New tank cycles

[weemanno1]

Hi guys , my tanks been running for nearly a month now and I’m starting to get dino spots on the sand.. do I vacuum them up or hmjust leave them to choke themselves out ?.. lights are set to 30% as these lps 6 lights are quite bright ! :) I think in the next week or so I’m ready for 1st stocking for my mixed reef macro algae tank :)

 

[Reef.]

More likely to be diatoms which are harmless and totally normal, they will go after a short time, they feed on silicate which can come from rodi water but most rodi systems remove most of it so once the tank settles down and burns of the silicate in the rock, water etc if it doesn’t improve then you can start thinking it may be coming from too much in your water but it probably will just go by itself and your water is probably fine.

 

[weemanno1]

More likely to be diatoms which are harmless and totally normal, they will go after a short time, they feed on silicate which can come from rodi water but most rodi systems remove most of it so once the tank settles down and burns of the silicate in the rock, water etc if it doesn’t improve then you can start thinking it may be coming from too much in your water but it probably will just go by itself and your water is probably fine.

Thank you! They have slowly appeared over the last week my nitrates are down to just below 10 nitrites 0.3. And ammonia zero I’m going to do a 20% change the weekend and get the light meter to fine tune my lights in case there to strong but I think we’re ready. Once I’ve got something in the tank I’m sure they will beat the dinos .. just keep them off the corals ? :) with a pipette

 

[Reef.]

Thank you! They have slowly appeared over the last week my nitrates are down to just below 10 nitrites 0.3. And ammonia zero I’m going to do a 20% change the weekend and get the light meter to fine tune my lights in case there to strong but I think we’re ready. Once I’ve got something in the tank I’m sure they will beat the dinos .. just keep them off the corals ? :) with a pipette

Dinos and diatoms are totally different things, just to be clear, yours look like diatoms which a normal tank cycle goes through, they disappear by themselves and living organisms eat them, dinos are bad, something you dont want, so don’t try and keep your tank to clear or that can cause dinos.

Maybe worth buying or asking a friend for some coralline algae to add to the tank, helps cover the rock which in turn helps other stuff you don’t want taking that space.

 

[weemanno1]

That’s awesome thank you! I’ll just leave it to do its thing. Unfortunately not of my friends have marine tanks.. plenty of fresh water so unless I have a friendly guy from the uk fancies sending me some I’ve got to just let it roll my lights I think are ok if a few % to high/low

Dinos and diatoms are totally different things, just to be clear, yours look like diatoms which a normal tank cycle goes through, they disappear by themselves and living organisms eat them, dinos are bad, something you dont want, so don’t try and keep your tank to clear or that can cause dinos.

Maybe worth buying or asking a friend for some coralline algae to add to the tank, helps cover the rock which in turn helps other stuff you don’t want taking that space

 

[Reef.]

That’s awesome thank you! I’ll just leave it to do its thing. Unfortunately not of my friends have marine tanks.. plenty of fresh water so unless I have a friendly guy from the uk fancies sending me some I’ve got to just let it roll my lights I think are ok if a few % to high/low

Here you go, though shipping is expensive so unless you live near this store or getting other live stock such as coral or clean up crew from them it’ll work out expensive…you can just go to your local store and pick out a couple of snails with it on their shells, give it a good scrap in the water, keep in the water as coralline dies extremely fast out of water, not sure if it will still spread if it dies.

https://charterhouse-aquatics.com/products/coralline-algae-seeding-plates

 

[edsbeaker]

You will find that you will go through many ugly algae stages as your tank matures, diatoms, cyano, hair algae. I find that it’s best to just let it run its course naturally using a good clean up crew. Keeping the lights on the lower side is a very good strategy, so you are doing the right thing. Lights are just not needed until corals are added to the tank.

Once you start bringing in a clean up crew, and coral frags, you will also be bringing in coralline from their shells and frag plugs. It will come naturally.

This website will help you decide on the types of inverts you would do best with as your clean up crew. I personally, like trochus, nerite, cerith, both dwarf and regular size, and nasarrius snails to start with. Do not get a large package as recommended on this website! Start with a small crew and add to it as needed.

https://www.reefcleaners.org/aquarium-store/tank-cleaners
You are right on track!

 

[weemanno1]

I’m planning on parameters allowing to put a frag and some clean up crew in but don’t know where to start with clean up snails and a sand softer goby (hardy)? And a gsp frag maybe and let it go for another month ?

Here you go, though shipping is expensive so unless you live near this store or getting other live stock such as coral or clean up crew from them it’ll work out expensive…you can just go to your local store and pick out a couple of snails with it on their shells, give it a good scrap in the water, keep in the water as coralline dies extremely fast out of water, not sure if it will still spread if it dies.

https://charterhouse-aquatics.com/products/coralline-algae-seeding-plates

 

[p1u5h13r4m24]

Lots of good advice here. Only thing I will add is just let it be natural. Make sure you keep enough nutrients (nitrate/phos) these will be the building blocks for all the essential life that needs to establish. These types of life will reduce ammonia, outcompete bacteria’s that create nuisance algae, and be the bottom of the food chain in your ecosystem.
It’s important to stay calm and not add a bunch of unatural chemicals. These can offset any natural cycles and prolong the balancing of your tank. Adding bacteria can help with some algae’s, however IF you go that route be sure to maintain your nutrient levels!

 

[weemanno1]

Lots of good advice here. Only thing I will add is just let it be natural. Make sure you keep enough nutrients (nitrate/phos) these will be the building blocks for all the essential life that needs to establish. These types of life will reduce ammonia, outcompete bacteria’s that create nuisance algae, and be the bottom of the food chain in your ecosystem.
It’s important to stay calm and not add a bunch of unatural chemicals. These can offset any natural cycles and prolong the balancing of your tank. Adding bacteria can help with some algae’s, however IF you go that route be sure to maintain your nutrient levels!

This is what I need I’ve used nite out 2 for bacteria and ammonium chloride to feed it till ammonia hit 5ppm the. Let it ride it out for 4 weeks :) I do a 20% change once a week to remove nitrates until nitrite hits zero!.. I’ll check parameters 2 morrow and see what you all think . Don’t want to rush it but after a month if phrase would like a gsp frag and some clean up to get it going :)

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I’m planning on parameters allowing to put a frag and some clean up crew in but don’t know where to start with clean up snails and a sand softer goby (hardy)? And a gsp frag maybe and let it go for another month ?

You can start with some basic cuc (trochus snails, mexican turbo, nassarius snails). You don't have a ton of diatoms to warrant getting a big cuc order just yet. I would just continue to let the tank mature then go from there.

Assuming your parameters are stable, GSP is not a bad frag choice to start with. You can also try other easier corals like zoas, candy canes, mushrooms or toadstools.

 

[weemanno1]

Ahh ok I can do a l

You can start with some basic cuc (trochus snails, mexican turbo, nassarius snails). You don't have a ton of diatoms to warrant getting a big cuc order just yet. I would just continue to let the tank mature then go from there.

Assuming your parameters are stable, GSP is not a bad frag choice to start with. You can also try other easier corals like zoas, candy canes, mushrooms or toadstools mushrooms,

I can do mushrooms. What are candy canes have you got an image ref. I’ve googled it and I’m getting mixed images

 

[weemanno1]

Right ladies and gents I’m 21 days in and these are my reading. It’s fishless cycling but nitrite is being a little stubborn! I’m getting nitrates so the bacteria’s there but it’s not zeroing .. am I being impatient .. other than that I think my parameters are ok! I’ve just done a water change.. it was 1ppm it’s now about 0.8ppm. Am I ok to do water changes once a week to reduce nitrites and up the temp temporarily ? To 80f ? The. Drop it back down to 78f

 

[Lelegance]

Right ladies and gents I’m 21 days in and these are my reading. It’s fishless cycling but nitrite is being a little stubborn! I’m getting nitrates so the bacteria’s there but it’s not zeroing .. am I being impatient .. other than that I think my parameters are ok! I’ve just done a water change.. it was 1ppm it’s now about 0.8ppm. Am I ok to do water changes once a week to reduce nitrites and up the temp temporarily ? To 80f ? The. Drop it back down to 78f

I like to do weekly waterchanges, and once your tank matures and stabilizes after a while, you can start to do bi-weekly, monthly or if you are really good with nutrient export and dosing, even bi-monthly. However for you, keeping a weekly waterchange schedule is great. If you want to up temp thats fine. Hows it going now?

 

[weemanno1]

As long as you’ve had ammonia nitrite and nitrates your good to go.. I hung around for 5 weeks waiting my nitrites stayed at 0.5 but that’s fine mine went down 2 weeks after adding gsp and a zoa and 2 hardy fish.. however keep an eye out for bacteria blooms and a slight haze in the water… and get that air stone ready… I wasn’t quick enough and lost 2.. but a day later and it was as if nothing happened :)