Tank progress

jemwhitman

jemwhitman

New Member
Well my tank has been up a week and a day now.

Water temp has stabilized at 78 overnight to 82 at the end of 12hr light shift.

Noticed several patches of coralline algae three days ago. They don't appear to have enlarged, but they haven't died off either. Some of the rock is turning brown especially the one's higher in the tank.

This morning I noticed some black specks appearing on the sand and some of the lower rock - doesn't seem to have spread during the day.

This afternoon I noticed some greenish-brown to dark-brown spots appearing on the rocks and sand.

The charcoal is still in the second stage filter - Haven't done any water tests yet.

I would like to know if a water change might be in order? Or should I wait until the end of the cycle?
:pom
 
K

Kris

New Member
Do some water tests and see how things are. If they are within norms you can do a little water change. I would not do a big change tho. You don't want to basically undo what you tank did over the course of the cycle (setup biological cycle). Just go slow, add some snails and maybe a few red/blue legs and go from there. Any pics?
 
K

Kris

New Member
If you need a place in the meantime just let me know or email me. I can host them if you want.
 
I

incysor

New Member
There's no reason for you to have your lights on during the tank cycle, it will only spur algae and diatom blooms. The spots on the rock sound like the start of a diatom bloom now. The lights don't help anything except algae and diatoms at this stage so leaving them off won't hurt anything.

B
 
K

Kris

New Member
incysor said:
There's no reason for you to have your lights on during the tank cycle, it will only spur algae and diatom blooms. The spots on the rock sound like the start of a diatom bloom now. The lights don't help anything except algae and diatoms at this stage so leaving them off won't hurt anything.

B
Click to expand...
I must disagree with you on this. Having the lights off during the cycle will throw it off. The "cycle" is to establish the tank and let it "learn". Keeping the lights off during the cycle may result in unwanted algaes, blooms and other weird things happen when you start running the lights on a full cycle.

You want to run the lights from start to infinity. The purpose of a cycle. That way things will bloom and grow and yadda yadda yadda during the cycle when they should and as things die off and the cycle completes, your set.
 
Sugar Magnolia

Sugar Magnolia

New Member
I've cycled several tanks with and without lights. I found that the tank that was cycled without the lights had next to no diatom bloom and no unwanted algaes appeared when the lights came on once the cycle was complete.
 
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incysor

New Member
Sorry, we're just gonna disagree on this. Everything in this hobby requires patience and small steps. A new tanks 'cylce' is primarily the simply the time period it takes for the aerobic and anaerobic cultures that break down ammonia to nitrites to nitrates to become established. We're talking about two different things.
Yes many tanks go through diatom blooms and algae blooms during the cycling period, but that's because people turn the lights on with a full photoperiod when it's unwarranted. You don't need a full photoperiod until you start to put corals that need the light into the tank.

Slowly ramping up to a full light cycle will give the tank the time to balance out the new energy, (in the form of light/heat), that's being introduced into the system. If you do it slowly you won't have large diatom and algae outbreaks. This goes whether you're cycling a tank and have your PC lights on the tank, or whether you're a year down the line and you're switching from PC lights to MH lights. If you suddenly dump a ton more energy into the system you'll have these types of nuisance diatom/algae blooms. If you move slowly with it and give the tanks inhabitants, (both micro and macroscopic), time to adjust you can avoid some of these issues.

B
 
jemwhitman

jemwhitman

New Member
Okay - we have opposing views on the lights. But I have at the end of today 9 days into my tank with the lights on 12hrs a day. Should I go totally dark? Should I reduce the lighting time to X hours a day? Should I continue?

I'm putty in your hands - which should I do? I'll be happy to be the test case here, and keep posting the results/Pics.
 
I

incysor

New Member
:lol:

I'd halve your photoperiod, but it's your tank, and your call. This is just one of those areas in the hobby where some folks disagree.

B
 
jemwhitman

jemwhitman

New Member
Okay - I'm in no hurry with this tank and the amount of algae on the rocks and sand by the time I got home tonight was twice what it was yesterday. I have no creatures growing from the rocks and very little coraline to worry about.

So it's lights out for now - except a couple of hours in the evening. I am very interested in seeing what happens to the algae that has already formed. Will it go corraline - or will it just die off? I will do my tests tomorrow and a small (10%) water change. I removed the charcoal tonight and inspected the back three chambers. Was surprised to see how much of the loose sand had reached the second and third chambers. Guess I'll be doing some vacuming back there tomorrow also.

I'll post to this thread as the tank progresses OR degresses which ever it turns out to be.

Again Thanks for the advice!!! :D
 
K

Kris

New Member
Teh algae will die off with the lights being off. It's whats feeding it. That and maybe some nutrients in the water but its mostly the light.
 
jemwhitman

jemwhitman

New Member
Kris - So how do we get from the BAD algae like the brownish green to the good macro algae like corraline? Is there a metamorphasis of one to the other? Also my son told me that he had seen a product in a LFS near him which advertises the production of different colors of macro algae. Ever heard of such a product?
 
K

Kris

New Member
jem-

The bad "algae" (diatoms) will die off with time. It comes from the breakdown of "things" that come in on your rock and the death of bacteria. A simple explaination. The "good" macro, corraline will start rearing its head in the next month or so depending on how good you keep your water parems. in check. Keeping the calcium, ph and alk where they are suppose to be. They are 2 seperate entities and don't morph from one to the other.

As for the product that aids in the good macro growth - don't even buy it. Waste of money. It doesn't make a difference. In time you will have more corraline than you know what to do with :D
 
jemwhitman

jemwhitman

New Member
Well - some of the algae did die off today. I did some testing before a 2 Gallon water change tonight. PH: 7.7 (a little low?) Ammonia (NH3): 0 :D Nitirite (N02): 0.9 :D :D

Looks like I'm ready for the cleanup crew???

I'll take some pictures tomorrow and post them.
 
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