Cured live rock & the cycle

[Floyd R Turbo]

What I was referring to is doing a fishless cycle with ammonia dosing. The tank I cycled was done in 2 weeks. At that point, I could raise the ammonia to 1ppm and it was fully converted to Nitrate by the next day.

Corallin Algae is the red, magenta, or pink (and sometimes green) hard crust that is formed on Live Rock. It forms in an established tank with very low phosphates. Not having it doesn't mean it isn't good live rock with all kinds of buddies growing or camping on it.

As for sponges, you don't really know if you have them or not if they're buried in the rock. Sponges are weird, they come in all kinds of forms. I'll try to post a few pics of some that are in one of the tanks I work on.

 

[Greenmaster]

So I've put the raw shrimp in a few days ago and I've started to see the decay (white mossy stuff) all over it. I've also started to notice that some of my substrate and a couple of the dead rocks have started to get some brown growth on them. Is that part of the cycle? Thanks...
Steve

lights off.

+1

The brown growth is most likely algae... you will probably have several algae cycles during the first year, as your tank gets balanced out. Once your tank is stable get some snails that will eat the algae and you should be good.

 

[sdergar]

Just curious about the reason lights should not be on. Thanks

Steve

 

[kingman8610]

+1

The brown growth is most likely algae... you will probably have several algae cycles during the first year, as your tank gets balanced out. Once your tank is stable get some snails that will eat the algae and you should be good.

It takes a year to fully stabilize???? whoa...

Floyd-- I dont have any pink or any color other than green algae in my tank... that I'm aware of... grrr I need to get some pics posted...

thanks
-Brett

 

[mr_X]

during the cycle, your tank is going to peak with nutrients. this is the ideal time for algae to grow...all it needs is light.

if you are worried about any photosynthetic hitch hikers...don't. if they have lived thus far, ambient light from the room should be plenty to sustain them a few more weeks.

 

[Greenmaster]

It takes a year to fully stabilize???? whoa...
-Brett

If your lucky... some tanks never stabilize... or they finally stabilize and then "old tank syndrome" hits... That's why this is a hobby... the work never ends.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

That's why you have to keep mixing it up. Not a bad idea to routinely frag and sell your corals to others, along with some LR, then get different LR to replace it, change your tank arrangement, etc. At least that's how I see it. There could be some negative effects, but avoiding OTS is the bigger picture.

 

[sdergar]

How high should the ammonia levels get during a cycle? Like I mentioned earlier I think I had mostly cured live rock and after a few threads here I put three raw shrimp into a mesh bag and placed them into my 120g DT (30g sump). It has been 1 week and the ammonia as of testing this morning is back down to 0 from a high of 0.5. Nitrites went up to a peak of 1.5 and are now declining and of this morning's test 0.2. Nitrates climbed over the week from 0, hung out at 2.5 for a few days and as of the past three days have been at 10. Also some brown algae has covered some of the aquarium. Although before I knew to shut the lights off during a cycle until a few days ago might of had something to do with that.

I'm not going to chance anything and will keep testing for another week but does this mean the cycle is almost done? I think I will keep the raw shrimp in there for a little while yet.

 

[sdergar]

I hadn't really paid attention to the raw shrimp I had in the tank but tonight I turned on the lights for a bit and noticed that most of the shrimp had disappeared. Is this another sign that the cycle is done? I'm just worried as per my previous post that the ammonia didn't get high enough. Nitrites are down to 0.05 and nitrates haven't budged higher than 10. I'm wondering if the macro algae is holding that steady.

Steve

 

[kingman8610]

If your lucky... some tanks never stabilize... or they finally stabilize and then "old tank syndrome" hits... That's why this is a hobby... the work never ends.

So what does "Stabilize" really mean?

And what is "Old Tank Syndrome"?

Thanks

-Brett

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

In a reef system it actually takes 6 months to a year for the death/life/bacterial/algae cycle to 'balance out'.

Read all of myth #15 below, and look about 1/2 way down the page to the black/white timeline

Mything the Point, Part Three: Conclusion - Reefkeeping.com

 

[sdergar]

How high have people's ammonia and nitrite spikes gone during the cycle?

Steve

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

When I was doing ammonia dosing on a 225 gallon I would keep it between 1-3ppm and the nitrite spiked out above 4.

 

[sdergar]

Thanks Floyd. With all the testing I've done and keep doing I think my ammonia spiked at just under 1ppm and the nitrites hit just under 2ppm. The ammonia currently is at 0 and the nitrites are at 0.05. The one thing I'm curious about is that my nitrates climbed steadily to 10ppm and have stayed there for over a week.

All this has made me believe, even with three raw shrimps to kick start, that my rocks were mostly cured. The nitrates though...is the cheato keeping that steady?

Steve

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

I believe that Chaeto will export nitrates and phosphates out of the water as it grows, so I think that would be a yes.

 

[sdergar]

Thanks again Floyd.

Steve