My first saltwater fish tank.

[sndw]

I just test my water again today and all the reading was 0 (not pH lol). And the all of my rock cover with Brown algae and some purple coralline. And I did feed my tank with a cube of Brineshrimp every other day for almost 10 days already. Will the LR, LS and Natural Ocean Water make the different when cycle?

Petco Real Ocean Water at PETCO

 

[ddelozier]

The reason your readings are whacked is because of the Brown Diatom algae. It is consuming part of your trates and trites. Leave the lights off on the tank for the duration of the cycle. Diatoms are plants, plants need light. Hence no light, no algae, and you will get Truely accurate readings. I am following with you, cause im in the same boat with you. My 92 Corner is wrapping up its cycle. If i test with the lights being on a few days, it appears almost normal, but the rocks are red with algae. I keep the lights off for 48 hrs before i test. If you dont have anything in the tank, leave the lights off all the time. My 92 was up and running for 4 months, as a Fish only with sand tank, and i added 85 lbs Dry Lace Rock, and 25ish lbs cured live rock from my other tank. Started a fresh cycle. I only have damsels in there, so im not worried. The amonia never went up, but i got a fresh layer of Diatoms all over the new rocks.

 

[sndw]

Thanks.
Yeah I forgot to turn unplug my light and it stay on for about 12 hrs >.<. Today and yesterday, I saw lots of bubble escape from the sand and rock? lots of them lol. This Saturday, I'll go to Vivid Aquarium to pick up some stuff, I'll bring my water for them to test.
Lately my temperature is really high, it can get to 85*F all the time. I know the winter is coming but my house heater will be on. So chiller can be a good idea but I don't want to put a hole in my pocket. Chiller cost around 400, Skimmer cost around 2-300. So which one first?

 

[ddelozier]

Skimmer First. Chiller is optional. The bubbles escaping is a natural part of the break in process. Tons of chemical reactions going on while you cycle. If the tank is empty, there's really no point to worrying about temperature control. If it concerns you, by a small 5"-8" Clip on Fan and point that at the water surface. You will lose a little water to evap, but you will be surprised how a small fan cools the tank. When i first put the 250 wat Metal halide over my tank, i could see a noticeable temerature rise after the light had been on a few hours. I put a 4" fan on, pointed at the water, and all that went away. Chillers are expensive. A fan is less than 20 bucks, but will do some.

 

[sndw]

Thanks. I just got my skimmer today from LFS. That's JNS VS1 HOB1 which is Aquamaxx HOB 1. This skimmer has very nice design, the pump stay inside the skimmer and so quiet and everything is very easy to take it a part to clean. I'll lets it run with hot water overnight and set it up tomorrow morning. Here's some picture of the skimmer.

Whole

Collection Cup

Took everything a part, took 10s lol

 

[sndw]

This Algae just appeared on my rock today, what's this kind of Algae? Will CUC able to remove it?

 

[sndw]

This is my new video of my tank. I got CUC to clean all of the algae and they did fantastic job. I also got JBJ Mini Chiller to keep the water temp stable.
[video=youtube;YsNLtX_ZsNI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsNLtX_ZsNI[/video]

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Well done - looking great !

 

[gbose]

You'll have lots of algae as your tank cycles. CUC will clean it up. Don't worry!

Good luck!

GBose