O.K heres my question, I have been running my tank now for 2 weeks and been testing everyday. My PH is 8.3, ammonia 0, nitrate,nitrites both 0. Theres hasn't been any spikes the only thing I'm getting is green algea and I think that is from running the light for 12 hours a day, I'm running them 8 now. So should I go get my clean up crew or just wait. I started with 20# live sand and about 25# of live rock, I have a jbj 28. The only thing I can think of is my live rock came straight from a established tank. Oh one other question what would be a good clean up crew for a tank this size. This is my first tank ever.
My tank doesn't seem to be cycling?
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Reddog170
Active Member
Ok. Here is what I would do. Get a raw deli shrimp and throw it in. Test and wait. UI have also heard of people using a product called cycle start but I have never used it myself. The shrimp will rot creating ammonia and nessesary bacteria. In a tank that size I would get about a dozen blue legged hermit crabs a bunch of snail, amount of snails depends on what kind but I would not get more than 1 turbo and a serpent star with a couple cleaner shrinp. But you need to wait on a cleanup crew right now. Also have you gotten any books? The first one that I can think of is call The Conciensious Marine Aquariest. It is an older book but very helpful. It is my bet that you are getting an algae bloom from the silacates and phosfates, some from the sand and some from the water. You may have brought some algae in with the live rock. It really sounds like to me that you are on the right track. You are also asking questions before doing anything so that is a big plus. But like I say just toss in a raw deli shrimp to help get the cycle going. Best of luck and keep us posted. And when you can, we would like to see some pics, Shaun
Shaun has given you some very good advice and pretty much what I was going to say. The only thing I'll add is for a Clean Up Crew I always go to ReefCleaners.org | Clean Up Crews and Macro Algae - Home and submit a Custom Clean Up Crew form. From that John will give you his suggestions and I have always had GREAT results!
You can also use household ammonia to start a cycle as well if you don't want to wait for the shrimp to rot. I used it to cycle my tank and it didn't take as long as a normal cycle..IMO... I would say it cut off 1-2 weeks. still took a month but you can also set it up to handle just about any bio load.
heres the link to it seahorse.org - Cycling a Marine Tank
heres the link to it seahorse.org - Cycling a Marine Tank
i would add 1 ml at a time until you reach .25 on the ammonia reading. Just make sure you keep track of how much you put in so you can keep repeating until your tank can get rid of the ammonia in less than 12 hrs like the article says. Also put in 1 ml. wait 15-20 min then test and keep doing like that till you reach the .25
Hey shootme, Iam starting a 40 breeder this weekend. How do you like yours?
Hey shootme, Iam starting a 40 breeder this weekend. How do you like yours?
Hey thanks for the ideas, I was just curious once the cycle starts will it kill all the feather dusters that came on my live rock, it may seem kind of funny but I kinda have got attached to them because there the only thing in the tank right now. I have about 7 that came on the live rock and they seem to be doing great they have grown quite a bit in the last 2 weeks. Just curious
reefer4200
Member
i agree, that seems like a hassle compared to just dropping in a shrimp. And to me doing it isnt natural at all... almost as if your forcing the cycle?
I love the 40 breeder, great dimensions.
There is really no difference between using raw shrimp and using ammonia as they both achieve the same end result just by different means. That is adding ammonia to your tank.