Reef Sanctuary - View Single Post - Can a tank cycle and not have an algae bloom? Otherwise how am I doing?

gone postal · 06-27-2008, 11:28 PM

I setup my 55 gallon about 2.5 months ago. I have 60lbs live sand, 50lbs live rock & wet/dry. I cycled with just the die off from the live rock. I waited about a month - didn't do any water checks during that time, but at the month period, my LFS said my water appeared fine, but that he'd still start off w/ a Damsel b/c he's never done the die off method and wasn't sure that the water had even started cycling.

So, I grabbed 2 damsels. I also put in a CUC of 10 nassarius snails, 5 nerite and 15 blue legged hermits. I let that run for about 3 weeks. I then added my clownfish. That was about 3 weeks ago, so yesterday I added a Lemonpeel Angel. I have yet to have an algae bloom. I thought it was almost guaranteed to have an outbreak - kinda signaled that the cycle was over, etc. All my fish are fine. I'm starting to get coralline growth and have lots of what appear to be little feather dusters growing on my glass (really small - spiral shaped shells).

I've tested the H2O several times over the last few weeks and amm=0, trite=0, trate=20 (stupid test strips I had made trate appear lower, but I just bought a quality solution test kit and it is actually 20, not the 10 the strips led me to believe). Last night trate hit 40, so I changed 15 gal. today and it's at 20 again. I'm going to do 15 more Sunday and every 3-4 days afterward until I get this down to 5 or less. Does everything sound okay? I bought the Lemonpeel on a whim and wish I had done some research ahead of time b/c I'm not sure that my tank is established enough for him. This is why I'm concerned w/ the algae. He has snipped at my algae in a clip, but isn't really taking to it nor is he taking to any of the flakes, granules, etc. Of course the LFS didn't mention his feeding requirements, habits, etc, but they are in the market to make sales. Especially $60 ones...

06-27-2008, 11:28 PM	#1 (permalink)
gone postal Bryozoan Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: St. Augustine, FL Posts: 58 View Gallery Karma Komment	Can a tank cycle and not have an algae bloom? Otherwise how am I doing? I setup my 55 gallon about 2.5 months ago. I have 60lbs live sand, 50lbs live rock & wet/dry. I cycled with just the die off from the live rock. I waited about a month - didn't do any water checks during that time, but at the month period, my LFS said my water appeared fine, but that he'd still start off w/ a Damsel b/c he's never done the die off method and wasn't sure that the water had even started cycling. So, I grabbed 2 damsels. I also put in a CUC of 10 nassarius snails, 5 nerite and 15 blue legged hermits. I let that run for about 3 weeks. I then added my clownfish. That was about 3 weeks ago, so yesterday I added a Lemonpeel Angel. I have yet to have an algae bloom. I thought it was almost guaranteed to have an outbreak - kinda signaled that the cycle was over, etc. All my fish are fine. I'm starting to get coralline growth and have lots of what appear to be little feather dusters growing on my glass (really small - spiral shaped shells). I've tested the H2O several times over the last few weeks and amm=0, trite=0, trate=20 (stupid test strips I had made trate appear lower, but I just bought a quality solution test kit and it is actually 20, not the 10 the strips led me to believe). Last night trate hit 40, so I changed 15 gal. today and it's at 20 again. I'm going to do 15 more Sunday and every 3-4 days afterward until I get this down to 5 or less. Does everything sound okay? I bought the Lemonpeel on a whim and wish I had done some research ahead of time b/c I'm not sure that my tank is established enough for him. This is why I'm concerned w/ the algae. He has snipped at my algae in a clip, but isn't really taking to it nor is he taking to any of the flakes, granules, etc. Of course the LFS didn't mention his feeding requirements, habits, etc, but they are in the market to make sales. Especially $60 ones...