Help with my biocube cycle!!

[TampaBC]

Hello all. I'm new to the saltwater game and decided to start my first Biocube 29. I will not bore you guys with the long story so I'll break down what I have and what issues I'm having. I have the 29 gallon biocube, stock lights, removed the bioballs and have the intank Media basket with filter floss in top rack, purigen in middle rack and chem elite in bottom rack and also have removed the sponge between chamber 2 and 3. I've changed the pump to the MJ1200 and put in the Hydor 600 power head.
I started this tank about 5 days ago so I know its very new. I put in 25 lbs of live rock and about 22 lbs of live sand (covers about 1 inch of the bottom). My friend brought over 30 gallons of water from his tank. I understand that the water will usually not play a roll on the cycle time. The first day after the tank was set up, the ammonia was 0 and so was the nitrate. Now the ammonia is .50 or so and the nitrate is now up to 40. From what Ive read, this is a good thing. Btw, this is a fishless cycle.
Today I got home from work and it looks like there is some brown algae staring to form and some of it looks slimy and some of it looks hairy. I have not done a water change and the salinity seems to stay around 1.024.

My question is, should I leave it and just get some clean up crew or should I do a small water change? I've been nerding out over this saltwater stuff for weeks now, lol, but now I'm a little lost and need some help. Please let me know what you think...

 

[CoryB]

It's diatom Algee it will get worse before it gets better. It's normal for a new tank.

 

[TampaBC]

Thanks! Thats what I was thinking from looking at other post now .. Should I let it ride? Some folks say get a small clean up crew, some say keep lights off and do a 5 gallon water change ...

 

[CoryB]

I added two turbo snails and when they were done I had to drop pellets in so they wouldn't starve. But my tank was also completely cycled.

I would let it ride its course.

 

[Bectan01]

With ammonia present I would say you have a little ways to go in your cycle yet. Just be patient! Are you using an ammonia source?

 

[TampaBC]

Thanks, no I haven't use any source yet. I have been the lucky person of getting advise from three different people, lol.. So a little confused to say the least.

 

[CoryB]

Well you can dose the tank with pure ammonia or put a raw shrimp in.

 

[TampaBC]

Thanks everyone for the input. As you can see, its starting to cover pretty good and some has appeared on the sand. You may not be able to see but I noticed this morning it looks like there were some friends (3 Zebra snails) chilling in the rock but this is the first time I've seen them in 5 days. They appear to be having a good appetite, but should I leave them or take them out?

Also, as I mentioned I put in the Hydor 600 and for some reason, I just don't think its doing an awesome job with water flow like I thought it would. I'm starting to think I don't even have it working correctly, lol... Anyways, as you can see I went and got some loc-line for the outflow of the pump and its split into a "Y".( Sorry the picture came out sideways, the outflow and powerhead is in the upper left hand side) I'm a little worried that I'm not getting enough circular flow so can anyone advise of how to position this split Loc-line or even my Hydor power head?

 

[54seaweed]

just keep messing with it till you get the flow your looking for you may need another powerhead

 

[TampaBC]

Thanks folks for the input. So I noticed today what appear to be copepods... they are soo small I coulodnt even get them in a picture.

 

[TampaBC]

Being that they appeared in the first week of the cycle, is this good or bad that they have appeared to fast and is this any indication of what stage the cycle is in? Some people say have said its the start of the cycle and others say its at the end ...

 

[TampaBC]

So as I mentioned it appears there are some copepods swimming around and a ton of them at that ... My question is about the water readings.. My Ammonia and nitrite have been at 0 for about 3 days now but the nitrate seems to have gone up to 80 out of the blue. I did a small water change yesterday seeing if that may lower the nitrates but its the same today... Any thoughts? Should I do another water change or just let is ride? I was stoked to see the ammonia and nitrites go to zero .. thanks.

 

[CoryB]

Nitrates are a sign your cycle is done. Do a pwc and you should be ready. As long as ammo and nitrites are 0.

 

[Bectan01]

Did you ever see a spike in amm? From memory you didn't use anything to cycles the tank, just rocks? If not you may have had a weak cycle, just be careful when adding fish. One at a time then wait a few weeks In between, test the water daily just to make sure there are no changes in parameters.

 

[TampaBC]

Thank guys for your help on this.. Yes Bectan, I did have a spike in ammo and around this time the algea started and still remains with the addition of algae on the sand bed now. The Ammo and Nitrite have now been at zero for about 4 days but the Nitrate has now gone up to around 80 and wont go down. I did a 5 gallon water change yesterday with the hopes of getting the Nitrates down but no luck.. I don't want to add any livestock until things are 100% good to go. Should I wait a couple of days and do another 5 gallon water change. I could be wrong, but from what I've been hearing, Nitrates wont go down on their own and that water changes will change this. I've also been using the API test kit for everything but some people on here say they have not had good luck with the API Nitrate kit... Any pointers would be great guys, thanks again.

 

[Bectan01]

Cool, I use the API kits too and find them to be ok particularly when your first starting out. I would do a much bigger water change to bring those nitrates down. You bb lives in your rocks and sand so feel free to do a big one, 10 even 20g then you should be ready for fishes!

 

[donniea1800]

So you said you had an ammonia spike. Do you know how much it was? Did you see a nitrite spike? It seems to me a little fast for a full cycle but its possible. I would say your friend has some high nitrates in his tank which is why yours are so high now. You difinitely want to get that down before adding anything. There is a good way to test to see if your cycle is complete or not. Get some pure ammonia. Ace Hardware usually carries it. Make sure it does not contain any surfactants. A sure fire way to tell is to shake the bottle. It is foams up but it back. Pure ammonia will not foam up. Add 1 drop of ammonia at a time and test until you get an ammonia reading of about 1-2ppm. Wait 12 hours and test again. If you get any ammonia or nitrite reading you are not done with your cycle. If your readings are zero after 12 hours then you are cycled. Just need to do a 30-40% water change to get those nitrates down. If you get any ammonia or nitrite readings after 12 hours let me know what the readings are so I can tell where you might be at in the cycle and i can walk you through how to complete it. It needs to have a constant source of ammonia or your cycle will stall and bacteria will start to die off.

 

[donniea1800]

Oh, and dont worry about the diatoms. They will come and go as your tank matures. Your tank will go through many stages of ugly during the first year. Just keep up with your maintenance and watch your feedings and it will balance out.

 

[TampaBC]

Thanks for the help everyone! So here is a little update and please give me your thoughts. It has been almost 2 weeks since my ammonia and nitrite have been at "0". My Nitrates have hovered around 80 this entire time but have slowly started to go down over the last day or two thanks to a couple of water changes but not much.
The diatom bloom has been weird.. it seems like it stopped and now has formed a bit around my power head and the back walls of the tank. Now, there seems to be a green algae type bloom which some looks like green hair. (Yes, Donniea, I did have an ammonia and nitrate spike that has went down and has been at "0" for almost 2 weeks, but the nitrates have stayed around 80).
My question is that now that my readings have been at "0" for those two but have had high nitrates, should I just continue to do the water changes until they drop? Should I get a small CUC to help with the algae? and if so, what should I get? (snails, hermits, etc.)

Thanks

 

[TampaBC]

So, I did the water change and now the Nitrates dropped to 40 and I would assume they will drop some more after another water change in a couple days. I guess not I need to start thinking about the CUC. Any thoughts on how many and what I should get? (again, 29 gallon biocube).. Thanks.