So my tank has been cycling for a week and a day. I'm down to 0 ammonia and my nitrates and nitrites are coming up. I did the dead shrimp method so there are no fish in my tank. Thing is I am already getting brown discoloration on my rock. I started with dry rock. Is it diatoms and if so how soon should I add a cleaner crew? What about a refugium I have a tank drilled and plummed for it I just need the macro and when should I start running it? I also have a phosbane reactor when should I get that sucker going. I know I'm going to get a water peramiters ? I haven't tested today and I'm in the military so it'll be this evening before I can test. Also the tank is a 35 gallon deep sea rimless. Sump is 13 gallons and the fuge will add 5.
Any advice welcome
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Give the diatoms some time to resolve. Any members of the cuc in the snail department are going to need some film algae to eat. The tank is too young for snails and they are not going to offer much help with regard to diatoms. I would run the fuge now, the new equipment is going to contribute to the diatom bloom so you might well hook it up. If you do not have a phosphate issue then I would not start the reactor. If you started with dry rock and no seeding then at a week the tank still has some time to go. New tanks, and equipment introduce silicates which the diatoms feed off, so start the fuge, you do not need to have macros in to start it.
Diatoms will look kind of like brown snot slim. Your tank is pretty new so it takes a while to cycle.only thing to do is be patient this is part of the process of cycling. Only thing happens fast in this hobby is usually disaster so taking time and doing your home work on what u want to stock in your take finding out what can go together and can't and what demands they have will take a while.rt now I would just be patient for the cycle ,there are chemicals they say can help cycle tanks but I have no experience with them.
Lots to respond to here, the cycle will take at least 6 to 8 weeks the way your doing it and may even get a mini cycle when you finally add fish, but not really anything to worry about.
Quarantine your fish from the start and you'll get 20 years out of whatever fish you buy.
How long are you keeping lights on? Getting brown this early my guess is 12 hrs + per day or even on all the time. Limiting to a max of 8 hours per day will limit any algae growth. Hold off on CUC until your cycle is done. Macro you can begin anytime.
Just a suggestion, if you can swap your sump and refugium... The bigger the refugium the better you'll benefit. The sump only needs to just fit whatever equipment you need in there.
Quarantine your fish from the start and you'll get 20 years out of whatever fish you buy.
How long are you keeping lights on? Getting brown this early my guess is 12 hrs + per day or even on all the time. Limiting to a max of 8 hours per day will limit any algae growth. Hold off on CUC until your cycle is done. Macro you can begin anytime.
Just a suggestion, if you can swap your sump and refugium... The bigger the refugium the better you'll benefit. The sump only needs to just fit whatever equipment you need in there.
Do you have a protein skimmer? Are you running it? Now is a good time to adjust the water level for that....you don't want to be dealing with that when the tank is stocked...I would say not to keep it running, but a good time to get started....some take awhile to break-in and get adjusted to properly skim.
As said above, no need to run media through the reactor yet, but get it plumbed/mounted the way you want now as well.
As for qt-ing fish, I cannot stress enough on how important this is. You do not need a fancy set-up at all...read the stickies on setting up a quarantine tank and the supreme guide to starting an aquarium here's on Reef2reef. They are great, informative reads.
One last thing, never stop asking questions, patience is key in this hobby above all else IMO....if something comes up, post it here....lots of people who genuinely want to help and the knowledge available on this site is beyond comprehension.
As said above, no need to run media through the reactor yet, but get it plumbed/mounted the way you want now as well.
As for qt-ing fish, I cannot stress enough on how important this is. You do not need a fancy set-up at all...read the stickies on setting up a quarantine tank and the supreme guide to starting an aquarium here's on Reef2reef. They are great, informative reads.
One last thing, never stop asking questions, patience is key in this hobby above all else IMO....if something comes up, post it here....lots of people who genuinely want to help and the knowledge available on this site is beyond comprehension.
I am running a protein skimmer. The lights only 6 times a day. The water rock and sand are young but the tank is a two year old used set up as well as all the equipment. Thanks for all the help. I've been in the hobby for 5 years. I've had canister filters bio ball sump crashed a tank and gave up on one when I pcsd. This is the first time I've had the set up I've wanted. Led lights, wave makers, auto top off, 4 stage rodi. I just want to be sure I'm doing it right. And if the refugeium feeds on the diatoms I wanted to be sure to hook that up this weekend.
