Cycling a 180g future reef tank

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Terryc

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Sep 30, 2012
Messages
98
The tank has been cycling for about 3 weeks now. It has 120lb of live rock from my other tank. I put dry sand instead of live sand as I though my live rock would have all the beneficial bacteria on it and would seed the sand pretty quickly.
Been testing with the api test kit while cycling and will test with salifert soon.
Do you think it's ready for water changes now

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate is off the chart

Iv had all the comes cycling signs, such as the high ammonia and nitrite and a diatom bloom but now starting to get some green hair algae and east sure I I should leave it and let it cycle for a bit longer or do some water changes now.
 
Well I only had about 60lb of rock from my tank and had to buy the rest. Should have stated that. Thanks for the reply
 
Iv been doing water changes on the tank now but can't seem to get the nitrates down. With an api test kit, it's way off the chart still. I'm doing 25% water changes twice a week but not seeing a difference. Any suggestions?


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Sounds like you're done. Did you remove the ammonia source?
Bigger wc. A 25% change will only reduce 160 ppm down to 120 ppm. And another from 120 to 90 ppm.

Light are off, right?


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I used live rock to seed the tank for the start. No iv still got the lights on.
Should i turn them off untill the nitrates go down then? Never done that before but il give it a go.


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Yes, leave the lights off. You are just creating a perfect environment for algae with the high nutrient water and light. Ambient light from the window/ house lighting is enough to keep anything photosynthetic alive right now.
 
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