no diatom bloom

[Eric John]

Hello,
my 20 gallon Red Sea max nano has been cycling for about a week now. My ammonia lvls are almost zero and have high levels of nitrate and nitrate. Seems normal except I have not had a diatom bloom. It also seems like the die off of my live rock is continuing (not major but in certain spots. Is this maybe because it was shipped to my house and the cold winter temps killed a lot more off the rock than usual? I have the Red Sea reef mature pro kit I can use if necessary.

 

[DaveK]

Diatom blooms are common, but it's also possible that you don't get one. Actually that's a bit of a blessing, since it's one less startup item you need to deal with.

Also, as long as you still have nitrite and ammonia readings, your not out of the woods quite yes. You may still get a "surprise".

 

[Squatch XXL]

I don't know what is in the red sea mature pro kit, but IIRC some of the bacterial additives can cause improper readings.....I would certainly suggest waiting 1-3 months before you begin your journey of adding live stock.

Hopefully you get no algae issues, but they will come and go over the first few months and even later. SW aquariums are like a leather glove. You get them wet, but it takes time for it to shape to your hand.

 

[Eric John]

thank you guys..... ill be patient ... in no rush just want to make sure its going the way it should

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

all sounds like normal cycle progressing...

 

[Eric John]

Guess I'm also worried cause I have not see. An amonia spike

 

[DaveK]

Guess I'm also worried cause I have not see. An amonia spike

Now that you should see. What did you do to start the cycle? Generally you need to add some sort of organic matter, such as a raw shrimo from the seafood section of your grocery store.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

+`1 ^ you could add a raw shrimp... but when you said you have "high levels of nitrate and nitrate" I was thinking you missed the ammonia that converted...

a good part of this also depends on the quality of your live rock...

Here the best I have ever read on "the cycle" by RS member prow, this post is so good, I have re-read it many times...

Newbies, a little something on cycling/breaking in a new reef tank.

Many start a tank this way... add a deli shrimp and let it rot

Start testing and watching... the Ammonia will raise then drop, followed by the Nitrites raising and then dropping, then the Nitrates will soar - once the ammonia & nitrites are gone, then do water changes to reduce nitrates.

Ammonia > Nitrite > Nitrate

Tank Cycled

 

[Eric John]

thank you! I might of missed the ammonia spike. As of today I have reading of 0 ammonia, .1 nitrite, and 50 nitrate. I started cycling the tank with live rock (not from LFS but shipped to me so I'm sure there was plenty die off) and live sand.

 

[DaveK]

... I started cycling the tank with live rock (not from LFS but shipped to me so I'm sure there was plenty die off) and live sand.

In that case, you should be fine. As soon as the nitrite drops to 0,, you should be good to go.

 

[PSU4ME]

Prob good with what you have but it wouldn't hurt to throw in a small cocktail shrimp just to be sure!