Adding LR after fish during Cycle

[Squado]

Im new to this and just have a quick question. Would it be a good idea to add LR to a 1 1/2 week old new setup with 4 damels and 3 hermit crabs. Keep in mind that as of right now I have a brown algae problem and am having trouble getting rid of it. Thanks a lot for the input..............

 

[Marc118]

That depends if its cured or not, if its not cured your tank will re-cycle and you will get spikes in your water. But your tank isnt even cycled the first time yet....

 

[roka64]

The damsels might not make it through the cycle. I would suggest a fishless cycle.

Keep in mind that as of right now I have a brown algae problem and am having trouble getting rid of it.

Do you have a test kit? If so, what are the readings?
How much/what do you feed the tank?
How long are you running your lights? Is the tank near a window?

 

[Hara]

Brown diatoms and such are expected during a cycle, they will go away on their own after the cycle is complete. An article on cycling your tank without the use of fish can be found at http://testing.aquariumadvice.com/article_view.php?faq=2&fldAuto=15

The damsels may/maynot make it, the crabs mostl likely will not as they are sensitive to water quality issues.

 

[Squado]

Thanks for the replies. As of right now my levels are as follows: Ammonia: .8, nitrite: .2. and nitrate: 0. The current ph is 8.2. Ive had the tank for almost two weeks and the ammonia has still not dropped and the nitrite has been the same for the past week. The water quality was perfect up until I added some frozen mysid shrimp, this is where the problem started. So far the damsels seem to be doing ok, eating and bright colors. I feel like the ammonia levels should have dropped already but I cant get them to budge. Any help would be greatly appreciated.....

 

[Hara]

The ammonia levels probably havent even peaked yet. It takes a month to 6 weeks for a good cycle to occur.

 

[Squado]

I am currently running the lights for about 12 hours a day. I got some advice to add some carbon to the filter and minimize the lights to about 4-6 hours a day. Is this good advice or should I just let the tank run how it is now?

 

[austinsdad]

12 hours is too much IMO for cycling. I used carbon once while cycling with stinky uncured rock, otherwise I'm not sure you should be using it now.

 

[kmgriff72]

I feel sorry for the damsels to have to cycle your tank. I would never use helpless fish to cycle a tank. I am presently having to watch my chromis go through a cycle my tank is having because of a stupid mistake I made. I got everything else moved to a friends tank but I cannot for the life of me catch the 3 chromis I have so I am doing water changes and keeping the lights off for the most part until things get better. Please do not use fish to cycle your tank it is very hard on them.

 

[melosu58]

Please do not use fish to cycle your tank it is very hard on them.

This is so true