Unsightly Algae during Cycle

[doctormario777]

Any thoughts on what I can do about brown algae on my sandbed during the cycle? I've had it cycling for about a week... too early to add snails?

[TjwBlake]

Looks like your diatom bloom.. very typical towards the end of the cycle. once the cycle is complete and you add your cleanup crew, they will start to take care of that.

[doctormario777]

Towards the end of the cycle? I'm reading 0 for nitrites (nice!), but I've I've only had the rock/sand in for about a week. I did use a large proportion of live rock from another reefer's tank (about 35 to 40%) and ALL of the sand was live. Do you think this could be why my tank has appeared to cycle so quickly? I don't have test history (I know I should have, but I didn't expect anything to occur as rapidly as it did) so I can't be sure if this is post nitrite spike or not.

Either way... good news!

[TjwBlake]

get test kits.. it is the only way to know for sure.
I am not saying it has cycled.. just that the brown diatoms are normal near the end.

[doctormario777]

I've got one now, just ran the nitrite and got 0, haven't run the rest yet.

[doctormario777]

I'm thinking I'll add some snails in the next few days. Turbo snails is what I'd guess I should use. Any opinions?

[AshMashMash]

I'm thinking I'll add some snails in the next few days. Turbo snails is what I'd guess I should use. Any opinions?

You need to run full tests - that being crucially ammonia. Get the test kits, run them, and run them every other day or so for a good week. I only say this because we're not sure where we are on the cycle - if they're both 0 for a week I'd say you're done. Obviously if ammonia is present and nitrite 0 then you're just begining.

Don't add living things until you've cycled, however long it takes.

[TjwBlake]

running just nitrite is kinda pointless... 0 nitrite can be the very beginning of the cycle or the very end... so out of the 3 just running that isn't telling you anything.

as was said... you run them all for at least a week and watch the progress, ghost feed during this time to ensure that you have a sufficient source of biological matter to start generating ammonia.. if you get 0 on ammonia and nitrite with your nitrates starting to go up then yes you are probably done cycling so do your waterchange and start adding CUC.

[doctormario777]

Ammonia is clear, Nitrate is at < 5ppm

[peligro]

I had my LFS come to my place when I had the diatom, he said wait it out, it will starve It's self, and die off, once it dies off. You should see some green turf algae appear, if you don't, no worries. Once the diatom is gone he said that's a good sign to start adding your clean up crew. Adding the clean up crew to early in the cycle could cause other problems due to Your tanks beneficial bacteria not being populated enough to support the bioload, And depending on your tank size I'd watch out on adding turbo snails to Your tank, maybe one or two for starts, they do nothing but eat and poo. And are some of the biggest contributors to bio load. But that's just mho

HTC EVO

[peligro]

On second thought, didn't see the life in your tank you already have lol. How old is your tank.

HTC EVO

[doctormario777]

The tank's about a week old, I've just got a few hermit crabs and a nassarius (spelling?) snail that hitched their way in on the live rock. I also put 3 Talbot's Damselfish in there to poo during the cycle. I know most of the guys on this forum are against it, but I didn't think damselfish would have any survival issues during the cycle.