Am I doing something wrong? No Algae

[S.Pepper]

My system has been up and running for 7 weeks--I currently have no livestock. It cycled in 2 weeks. I was expecting to go thru the uglies, but to date, my system is totally clear. I used Dr. Tim's and after it cycled I used a bottle of Coraline Algae from Arc Reef. I also put a bottle of IO Bio-Spira a couple weeks ago.

I have 25-30lbs of dry rock and about 25lbs of live sand in my Waterbox Marine 60.2. I'm using Tropic Marin Pro Reef salt.

I added my protein skimmer 1 week ago and have been running my Avast Marine Spyglass reactor with Rox .8 carbon for 3 days.

My current parameters are (all done with Red Sea testing): I tested 4 days ago and have since done a 10% water change yesterday.

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0.5
Nitrate: 10
Salinity: 35ppt
PH: 8
Alk: 7.2
Calc: 440
Mag: 1400
Phosphate: .04

Did i do something wrong or am i just lucky? I would like to add a couple of fish soon, but want to make sure i have as much together as i can. Thx.

 

[Auquanut]

Are you running your lights yet? What's your photo period? I think a couple of fish should be fine, but I wouldn't add too much CUC til you start to see algae.

 

[moz71]

Since you do have nitrite I say it is not fully cycled yet. It should be 0.

 

[moz71]

also sometimes things like algae do t have a set clock and all of a sudden appear. You make all of a sudden see something pop up tomorrow or next week. Myself I never really got the extreme ugliness just some stuff on Sand and that took forever to disappear. Looks like you are doing tho ha right

 

[Mical]

Stand back, it's coming...

 

[CasaReefer]

My system has been up and running for 7 weeks--I currently have no livestock. It cycled in 2 weeks. I was expecting to go thru the uglies, but to date, my system is totally clear. I used Dr. Tim's and after it cycled I used a bottle of Coraline Algae from Arc Reef. I also put a bottle of IO Bio-Spira a couple weeks ago.

I have 25-30lbs of dry rock and about 25lbs of live sand in my Waterbox Marine 60.2. I'm using Tropic Marin Pro Reef salt.

I added my protein skimmer 1 week ago and have been running my Avast Marine Spyglass reactor with Rox .8 carbon for 3 days.

My current parameters are (all done with Red Sea testing): I tested 4 days ago and have since done a 10% water change yesterday.

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0.5
Nitrate: 10
Salinity: 35ppt
PH: 8
Alk: 7.2
Calc: 440
Mag: 1400
Phosphate: .04

Did i do something wrong or am i just lucky? I would like to add a couple of fish soon, but want to make sure i have as much together as i can. Thx.
Better Knock on some wood... quick...

 

[CasaReefer]

Better Knock on some Wood... Quick Like...

 

[S.Pepper]

Are you running your lights yet? What's your photo period? I think a couple of fish should be fine, but I wouldn't add too much CUC til you start to see algae.

Only on a very limited basis--basically to look at the tank and the shimmer. Thx.

 

[S.Pepper]

Stand back, it's coming...

Thx. lol

 

[S.Pepper]

Since you do have nitrite I say it is not fully cycled yet. It should be 0.

I have followed what Brandon had to say in this regard; however, my nitrite has been at zero.

 

[X-37B]

Once you add fish and start feeding it will appear.

 

[S.Pepper]

Once you add fish and start feeding it will appear.

Thx. I'm ordering tomorrow. A small blue spot/toby puffer and a yellow watchman goby.

 

[P-Dub]

posted this in your build thread...
I would be suspicious that that would be possible to be completely cycled in two weeks. I would, If I were you, let it run another week at the very least and add a small bit of flake/pellet food. If you have been running your protein skimmer during the cycling process this would starve your bacteria colonies that you are trying to establish by stripping nutrients. To give you perspective, I let my rock cure in vats for just under 4 months. After 6 weeks I added my CUC and did a water change of 50%. Every couple of days I would add the smallest pinch of food to keep the bacteria going and every two weeks 50% water changes. I did not do the bacteria in a bottle route and I know that this is a viable option to kick-start the cycling but nothing beats taking this slow. I have not had a single issue with nuisance algae, dyno or cyano outbreaks, ever. I did have a small turf algae patch after 8 months introduced by myself accidentally but used Vibrante and that kicked it no problem. I would make sure that the skimmer is off, feed the tank for a week or two and keep the lights off and add a CUC before or just after adding fish. Test often with high-quality test kits and move forward slower than you think you need to. Love the aquascape BTW!

 

[S.Pepper]

Ammonia: 0; Nitrite: 0; Nitrate: 5. After consultation from my friends here at R2R, I decided against the toby puffer and got a pair of bullet hole clowns. All of my water parameters still look great. I guess with feeding and fish, i'll finally get that algae. We'll see.

 

[old salt reefer]

Thx. I'm ordering tomorrow. A small blue spot/toby puffer and a yellow watchman goby.

I like your choice in fish. Can you post a picture when they come?

 

[S.Pepper]

I like your choice in fish. Can you post a picture when they come?

Thx. I'm holding off on the toby puffer for now. I bought a pair of bullet hole clowns from Pacific East Aquaculture that i'm picking up on saturday. After that, i plan on getting a wrasse and the yellow watchman goby. My fifth and final fish for this tank will be? I'm still considering the toby puffer, but we'll see.

Here's the pair of bullet hole clowns i got. I'm really not into naming fish, but i thought Bonnie & Clyde would work for this pair. ;Smuggrin

 

[stanleo]

Only on a very limited basis--basically to look at the tank and the shimmer. Thx.

I think this is why you haven't much of an algae outbreak. Once you start running them enough for the coral, and with the level of nitrate you have in the tank, you are going to have a bloom.