New 70 gal cycle

[IzzyI2D]

Hello and thanks for the add! I am currently new to saltwater tanks . I have done freshwater and been very successful with that. Im very familiar with water quality . Ph. Ppm. Etc. With all that being said I still am having trouble cycling this new tank. Here are the details.



70 gal tank no sump. (Picking up sump tomorrow )



X2 marineland over the back filters the one with 2 filters in it and the spinning bio wheel. I have those running 24 7



I have x2 submersible filter pumps inside of the tank . They have a few different layers of cleaning in them. A sponge . Some ceramic balls. And one has a uv light which goes on for 4 hrs a day otherwise they are just on circulating the pump. I have no air stone in the one currently . But when the over the back filters hot the water it causes air bubbles whoch imo is too many bubbles but I dont know ? When I get the sump I will put it all under the tank.





I am currently about a 6 weeks into cycling. When I first started the first 3 weeks were just water and some dry rock.



I added dry rock that was once in a saltwater system but has not been in water for over a year. I went to my local store and bought some "live rock rubble" and also 2 clown fish. After that the cycle reqlly started to kick off. Almost immediately I noticed some dark spots on the sand and rock whoch eventually grew much larger very fast. It covered most of the large rocks and some of the sand . After about a week or so after that most of the dark spots went away or got much lighter. Now I nptice a few spots of what look green algae. Not everywhere but almost all the spots that had dark on them are now green .





The tank currently has some live rock rubble and 2 clownfish.





In the first 3 weeks of cycling I used microbacter 7 per directions.





I test my water almost every day with the api test kit I will include those photos . It seems like I have no ammonia and some nitrates. Im just wondering what my next step should be . Are these spots normal? Is this algae ok?





I have 3 white spectrum aquarium led lights . And 1 kessil ocean blue



Light cycle is 12 hr on and 12 off



Blue light for last 4 hours of on cycle



P.h is 7 4



Water temp is 79



Thanks for any help in advance. Welcome any suggestions .

 

[Rocks reef]

It looks perfectly normal for the progression of the tank. Are you able to get Salifert test kits? API tests kits are notoriously inaccurate.

 

[IzzyI2D]

Edit***

Ph is 7.8 im not sure if there is a way to edit the post.

 

[IzzyI2D]

It looks perfectly normal for the progression of the tank. Are you able to get Salifert test kits? API tests kits are notoriously inaccurate.

I have these tests which say there is no amonia no nitrate or nitrates . I can grab the other tests for sure though. Is that what I will need to kind of see exactly where I am in the cycling process ? Thanks

 

[IzzyI2D]

It looks perfectly normal for the progression of the tank. Are you able to get Salifert test kits? API tests kits are notoriously inaccurate.

Which tests would you recommend getting from that company for what I need? .Maybe trying to keep in mind new tank budget ? Thanks for any feedback!

 

[Rocks reef]

For now, the basics. Nitrate, phosphate and possibly alk and cal down the road.

 

[Rocks reef]

I have these tests which say there is no amonia no nitrate or nitrates . I can grab the other tests for sure though. Is that what I will need to kind of see exactly where I am in the cycling process ? Thanks

Yes. You can also take a water sample to your LFS and have them test it as well to see how your readings compare.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

The ammonia test shows zero ammonia zero nitrite and 10-20 nitrate..... 6 weeks and currently have 2 fish - thats a cycled tank to me. Ditch the test strips. Water movement and surface agitation is very important in a salt tank, really suggest to grab a pair of powerheads, have one or both aimed up at the surface to create some heavy agitation. Surface agitation helps oxygenate the water.

 

[p1u5h13r4m24]

As per the spots it’s diatoms algae and it’s a normal part of the cycle it will go away on its own. You can dose more mb7 if you like but I prefer the natural approach

 

[IzzyI2D]

The ammonia test shows zero ammonia zero nitrite and 10-20 nitrate..... 6 weeks and currently have 2 fish - thats a cycled tank to me. Ditch the test strips. Water movement and surface agitation is very important in a salt tank, really suggest to grab a pair of powerheads, have one or both aimed up at the surface to create some heavy agitation. Surface agitation helps oxygenate the water.

I bought the power heads and they come today . At what point is it "safe" to try a coral or two in the tank? Is there a time you want to wait after introducing anything new to the tank? Thank you!

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I bought the power heads and they come today . At what point is it "safe" to try a coral or two in the tank? Is there a time you want to wait after introducing anything new to the tank? Thank you!

You can add coral anytime. The suggestion to wait is mostly for new hobbyists that might not have done enough research or not have enough understanding of what a coral needs to survive. Its discouraging to new hobbyists to spend the money and then have the corals die.

Experiences hobbyists add corals almost immediately sometimes. Some corals do better in more mature tanks where parameters have stabilized, some corals can take fluctuations. Examples of beginner level corals would be leather corals, mushrooms, zoa's, duncan, candy cane off the top of my head, these generally do better in newer tanks.