High phosphates and cycling questions

[kuato]

I loaded up a 14.5G Fluval M40 a little over 5 weeks ago with live rock, live sand, and RODI water. Ammonia rose and fell 3-4 weeks ago, but I still have not gotten any nitrites or nitrates. A couple weeks ago I got a diatom bloom and started getting a lot more fuzzies on rocks and some hair algae.

I just let things sit since then, and after doing more reading, picked up a phosphate test kit that i didn't have previously. Boom, phosphate readings off the chart! I got some Phosguard which didn't really seem to do anything (and after the fact I read that many are against this product).

Now i have pulled off most of the hair algae and have started doing regular 30% water changes to try and alleviate the phosphate problem.

Big question, is that do people think that my cycle has stalled, or has it completed the cycle and the algae and such are just eating up any nitrates that could be readable?

Thanks!

[ReefingHavoc]

What do you have in the tank that would be causing phosphates to rise?

[kuato]

I'm not exactly sure, I haven't added any livestock to the tank. I did drop a small piece of dead shrimp into the tank after I loaded it up, could this have caused the massive surge?

[brandon429]

Yes, it was not needed when using live rock. All bacteria survived the moving of rock from a previous system to yours. Same for the sand. Never use api ammonia test kits to make a reef keeping move
use any other ammonia test kit. In your case no ammonia testing was needed, just set and go. No cycle when using live rock moved from a local lfs to your tank, unless you are using api kits or uncured live rock

[brandon429]

If your tank was mine, all algae would be killed by tomorrow and a full water change would fix things right up. a 24 hour fix. I would then buy some caulastrea and zoanthid corals on day two, begin large weekly water changes forever, pack it with coral next week and if you checked back in 2022 the tank would still be algae free and packed full of corals. Just that way man, no joke

[ReefingHavoc]

I'm really surprised you saw no nitrates after adding shrimp. Even though you used live rock there should have been something. Could be a bad test kit. If you stick with weekly water changes and ensure you have good flow in the tank the algae will eventually disappear.

[kuato]

Thanks for the advice. It seems weird to blame a simple test kit, but it is very odd that I've never had any nitrate readings with it.

[reefguy24]

I suspect my API kits (both "regular salt" and "reef master") are fairly inaccurate.

but I can't prove it.

[ReefingHavoc]

Thanks for the advice. It seems weird to blame a simple test kit, but it is very odd that I've never had any nitrate readings with it.


I'm not putting 100% blame on the kits as I originally started with them as well, but the fact that you saw ammonia readings (means the start of the nitrogen cycle) should lead to nitrites and nitrates. Might want to take a sample down to your LFS just to be sure.

It is possible that your initial cycle is over, but I'd feel more comfortable getting a second readout on nitrates before adding livestock.

[kuato]

That's a good idea, I'll do that.