Progress through my cycle..

[steve120]

24th august - raw prawn added to tank, pH8.2, 1.024, temp 27oC

31st august - removed prawn, as above water + amonnnia 0.50ppm, Nitrite 5ppm, nitrate 5ppm

2nd September - pH8.2, 1.024, temp 27oC ammonia 0.25ppm, nitrite 5ppm (off scale), nitrate 10ppm

7th September - pH8.2, 1.024, 27oC, 0.25ppm, nitrite 5+ppm (off scale), nitrate 10ppm.... and tank has over past 2 days turned very yellowy/green as shown in photos...

Anything I should be doing apart from wait for ammonia to drop to 0, nitrate to drop to 0, then water change and introduce clean up crew...

Tank is 3'x18"x12" with sump, skimmer, additional rock ruble and sand in section of sump. mostly base rock + diy rock + 1.5k cured live rock from lfs.

What clean up crew should I be looking into? will be FOWLR for first year if not permanently...

[PAnanoguy]

looks like youre into the diatom bloom stage. keep checking your params. you should be fine. adding only 1 lb. live rock its probably going to take a little longer than most to fully cycle. as for a clean up crew, maybe a dozen or so hermits (mix it up, blue legs, red legs, scarlets, etc.) a few nassarius snails, a couple turbo snails, some astrea snails, etc. (also mix it up as much you can to get a good diversity in the clean up crew) (most people don't have as much luck the margarita snails as they are from colder water)

[steve120]

Spotted the first signs of life last night, I believe it was a bristle worm, about 1" long disappeared before I could get the camera.

Would you try cleaning up the rock/sand or just leave it to take its course?

[Rilelen]

Looks like our tanks have almost the same birthday!

I started my 72 gallon bowfront on Aug 22 with a dead shrimp...like yours I've got mostly base rock plus 1.5 pounds of live rock from my LFS. Just for curiosity's sake since our tanks must be on about the same cycle stage, my parameters for the dates you listed:

24th Aug: pH 8.1, 1.026, ammonia .50ppm, nitrite 0ppm, nitrate 0ppm

31st Aug: pH 8.3, 1.026, ammonia .75ppm, nitrite .2ppm, nitrate 0ppm

2nd Sep: pH 8.2, 1.026, ammonia .25ppm, nitrite .6ppm, nitrate 5ppm

7th Sep: pH 8.2, 1.026, ammonia 0ppm, nitrite 1ppm, nitrate 10ppm

I spotted my first bristleworm yesterday too, sounds about the same size as yours! I've also got diatoms (which have started to subside) and quite a bit of film algae on the glass.

[PAnanoguy]

the clean up crew will help out some with cleaning up stuff through these last stages of the cycle. keep a good amount of flow in the tank (powerheads) and youll be fine.

[Ckyuv]

Do you know what fish you will be adding? My favorite member of the clean up crew is the conch snail, he always turns the sand over a bunch and keeps it free of algae

[steve120]

Not 100% sure on fih choices yet, definately a clown of some sort, royal gamma maybe.

Just tested basics, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 20ppm nitrate....
Clean up crew this weekend then :-)

[Pez68]

Water change to get nitrates down first. Most inverts are extremely sensitive to high nitrates. 20 ppm is high. Unless you want a bunch of dead snails, you need to get your nitrates down below 5.

[steve120]

I did a large water change on saturday, then added turbo snails and dwarf hermits... they have got to work very quickly!!!

And water tests are great, 1.025 salinity, 27C temp, 0ppm amonnia, 0ppm Nitrite, 0ppm nitrate....

once all the visable algae has gone would i need to feed the CUC or will algea growth keep them going?
I have 10 snails and 5 hermits in 130lt DT, with 80lt sump. A couple of each will be re-homed to my sump once DT is cleaned up so they can start cleaning the LR & sandbed in there too.

As you'll see in the photos 4 days has really cleaned up the brown mess

[steve120]

anyone....? do they need feeding?

[Kilich]

Clean up Crew (or CUC) does not need to be fed. They feed off organic matter in the tank, aka algae, fish poop, ect. Think of them as maids for your tank, and you don't need to pay them!