TEA's RSM C250

TEA

TEA

Active Member
Well, I guess that's it. My ammonia is gone, my nitrites never did spike (at all), my nitrates which I only saw yesterday at close to 5 ppm are now gone. I'm thinking I'll take Joey's advice and look to add a couple of snails. I say a couple because the diatoms I saw starting to cover my rock are now starting to recede as well. I think it's safe to say my tank has cycled. Perhaps the live sand I mixed in actually did the trick and helped me through the cycle. However, I feel as though I'm moving too fast. Everything I read told me that my cycle could take as long as 30-60 days because I didn't use any LR.
 
Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
I have no idea. It certainly sounds like you've done the things to cycle. My cycle didn't take long and I never saw the large spikes you are supposed to see, but I had well cured live rock.

Listen to others who know more about cycling than me, but I would think its OK to go ahead, just go really slow.
 
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TEA

TEA

Active Member
Yep. That's what I'm going to do. I picked up the following:
Scarlet Leg Hermit - 3
Astrea Snail - 3
Cerith Snail - 3

I'll see how those do for a few weeks and go from there.
Very excited to get the first inhabitants into the tank tonight!


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A

akejan

Member
Nice aquascape and nice rocks. Have you glued the rocks together or just stacked them in the tank? Did you just put them in your tank or did you treat the rocks in some way before.
 
TEA

TEA

Active Member
Thanks akejan! I started by stacking the rocks to get the layout that I wanted. I did my best to have the stack as stable as I could get it by just stacking. After i was satisfied with the design I used Instant Ocean Hold Fast reef putty/epoxy to firm up the rocks that had some wiggle left in them. I did not treat the rocks, all the rock I purchased was dry rock from a couple different LFS in my area. So, I just placed them like I wanted and started cycling the tank.
 
TEA

TEA

Active Member
I would swear that some of my rock is starting to get a pink hue to it. The hermits I added had their shells absolutely covered in coralline algae, they have been in the tank a week now. I've read, almost everywhere, that coralline takes months to populate in a newly established tank. I think my eyes must be playing tricks on me, or maybe I'm just hopeful to see the tank progress.
 
TEA

TEA

Active Member
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Ever seen anything like this? Notice the bubbles on the sandbed with the algae and the bubbles on the snail. I don't think it's Red Bubble Algae on the snail and I'm not sure the stuff on the sandbed is dinoflagellates. Any thoughts? Does Algea outgas?


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TEA

TEA

Active Member
Glad to hear you say that Glenn. Last night, looking at the snail, I thought, Oh No! I could have sworn it was Red Bubble Algae. Then today upon arriving home from work I saw the bubbles on the sandbed and I feared the worst. Just starting out with my tank and bad boy algae already! The more I read up on it and the more I look at what I have in the tank the more comforted I am. Still, I'll keep a close eye out.
 
Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
TEA said:
Glad to hear you say that Glenn. Last night, looking at the snail, I thought, Oh No! I could have sworn it was Red Bubble Algae. Then today upon arriving home from work I saw the bubbles on the sandbed and I feared the worst. Just starting out with my tank and bad boy algae already! The more I read up on it and the more I look at what I have in the tank the more comforted I am. Still, I'll keep a close eye out.
Click to expand...

The first time I had cyano I feared it was red bubble algae too. :). As others said, no biggie.
 
TEA

TEA

Active Member
OK, so we added a pair of mated DaVinci Ocellaris Clowns (the wife just had to have them, and I really like them too), a bunch of critters/pods I ordered from IPSF.com, and also threw in a bottle of Tiger pods. I read the Tiger pods won't last too long but since I only have the pair of clowns maybe some of them have a fighting chance.
11079628_10152873002024482_3532589287686279278_n.jpg
 
TEA

TEA

Active Member
I think I have officially reached Ugly Tank Syndrome. Oh well, what do you do but wait it out I guess.


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DianaKay

DianaKay

Princess Diana
RS STAFF
YEP, wait it out while trying to secretly figure out how to make it GO AWAY! :confused:
The best thing to do is: try not to panic...but I think I panicked with every stage of ugliness. My tank survived it's UTS and I bet your's will too. :)
So maybe it will help reduce your stress to tell us...
....what's going on with it :fishy:
 
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