Algae on rock during cycling

vetteguy53081 · Jul 28, 2020

NCMamacita said:
My LFS said I couldn’t add snails or other invertebrates until it was cycled? I have snails, hermit crabs, and a coral banded shrimp in my 5 gallon tank. Would it be ok to move them now? I also have 2 clown fish in my smaller tank, but I didn‘t want to hurt them by moving them too soon. Thoughts ?

Start with some snails, then add shrimp, then the fish. Fish are more affected by cycling than inverts

Erick Armanii · Jul 28, 2020

Marine care test kit would be the best for the cycle and more important for a newer tank.
1st kit to buy..

I would also consider a salifret phosphate test kit as my second purchase.. maybe a few weeks to a month from now to monitor feeding habits and algae growth..

When your ready for acros or more demanding corals then the reef foundation pro. Also at this point I would be using a 2 part additive. (Probably end of this year, beginning of 2021)

Erick Armanii · Jul 28, 2020

NCMamacita said:
Oh no! Sounds like some fish didn’t make it?? I love my clown fish and don’t want to lose them.

Yup.. a very sad an expensive lesson that I want everyone to know about so they don’t go thru the same mistake

NCMamacita · Jul 28, 2020

Erick Armanii said:
Marine care test kit would be the best for the cycle and more important for a newer tank.
1st kit to buy..

I would also consider a salifret phosphate test kit as my second purchase.. maybe a few weeks to a month from now to monitor feeding habits and algae growth..

When your ready for acros or more demanding corals then the reef foundation pro. Also at this point I would be using a 2 part additive. (Probably end of this year, beginning of 2021)

Thanks for your help!

NCMamacita · Jul 28, 2020

Erick Armanii said:
Yup.. a very sad an expensive lesson that I want everyone to know about so they don’t go thru the same mistake

Thanks for sharing! I’ll make sure to test for ammonia before even considering moving them.

brandon429 · Jul 28, 2020

it wouldnt be possible to think ammonia burn can happen after reading page one of our thread, helpful heads up

Ill remove that link soon, seems to not be applicable here but you're missing out on 25 pages of science written only about preventing ammonia burn from rocks that were already cycled when you brought them home

NCMamacita · Jul 28, 2020

brandon429 said:
it wouldnt be possible to think ammonia burn can happen after reading page one of our thread, helpful heads up

Ill remove that link soon, seems to not be applicable here but you're missing out on 25 pages of science written only about preventing ammonia burn from rocks that were already cycled when you brought them home

Which link are you referring to? It says I don’t have access to the first link you entered. The second link is to Coral Magazine, ”Micro Reefs”. Thanks.

brandon429 · Jul 28, 2020

The microbiology of reef tank cycling.

You can skip your cycle. Ive been reefing online for twenty years and have never waited one second for a tank to cycle, because I buy rocks that are already cycled and move them home. Here's two: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/octo-high-end-sps-skip-cycle-build.713256/...

www.reef2reef.com

Ok that should work

brandon429 · Jul 28, 2020

you will never need to test for ammonia or nitrite again with this reef. The only thing that can spike your ammonia is a bunch of dead fish, but you'd take them out if that happened vs leave them in the tank, ammonia cannot creep up or burn your fish in the way stated, our article ends that concern for you.

you might want to test for alk, calcium and pH though that way you can monitor usage when corals kick in growth, but even those tests arent needed until you get a few hundred in growing corals.

its important to know theres a dividing line between cycling and already cycled, your rocks were cycled years and years ago somewhere else, we can see from pics.

NCMamacita · Jul 28, 2020

brandon429 said:
The microbiology of reef tank cycling.

You can skip your cycle. Ive been reefing online for twenty years and have never waited one second for a tank to cycle, because I buy rocks that are already cycled and move them home. Here's two: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/octo-high-end-sps-skip-cycle-build.713256/...

www.reef2reef.com

Ok that should work

Thank you so much! I found the link you posted earlier and just finished reading it. it was very helpful!