New to salt and just getting started...

[dakotakid846]

Hey everyone,

I just recently started a 28g Nano cube and was just looking to see if im heading in the right direction.

So far I added about 16 pounds of live rock and 20 lbs of sand. The pumps have been running for 11 days now and the water has cleared up.

Water tests have revealed no evidence of a cycle starting, however some people have said with the rock and sand it might be a small cycle or none at all.

Today I added 3 turbo snails, as the algae on the glass was getting a lilttle thick, might cut the lights back to a few hours a day...?

Anyone have any things that I may be missing or should be doing...???

Thanks

[carpas]

I like the rock you found. Even with cured live rock I'd still expect to see a small cycle, but maybe you got lucky. Give it a couple weeks and if you still don't see anything you could probably add a small fish. You're fine cutting the lights back right until you start getting corals or just want to look at it.

[baldwin8]

I had my live rock and inert sand in for two weeks and not a hint of ammonia. I've added a pair of ocellaris clowns and almost two again and still ammonia or hint of a cycle. The clowns have settled in right away. Mine is to remain a FOWLR.

Yours looks great and wishing you well with this hobby. Keep posting the pictures.

[dakotakid846]

Yeah I was gonna give it another week or two....keep up with the water test and just monitor it.

Then if there is still no cycle I'll try adding a fish. We shall see.

I cut the lights back to a few hours a day to try and keep the algae at bay.

I'll get more pics soon....Thanks

[Chiefsurfer]

yeah, during cycling, except to keep good algae alive, the lights are mainly just for you to look at the tank.

Looks good. Depending on where you got the rock, there may be very little IF ANY cycle. If you got it from a LFS that's 15 minutes away, and it's been there for a while, there will be nearly no cycle. If you ordered it through the mail, there should be at least some cycle. My rock went from door to door on an airplane in 18 hrs and I saw a cycle. it only lasted 2 weeks for the whole thing, but there was one.

[wab]

WELCOME to rc and it sounds like you on the right track and looks great. Good Luck My only advice is patience, and for me Thats real hard

[wiz224]

What kind of sand is that i really like it?

[stubby 58]

Nice looking rock and makes the tank look good . stubby

[Mavrk]

[welcome]

[John Zillmer]

Welcome to the hobby, and to the forum. With respect to other posters, I'd say don't cut back on the photoperiod. With 3 turbos in a 28g, they're gonna need all the algae they can get! Big appetites on turbo snails -- they have a habit of starving.

Not only that, but you need to get a handle on algae control with a normal photoperiod, since if you increase the lighting duration substantially at the time you add corals, you may have an algae bloom that was just waiting to happen. Best to get nutrients and herbivores in balance and keep them there. Messing with photoperiod (unless in emergencies) just masks underlying nutrient issues.

[blueridge]

There are several products you can use to jump-start the cycle such as Instant Ocean Bio Spira, etc. Doing this in conjunction with adding a hardy fish will definitely get the cycle going. Is there much growth going on in the rock that you purchased? If it is pretty bare then not much of a cycle may occur.