Clean the crap off the sand during cycling

[planereefer]

Ok, so I have about 50# of LR and roughly 60# of LS from an established tank. They also came with a few turbos and a conch who have been eating the GHA that cropped up non-stop. Well this is generating a lot of snail crap and since I'm about 10 days or so into my cycle, with about .25 - .5ppm of Ammonia and 0 Nitrates and Nitrites. I'm wondering if I should clean up the snail poop or if I leave it, will it help my cycle?

 

[Steviereefs]

Just keep monitoring the ammonia level it probably shouldn't go much higher than that. I would not disturb the sand cleaning the poop up. Just be patient and monitor for a couple of weeks, it should drop sooner than that time frame. The other thing is if something die and you can remove them easily I would probably do so to relieve any other source of ammonia.

 

[planereefer]

How long have you been up and running for?

10 days

 

[Steviereefs]

Sorry about that I read it over again but I sent the response to quick

 

[Steviereefs]

Another thing is you should do a weekly 5 gallon water change every week.

 

[planereefer]

I agree with the weekly 5gal WC, but what about the stuff on the sandbed? Should I take a gravel vac to it?

 

[Steviereefs]

, I would leave it because the live bacteria and other organisms in the sand bed will work at the waste helping the cycle along further and increasing their numbers and the number of organism that process ammonia and once those organisms establish better then your ammonia level should come right down, so just keep monitoring the ammonia levels, after ammonia is gone test for nitrites, if nitrites are zero that is good,next test for nitrates, when the nitrates are low - o then your tank has cycled well.

 

[Steviereefs]

Can you take a nice clear picture over the sand bed with all the tank light on so we can see how severe the poop is?

 

[planereefer]

Lights are off now, I will get a picture up tomorrow when they come on.

 

[Steviereefs]

Sounds good because someone else or I can at least can help even better. Provided a nice clear pic.

 

[Dr. Reef Verified Sponsor]

10 days into the cycle its a bit early for anything. i would keep an eye on ammonia nitrites and nitrates. i would be surprised if those snail survive the cycle. to keep GHA at bay kill the lights during the cycle. no need for it. it will only promote algae. let the cycle go through normally with no water changes and if u can run gfo/biopelltes that will help in keeping nitrates and phos down the fuel for algae.

 

[islander84]

The more ammonia the more bacteria will be produced, so leaving stuff for the cycling period is fine while trying to establish a stron bacteria population. Also try not to do too many water changes because everytime you do a water change during your cycling period all your doing is removing bacteria in the water column causing your cycle to take longer

 

[planereefer]

Here are the pictures I was able to grab today.

I'm going to get my water tested tomorrow to see what my parameters really are.

 

[Trex]

Doing a water change during the cycle will NOT remove much (( if any )) bacteria, since there is little to no bacteria in the water column -- the bacteria live on/in the rocks and sand.
If you have snails and what not that you want to live, I would do some water changes to limit the ammonia levels.
I have always done water changes during the cycle -- spent good money for the life on my live rock, and want to preserve as much of that life as possible.

As for the bacteria levels with and without water changes, here is a good chart that "greenbean" made years ago. The man knows what he is talking about -- pretty much his career.