Couple questions on my first reef tank

[Mlarson]

Hello all, I've started 125 gallon tank. I used live sand and dry rock and started the cycle process about 5 weeks ago. About a week and a half ago I used bottled coralline algae to seed the tank. I haven't seen any yet but I read it can take a couple weeks before it pops up so here are my questions.

1. I want to start up my quarantine tank so I can get a couple clown fish to get the whole thing started. As you can see from the picture I have a bag of media that has been hanging in the tank from the beginning that I plan to put in the filter of my QT tank.....should that make it cycled and ready to go or will it need some more time? The QT tank is a 20 gallon. I also planned to fill the tank with water directly from the display tank.

2. I cycled the tank using pure ammonia.....I haven't done any water changes yet but I'm starting to see some of the live sand turn brown on the surface....Should I do a water change or should I wait until after I've seen the coralline algae start to pop up before I do so?

 

[Doctorgori]

You shouldn’t have to do a water change already. Might be faster just adding a pest free rock or object with the coraline on it already.
For the QT might end up being easier just adding DrTimms or similar

 

[Kryptonian]

Bottled coralline can take up to two months to start showing though normally shows signs within 2-3 weeks. The spores are in there, they'll just develop at their own rate.

1. The bagged media, once your tank is fully established, will cycle your QT. The media normally needs to sit in a fully established tank for a few weeks to gain enough bacteria. I'm not sure your tank has been established long enough to fully seed the bag but for a small 20g with a couple of clowns, you might be ready.

Water doesn't bring any beneficial bacteria so bringing water to your qt doesn't really matter. New water might have a better balance of nutrients anyway.

2. The brown is a good sign. Diatoms are part of an ugly phase and are symptoms of you either ending or coming close to the end of your cycle. Changing water won't really affect diatoms this early.

If you added the coralline over a week ago, water changes won't affect the spores. They're already attached to your rock. If you're running a skimmer, those remove bacteria from the water column anyway. That's why normally says to turn off skimmer for a day or two when adding bacteria or coralline.

 

[Mlarson]

Bottled coralline can take up to two months to start showing though normally shows signs within 2-3 weeks. The spores are in there, they'll just develop at their own rate.

1. The bagged media, once your tank is fully established, will cycle your QT. The media normally needs to sit in a fully established tank for a few weeks to gain enough bacteria. I'm not sure your tank has been established long enough to fully seed the bag but for a small 20g with a couple of clowns, you might be ready.

Water doesn't bring any beneficial bacteria so bringing water to your qt doesn't really matter. New water might have a better balance of nutrients anyway.

2. The brown is a good sign. Diatoms are part of an ugly phase and are symptoms of you either ending or coming close to the end of your cycle. Changing water won't really affect diatoms this early.

If you added the coralline over a week ago, water changes won't affect the spores. They're already attached to your rock. If you're running a skimmer, those remove bacteria from the water column anyway. That's why normally says to turn off skimmer for a day or two when adding bacteria or coralline.

Thanks, I was only going to use water from the display tank in the QT because I had read that it makes an easier adjustment for the fish when they are moved over....is that not correct?
If I add ammonia to make it 2 parts that number will be back down to 0 in about 2 days....is that not fully cycled or should I give it another week or two?

 

[Kryptonian]

Thanks, I was only going to use water from the display tank in the QT because I had read that it makes an easier adjustment for the fish when they are moved over....is that not correct?
If I add ammonia to make it 2 parts that number will be back down to 0 in about 2 days....is that not fully cycled or should I give it another week or two?

If you're doing a full quarantine, qt water to display water will depend a lot more on how you maintain the water than what water you start with. Full quarantine procedures often last a month or more. Either way works, I just didn't want you to have any other expectation of water other than the fact that it's water. i.e. no bacteria or other stuff like that.

Sounds cycled to me. If you're processing out ammonia and nitrite quickly enough, you're all set.