Random question regarding new tank cycling

[about76gnomes]

Okay so this is really nothing more than a curiosity rather than a concern, just not something that I've personally experienced before.

I set up my Biocube 16 in January with live sand and dry rock. Then I threw in some of the starter biome in a bottle stuff, added some fish food, turned the lights off and let it simmer with it's light off and no filter media whatsoever for about 3.5 and a half months. Only other thing I touched during that time was add a bit more food a couple of other times.

Testing throughout this process all the expected stuff happened - My ammonia increased, followed by nitrites, then nitrates which settled at 5-10ppm.

Now for the part that was unusual to me - there was never any algae. Not on the sand, the rocks, the tank, anywhere. The only sign of algae was some slightly grimy stuff on the suction cup for the powerhead.

I did a 25% water change 2 weeks ago, added all my filter media, and added two clowns. Testing before and after the water change was all good. Zero ammonia and nitrites, ~10ppm nitrates and ~5ppm after the WC. Clowns are good and happy, eating the very next day, no signs of concern whatsoever. This week I did another WC, as I plan to do them weekly, and added some simple corals and a fire shrimp. Tested again before and after the WC on Wednesday, then again yesterday, and everything was golden. Corals all opened up in a matter of a couple hours and they're as happy and plump as they could be.

I guess it just stands out to me because I am yet to see any algae, and out of every saltwater tank I've ever cycled there was an algae cycle that was visible. Now I'm going on almost 5 months, with livestock in the tank for 2 weeks and still nothing. I haven't even introduced any inverts other than the fire shrimp because I'm scared they won't have enough to eat and I'll starve them out.

Anyone ever experience this or have any input as to why? I'm certainly not complaning and I love that the tank has stayed so clean - but life and reefing have taught me that not very often can things be just this easy and it's always there in the back of my mind.

Anyway, sorry for the novel, just hoping for some input and clarity! Haha. TIA!!

Here are some pictures as a timeline:

The day I set up the tank (January 17, 2022)


The day I did the first water change (April 20, 2022)


After adding clowns (April 27, 2022)


After adding corals (May 4, 2022)


Today!

 

[Lps_lover12]

The same thing happened to me with my 32g biocube and I couldn’t figure it out for the life of my. Used live sand and dry rock as well and had no algae whatsoever. The tank ran for about 5 months before upgrading but even to the day I took it down there was no algae and I have no idea why but I felt the same as you, that something weird was up lol. I did enjoy it cause on my new tank I have algae starting up like crazy.

 

[about76gnomes]

The same thing happened to me with my 32g biocube and I couldn’t figure it out for the life of my. Used live sand and dry rock as well and had no algae whatsoever. The tank ran for about 5 months before upgrading but even to the day I took it down there was no algae and I have no idea why but I felt the same as you, that something weird was up lol. I did enjoy it cause on my new tank I have algae starting up like crazy.

It's almost eerie! Like I said, I'm certainly not complaning and I love that I've done literally nothing other than monitor and basic maintenance... but... it's just unusual, you know?

 

[Lps_lover12]

It's almost eerie! Like I said, I'm certainly not complaning and I love that I've done literally nothing other than monitor and basic maintenance... but... it's just unusual, you know?

I know exactly how you feel! All I can say is enjoy it lol, algae sucks.

 

[bruno3047]

In order to have algae in your tank, you have to introduce it first. It doesn’t just appear. Now that you’ve added corals, you’ll start to see some algae take hold. Even though you’ve added dry rock, which is notorious for feeding algae, you still need to introduce the algae seed. And now you’ve done that with that zoa rock.

 

[MaxTremors]

In order to have algae in your tank, you have to introduce it first. It doesn’t just appear. Now that you’ve added corals, you’ll start to see some algae take hold. Even though you’ve added dry rock, which is notorious for feeding algae, you still need to introduce the algae seed. And now you’ve done that with that zoa rock.

This is essentially untrue. Algae does have to be ‘introduced’, but it will end up in your tank even if you never add anything besides salt and RODI. The reason being is that marine algae species are carried thousands of miles inland on the wind (I read one study where it was found that water birds would get algae spores in their feathers and then fly into the air where they would dry and then be airborne, traveling thousands of miles). So algae will end up in your tank no matter what you do, and is there from day one. Algae does needs light and nutrients, there were neither of those things for 3.5 months.

As far as why you haven’t had an ugly phase, I would assume it’s still coming. Your lights have only been on for a month and a half, it can take sometimes 3 months for the ugly phase to begin (from lights on). That said, letting the tank run for a couple months with the lights off can help the ugly phase to no be as bad, but you’ll still get it, especially using dry rock. Give It another month, and you’ll likely be in the ugly phase.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Okay so this is really nothing more than a curiosity rather than a concern, just not something that I've personally experienced before.

I set up my Biocube 16 in January with live sand and dry rock. Then I threw in some of the starter biome in a bottle stuff, added some fish food, turned the lights off and let it simmer with it's light off and no filter media whatsoever for about 3.5 and a half months. Only other thing I touched during that time was add a bit more food a couple of other times.

Testing throughout this process all the expected stuff happened - My ammonia increased, followed by nitrites, then nitrates which settled at 5-10ppm.

Now for the part that was unusual to me - there was never any algae. Not on the sand, the rocks, the tank, anywhere. The only sign of algae was some slightly grimy stuff on the suction cup for the powerhead.

I did a 25% water change 2 weeks ago, added all my filter media, and added two clowns. Testing before and after the water change was all good. Zero ammonia and nitrites, ~10ppm nitrates and ~5ppm after the WC. Clowns are good and happy, eating the very next day, no signs of concern whatsoever. This week I did another WC, as I plan to do them weekly, and added some simple corals and a fire shrimp. Tested again before and after the WC on Wednesday, then again yesterday, and everything was golden. Corals all opened up in a matter of a couple hours and they're as happy and plump as they could be.

I guess it just stands out to me because I am yet to see any algae, and out of every saltwater tank I've ever cycled there was an algae cycle that was visible. Now I'm going on almost 5 months, with livestock in the tank for 2 weeks and still nothing. I haven't even introduced any inverts other than the fire shrimp because I'm scared they won't have enough to eat and I'll starve them out.

Anyone ever experience this or have any input as to why? I'm certainly not complaning and I love that the tank has stayed so clean - but life and reefing have taught me that not very often can things be just this easy and it's always there in the back of my mind.

Anyway, sorry for the novel, just hoping for some input and clarity! Haha. TIA!!

Here are some pictures as a timeline:

The day I set up the tank (January 17, 2022)


The day I did the first water change (April 20, 2022)


After adding clowns (April 27, 2022)


After adding corals (May 4, 2022)


Today!

The last two tanks I've setup, a Fluval 13.5 and a 90 gal never had any algae nasty phase either.

Diatoms, yes, but no nasty algae to speak of apart from a couple of bubble algae that cropped up in the 90 gal which were demolished by the Foxface. They were both setup with dry rock and bottled bac.

The tank before those in 2015 which was started with live rock had algae problems for sure and a nasty uglies.

Both the recent tanks did run UV 24/7 after the bottled bac were finished so that probably helped.

 

[sithrico]

Give It another month, and you’ll likely be in the ugly phase.

Yeah, My Reef 250 did the same thing. I started just like you as well. Then one day I woke up and it was cloudy. I ended up having a big algae bloom in the tank. I ran Stability and ChemBlue and it cleared the water. Then the green algae showed up, followed by cyano. Threw in some snails and a conch. They tore it up and within days I was all cleaned up. Wish I still had the youtube video about it.

I'm starting to get back into the hobby after 3 years. I have a 15 Waterbox peninsula. Started the cycle with nitrocycle and I believe the dosing is wrong. Had over 8ppm of ammonia after the dose. Now after 26 days I just finished cycling. I will never use that stuff again. I will just stick to Dr. Tim's ammonia. I figured I would try something new.

I'm going to get another tank when it comes available in white. The Marine X 60.2. I will go back to my normal cycle method of Fritz Zyme 9 and Dr. Tim's ammonia. 4-day cycle. 3 days pods and fish are added on the 2nd week. It works really well and has great outcomes on coral and tank looks.

 

[about76gnomes]

In order to have algae in your tank, you have to introduce it first. It doesn’t just appear. Now that you’ve added corals, you’ll start to see some algae take hold. Even though you’ve added dry rock, which is notorious for feeding algae, you still need to introduce the algae seed. And now you’ve done that with that zoa rock.

I agree, but I've essentially done nothing different with cycling this tank as I've done with tanks in the past. Always had algae, always went through the ugly phase, with both dry and live rock. The zoa rock may definitely change some things and I was aware of that when I introduced it into the tank, but certainly not worried. Guess time will tell.

This is essentially untrue. Algae does have to be ‘introduced’, but it will end up in your tank even if you never add anything besides salt and RODI. The reason being is that marine algae species are carried thousands of miles inland on the wind (I read one study where it was found that water birds would get algae spores in their feathers and then fly into the air where they would dry and then be airborne, traveling thousands of miles). So algae will end up in your tank no matter what you do, and is there from day one. Algae does needs light and nutrients, there were neither of those things for 3.5 months.

As far as why you haven’t had an ugly phase, I would assume it’s still coming. Your lights have only been on for a month and a half, it can take sometimes 3 months for the ugly phase to begin (from lights on). That said, letting the tank run for a couple months with the lights off can help the ugly phase to no be as bad, but you’ll still get it, especially using dry rock. Give It another month, and you’ll likely be in the ugly phase.

I feel as if algae is one of the most abundant and ready to take a foothold things on the planet. It's one of the building blocks of life as we know it if I'm not mistaken, so I was fully expecting to see it as I have in the past. As far as light and nutrients, they were certainly there imo. I let some food rot a handful of times and although I had my lights off and the blinds closed the majority of the time, you still had some sunlight coming through daily.

I'm fully okay with eventually getting an ugly phase, as it's what I was expecting. If this time around it isn't as bad it'll be that much better. It's the fact that I haven't had one yet that has me scratching my head . Again, time will tell!

The last two tanks I've setup, a Fluval 13.5 and a 90 gal never had any algae nasty phase either.

Diatoms, yes, but no nasty algae to speak of apart from a couple of bubble algae that cropped up in the 90 gal which were demolished by the Foxface. They were both setup with dry rock and bottled bac.

The tank before those in 2015 which was started with live rock had algae problems for sure and a nasty uglies.

Both the recent tanks did run UV 24/7 after the bottled bac were finished so that probably helped.

A small, uneducated, optimistic part of me really hopes that by some series of extremely fortunate events I've struck reefer gold and won't experience any grand algae phase... Wish me luck .

Yeah, My Reef 250 did the same thing. I started just like you as well. Then one day I woke up and it was cloudy. I ended up having a big algae bloom in the tank. I ran Stability and ChemBlue and it cleared the water. Then the green algae showed up, followed by cyano. Threw in some snails and a conch. They tore it up and within days I was all cleaned up. Wish I still had the youtube video about it.

I'm starting to get back into the hobby after 3 years. I have a 15 Waterbox peninsula. Started the cycle with nitrocycle and I believe the dosing is wrong. Had over 8ppm of ammonia after the dose. Now after 26 days I just finished cycling. I will never use that stuff again. I will just stick to Dr. Tim's ammonia. I figured I would try something new.

I'm going to get another tank when it comes available in white. The Marine X 60.2. I will go back to my normal cycle method of Fritz Zyme 9 and Dr. Tim's ammonia. 4-day cycle. 3 days pods and fish are added on the 2nd week. It works really well and has great outcomes on coral and tank looks.

This is interesting, I tend to find what works for me as well and stick with it. Changing one small variable may seem harmless, but if it doesn't quite fit with the rest of the processes it can cause some dissonance I suppose.

Ammonia isn't something I've ever dosed directly, only indirectly through letting food rot and such. I guess back to the whole being afraid to change something that's worked well for me in the past repeatedly. I'll keep this in mind for future tanks though!