kendaroo Posted April 20, 2010 Share Posted April 20, 2010 So, we started cycling our 24g tank about 14 days ago. We started by adding sand we got from Alex and a good squirt of ammonia w/ more sand we got from Woody at Seahorse. A couple days later, we added a bunch of live rock from Ciao's tank. The tank got smelly. Smelled like we were living in a giant catbox. Even the 6 year old complained. And he's usually pretty oblivious to everything. Then we had a big brown algae bloom. The brown algae was still around, while we saw some greenish stuff on the glass (but very little, comparatively). Then we had a few days with what looked like cyanobacteria. Those disappeared, and the brown algae is almost completely gone now too. So, I tested the tank and it's showing ammonia = 0 (yay!), nitrite = 0 (yipee!), but ... nitrates are barely there too. With the Elos test, it was about 1 (maybe even less), and with the API test, it was around 5. Shouldn't it be higher than that at this point? I assumed we were cycling pretty well because of all the algae, but I don't know where the nitrates are now. I thought you could only really reduce them with water changes? (We haven't done any.) Oh, and the rock came with a bunch of feather dusters, asterinas, and stomatellas, all of which survived the whole thing... in fact, the asterinas and stomatellas are in freakishly large numbers now... Thanks for your help! kendra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted April 20, 2010 Share Posted April 20, 2010 If you have close to 0 nitrates, count your blessings, some people spend their entire hobby life trying to get those that low and still don't quite manage it LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael7979 Posted April 20, 2010 Share Posted April 20, 2010 Sounds like you might be real close to being 'fully cycled'. But without being there and seeing the other tests I can't say for sure. But I think you are really close. Watch the 'numbers' for a couple more days and see if they change. If not you should be 'cycled'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael7979 Posted April 20, 2010 Share Posted April 20, 2010 If you have close to 0 nitrates' date=' count your blessings, some people spend their entire hobby life trying to get those that low and still don't quite manage it LOL.[/quote'] Most-likely because he has no livestock to add waste to the system. (just guessing) Do you have any fish in there yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grassi Posted April 20, 2010 Share Posted April 20, 2010 Throw some food in the tank and check the values after a few hours. The brown stuff were diatoms, sign that the tank is doing its cycle. I would wait a week or so before to add livestock, just to be sure. Add slowly 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newfisher Posted April 20, 2010 Share Posted April 20, 2010 +3 close to cycled. Good idea on food and recheck. Remember when adding livestock to only add one item per day and recheck before buying ore adding next item just to be safe..imo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted April 20, 2010 Share Posted April 20, 2010 I always go by the 1-2 fish every 2 weeks or so max personally LOL Gives your tank even more time to get used to it LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted April 21, 2010 Share Posted April 21, 2010 I try to go with one fish per week. That gives the tank time to complete a new cycle between each one to reach a new balance without having a big impact. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kendaroo Posted April 21, 2010 Author Share Posted April 21, 2010 Awesome, thanks everyone. Now I have at least another week to decide what kind of fish to put in here!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefnjunkie Posted April 21, 2010 Share Posted April 21, 2010 Awesome, thanks everyone. Now I have at least another week to decide what kind of fish to put in here!! Think well about that-coming from a person who was given poor advise as to whether the current fish I am trying to catch would have been a "good tank mate" Keep in mind the types of livestock, corals (SPS, LPS, Softies), Fish only.... and so on. Ever since this fish (neon dottyback because I know your are curious) experience I have came home before any fish purchase to research whether it'll work. I will tell you this the last 3 fish I asked about the LFS said "sure no problem" well all 3 would have been poor choices-1 in particular a total train wreck for my tank. Caution- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsoz Posted April 21, 2010 Share Posted April 21, 2010 Yay! It sounds pretty good. I agree with the add some food and watch it for a day to see if you get any ammonia or nitrite. If not, then you can start adding stuff. You could even start with some of the zoas that you got from me last week. They would be good "guinea pig" corals for a new tank. BTW, how did the potassium permanganate dip go with the montis? dsoz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
undrtkr_00 Posted April 21, 2010 Share Posted April 21, 2010 Your nitrates could be low because: You didn't add enough ammonia to generate a higher nitrate count Your live rock and sand is doing some denitrification (converting nitrates to nigtrogen gas, which just bubbles away) You algae and/or diatoms have tied up some of the nitrates in their growth or, a combination of the above. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kendaroo Posted April 23, 2010 Author Share Posted April 23, 2010 OK, seems like we're ok because everything has been fine since the food experiment. Hooray! The orange montis are doing GREAT after the dip. Good idea with the zoas. Our clownfish has really taken to that frogspawn you sent me home with, too! I hate to use the "c" word, but it's awfully cute... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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