cycle is complete 13 days!

[theplantman]

So 13 days ago I dropped in the shrimp, ammonia maxed out at about .3, and as of 4 days ago nitrates maxed out at 50. Same night diatoms started to show up, have had lights on 6 hours per day since, have about 50% coverage of diatoms on my LR and as of tonight ammonia is at 0 and nitrates have dropped to 10. Protein skimmer has been running for 3 days and its broken in and removing a nice wet skimmate. Still very pale yellowish green. So cycle is on schedule as i hoped and this saturday the cuc goes in to start removing the diatoms. Between now and june, two upgrades are planned, first will be LED lights. Going to invest in an AI vega color and also a chiller in the 1/13th to 1/10th range.

Thats my update for the week.

 

[BLADEYAMAHA]

Hmmm..................... :barf:

 

[BLADEYAMAHA]

I'm a horse's arse sometimes I admit, but I would test another week and add food to the tank everyday to see if it has any spikes for another week or even two, before risking any stock in the tank. That's what I would do now, having more experience and more patience these days. I dunno, just want to give you some wise advice, that's all man.

 

[theplantman]

I appreciate it, this went the same as the last time i set up. I used fully cured live rock and have 50 pounds of live sand in a 34 gallon. Don't worry, only the cleanup crew goes in right now for at least another two or three weeks and i will be testing frequently. And the large deli shrimp is still in the tank decomposing away. By the way, the ammonia stayed at point .2 for 7 days then spiked at .3 before going down to 0 very quick, tested 2 days ago at .2

 

[theplantman]

Also it will not be a large cleanup crew, a couple hermits and maybe a dozen snails to start it off.

 

[reefguy]

That's awesome. I am with blade thou, nothing come quick in this hobby. But it's possible it's done cycling. Keep us updated.

 

[theplantman]

I will, i fully expect the tank to mini cycle, I will test again this afternoon to see if the diatoms have eaten more nitrates, (funny, everyone panics when they see diatoms it seems, and they want to know how to get rid of them, I LOVE THEM! They just change the color of the live rock and they eat the BAD GUNKY in the tank. (If you read Stephen King you get the Bad Gunky reference)) Then I will mix up 10 gallons for a water change prior to the cleanup crew going in. Water and new crew get done Saturday night or Sunday Morning and as soon anything living goes in I start weekly 5 gallon water changes. Which is a minimum of 15% of the water volume, probably more like 20% given the amount of sand and live rock in the tank. With that said, i end up changing anywhere from 60-80% of the water per month.

This is why I don't dose. LOL Its also why i pay a little extra for my salt mixes to make sure they are good and stable.

 

[borderreef]

One thing is to make sure you are stll feeding the tank. You don't want the beneficial bacteria you have nurtured to dwindle and die off. Keeping the shrimp in there will help until your cuc get rid of it, assuming you are adding crabs. A little bit of flake added each day will also help. The bacteria still needs to feed.
Best of luck with the new tank!!
bob

 

[theplantman]

Borderreef, I will be, I have some pelletized food that i use to drop in the tank for inverts when I last had it set up. It will be minimum to supplement their algae grazing and keep the tank stable but not enough to start building phosphates.

 

[DianaKay]

I'm happy for you if your cycle went that fast.
I'm on day 12 and W A I T I N G....no ammonia or nitrites yet. I added an additional mesh bag of mushed shrimp today.
Waiting is not FUN I think I have all the holes in my live rock about memorize already.
I'm looking forward to a snail crew to chow down on my green feathery algae growing on my rocks.

 

[theplantman]

Diana,

Did you start with cured live rock or dry? How big is your tank? You said you are adding another bag of shrimp? Not sure when you ran your first water test but test for nitrates and see if you have any, if you do, you might have missed the first spike. If you started with dry rock, seems odd that you have not seen an ammonia spike after 12 days with a bag of shrimp decomposing.

If you are getting hair algae already, turn your lights off if you are using them. Have you seen diatoms show up yet?

 

[DianaKay]

I have a new RSM250 (66gal.) and I have about 50 pounds of live rock out of matured tanks (2 separate ones) and I bought 40 pounds of live sand. I've tested every other day and ammonia & nitrites have been ZERO up until TODAY & I'm excited to report my ammonia is at .25ppm....testing again tomorrow & everyday until it starts to drop. And YES, I have gone from golden brown rock cover to now growing "long green feathers" algae. I figure my CUC will have a feast when I get to put them in.
YAY, almost time
Keep us posted on your tank....this is FUN

 

[theplantman]

Glad to hear you are finally seeing an ammonia spike. I added my cleanup crew, a small one to start last night and they are mowing through the diatoms. Got 2 scarlet reef and two blue leg hermits, 4 cerith, 4 margarites, 2 astras and 2 nassarius snails. Funny thing is they have not touched the decomposing shrimp. Gonna pull it tonight after i set up my ATO. Other news, just put in a sicce 2.0 pump for a new return pump and moved the jebao 1500 to the skimmer and it is working like a champ. Great foam production, i always thought overdriving this skimmer a little would do wonders and it has. Keep us posted on your cycle.

 

[Tjr1992]

Not trying to hijack your thread, but Diana, are you sure it isn't bryopsis that you have growing? If so, it's VERY difficult to get rid of.

 

[DianaKay]

I have NO IDEA, there's a close up picture of it on my thread in the Red Sea Max Owners forum. I'm leaving my lights off to discourage it's growth now. Starting week 3 with ammonia & now (as of today) nitrites starting to rise. Trying to be patient

 

[theplantman]

No worries tjr, my threads are always open for wherever someone wants to take them.