Brand New, I am!! Tank Cycle questions

U

Unclejessie1967

New Member
ok i'll try to start off right

20 long
550 powerhead
HOB filter just to circulate
25 lb live rock
Dual satalite 30"

Ok so I am just over week 2 and I just checked my levels. Amonia is at 0 and nitrite is at 5 and nitrate is just starting to read. is my nitrite comming down ya think? Srry I am hoping this hobby teaches me patients!LOL! I have lots of growth on my LR Purple Red Blue coraline? So I had been running my lights all day to keep that cool stuff alive. I just started to get a growth of Brown Slimy algae. Should I not run My lights as much? Will it go away?Can I add cleaners yet??? Also I have alot of little feather dusters and other tube worms, is there anything i can do to make sure they stay alive?Feeding? Srry to throw so many Questions out there.

Thanks in advance for any help
Eric
 
I

incysor

New Member
No food.

Leaving the light on will encourage algae blooms. At the very least I'd cut it down to a couple hours a day. Once the cycle is complete I'd move it up to 4hrs a day, then a week later go up to 8hrs. With your levels reading the way they are and the age of the tank, you're probably right in the middle of the cycle. You need to wait until the end of the cycle before adding the cleaning crew. The coraline and tube worms and fan worms will mostly be fine.

Welcome to the site.

Brian
 
A

Abarnswell

New Member
Hi, Eric, and welcome to the site! You'll love the folks here. They are very knowledgeable, friendly, and helpful!

I was in your shoes just a few months ago, and today I have a gorgeous healthy reef tank! So hang in there. It does require a lot of patience, particularly at the beginning. But once your tank settles in, you'll be able to do all the fun stuff -- starting adding goodies (corals, fish, inverts, etc...) to your tank.

Follow Brian's advice -- he's a top guru here. He knows it all!

I know it's hard to keep the lights off, because you want to LOOK at your rocks and stuff. But it's best to keep the lights off for most of the time, so the algae doesn't get carried away so soon. There's plenty of time for algae blooms later, and we can help you get rid of those when the time comes.

So, keep your lights off for most of the time. You can turn them on ocassionally to sneak a peak. No food. Don't worry about your feathers. They'll most likely be just fine. In my experience, hitchhiker feather dusters are very hardy -- after all, they survived shipping, etc... All my hitchhikers survived the cylcing period just fine, although one did abandon its tube and move to a new hole in the rock and start growing a new tube. It's not a problem.

My absolute favorite thing to do with a reef tank and especially live rock is to grab a flashnight and peer through the glass at the rocks after it gets dark. As time passes, you'll begin to see all kinds of weird things in the rocks that you never dreamed you'd see.

Have fun, and practice patience! Try meditation. :) Seriously, though, having patience is the key to a successful reef tank, but it is hard, I know!

Also, in the future, try to never buy anything on impulse. You can get in so much trouble that way (I speak from experience!). Always do your research first. Come here and ask about different fish and inverts, because you'll get lots of great first-hand advice here about which critters do well in a reef tank. A lot of things that are sold as "reef safe" really aren't reef safe at all.

Have fun!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top