New tank cycle.

[harlo33369]

I am new to this and this is my first try. I have a Fluval evo 13.5 and I am 11 days on my cycle. Is this normal? Seems like all the brown diatoms pictures I have seen never looked like this.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

What did you use to cycle it ?

I’ve only seen a couple things do that.

 

[harlo33369]

I started with caribsea fiji pink live sand and then added the dry rock. I later added Dr. Tim's ammonia and some seed bacteria by aquavitro. It also seems like water is evaporating at a high rate.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Ok. I’ve not used the aquavitro.
I did use something that left big nasty brown”puddles” on my sand some time ago. It did eventually go away.
The evap I think may be Coincidental
Let’s se if we can get some experiences.
#reefsquad

 

[hdsoftail1065]

Watching this post to learn. :)

 

[ndrwater]

Does look unusually patchy, but doubt if it's something to be truly concerned with. My educated guess it has something to do with something in the live sand.
I initially read just Fiji Pink, but had to re-read to confirm my initial thought.
Where are the Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrale levels at this point?
I would continue to guess that the patchiness will fill in a bit and look more "normal" within a short period of time.

 

[harlo33369]

2, 5 and 40 a couple days ago. Have not checked today.

 

[ndrwater]

Things are definitely still cooking. I wouldn't stress all that much. If it really bugs you, feel free to stir up the sand a bit. Whatever is causing the patchiness will be distributed a bit more.

 

[harlo33369]

Awesome. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Brew12]

The evap I think may be Coincidental

Didn't @Dr. Reef see very high evaporation in his test tank that had the Fritz bacteria product? It also happened to be the most effective out of the 4 tanks in that trial.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Didn't @Dr. Reef see very high evaporation in his test tank that had the Fritz bacteria product? It also happened to be the most effective out of the 4 tanks in that trial.

No clue. Honestly that thread is so long and dry, and I kinda know how to cycle a tank and have no questions about the products or process.
No offense.