things look good and parameters are good then just keep letting the tank do it’s thing

 

[vetteguy53081]

Many beginners would love to be in your shoes !!
Note your current water parameters and try to maintain it

 

[SurgeonFish]

I followed a similar progression with my current tank and just had a very small diatom bloom at about two months when I added my first corals and bumped the lights up to full schedule. Suction off the sand three times over a week with 10% water changes and it completely resolved