Growth

[specopsteam]

I Have had my 55 gal tank cycled up and running for a litle over a month now and nothing seem to be growing on my LR or anywhere in my tank for that matter. shouldnt something be growing somewhere by now even in small amounts? I have 11 damsels 1 lawnmower blemmy, 1 goby, 1 banded coral shrip and a hermit crab. Does it take longer to get things to grow then a month i though i would be seeing a little something by now. I did have a nitrate spike from something thing that died or from one of my filter systems ( i know UGF and Canister filters are so bad for that but its my frist tank and my LPS told me i needed it lol) I have been doing 25 to 30% water changes about 1 time a week and have my nitrate down to 20ppm. Any ideas why im not seeing anything or when i will start to?

[kau_cinta_ku]

all depends on what was on the rock to start with. but 11 damsels in a 55 gal. your gonna have problems

[specopsteam]

is that load to heavy? what kinda problems? I was under the impression that was a heavy load but it was do-able.

The LR i have is Fiji rock it has some growth on it to start but im not seeing it spread on the rock or to other rocks I am getting some light green/blueish stuff growing on the rocks.

[davidryder]

What kind of damsels? That honestly sounds fine to me but it's going to make it hard to put any other fish in there - if you wanted to.

As far as growth it will take months before you start seeing life you didn't put in the tank.

[specopsteam]

2 yellow tails, 2 Green Cromis (sp?) 2 three strips, 1 blue one not sure what kind. sorry its 12 fish total. I have been using them just to start the tank im tearing down my 55 soon selling my fisht back to the LPS and setting up a 75 gal with my 55 as a sump/fuge.

[davidryder]

The green chromis are great and peaceful but the others are very belligerent and when they start getting bigger they will run the tank. If you haven't already give it some time and you will probably learn to hate most damsels. Chromis however are great fish - as long as they are all around the same size.

[Paul B]

You will be seeing growth soon. 4 weeks is too soon

[IndigoSea]

Yep, I think my tank was running for a few months before I saw anything visibly alive. I would think a little over a month is too soon to have put fish or anything in there at all, but I think I'm the over-cautious type. I'm uncertain about the ethics of placing fish into an unestablished aquarium to help get it running. Returning at least a few of the fish to the LPS sounds like a good idea.
A large amount of quality LR is, I think, the best way to get a tank established. Sometimes you can also buy bacteria baggies from the LPS that will help the tank on its way.

[specopsteam]

This tank is fully cycled, ive had LR and got bio media from the LPS.

[Paul B]

The tank is not fully cycled no matter what your test kit or your LFS says. It is cycled for whatever you cycled it with but every time you add something like all of those damsels it has to build up bacteria to meet the demand.

[specopsteam]

i got home from work today and i was just looking at my tank and i am starting to see tiny brown dots all over my tank i am assuming that is algea and i see a few neon green spots on some of my base rock looks like the stuff that is on my fiji rock. what is the neon green stuff?

[Roger928]

Depending on water params, bio-load, etc... it can take months for appreciable growth to occur in a newly established tank. It fact, many feel that a tank isn't truly established until a full year. Six months at least. Lots of bio-processes going on right now.

Your brown spots are likely a diatom and cyno bacteria bloom. This will pass in time with proper feeding and nutrient export.

Good luck!