atif
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
I'm setting up my first ever salt water setup- here are the specifics:
30G built into a wall
Wet & Dry with built in skimmer
Live sand
No LR yet
Used Cycle stuff to help the system ...
Have 2 damsels happily swimming about
Been cycling for 5 weeks.
This is the state of play and why I'm confused!
Using the classic test tube a solutions I have measured:
1. Ammonia levels reached 0.5 ppm last week and today = 0
2. Nitrites 0
3. Nitrates 0
Using Mardel test strips over the weekend:
1. Ammonia = 0
2. Nitrites = 0
3. Nitrates = 20ppm
PH is 8.1 constant
I have also noticed that I have a bunch of Brown Algae over the sand and some temporary dead coral ... pictures can be found @:
http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ah_mail
Questions:
1. The above results seem weird ... right? has the tank cycled or out my test strips telling fibs?
2. What of the Brown Algae, any suggestion on how to control it?
3. When should I add LR? I was told to hold off otherwise the algae will attack it?
Thanks for any advice ...
30G built into a wall
Wet & Dry with built in skimmer
Live sand
No LR yet
Used Cycle stuff to help the system ...
Have 2 damsels happily swimming about
Been cycling for 5 weeks.
This is the state of play and why I'm confused!
Using the classic test tube a solutions I have measured:
1. Ammonia levels reached 0.5 ppm last week and today = 0
2. Nitrites 0
3. Nitrates 0
Using Mardel test strips over the weekend:
1. Ammonia = 0
2. Nitrites = 0
3. Nitrates = 20ppm
PH is 8.1 constant
I have also noticed that I have a bunch of Brown Algae over the sand and some temporary dead coral ... pictures can be found @:
http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ah_mail
Questions:
1. The above results seem weird ... right? has the tank cycled or out my test strips telling fibs?
2. What of the Brown Algae, any suggestion on how to control it?
3. When should I add LR? I was told to hold off otherwise the algae will attack it?
Thanks for any advice ...