cycle time

[tom reilly]

My tank is approx 130 gals. With 20 long sump. Going for twenty days now and have decomposed two large shrimp along the way.
100 lbs live sand and 135 lbs dry rock. Seeded with one live rock from LFS.
Have seen no spike in ammonia or nitrites. Yesterdays testing came up with 50 PPM Nitrates. Have brown algae that comes and goes and tiny tufts of green hair algae starting to appear.
Any ideas what up? This is not the pattern I was expecting.

 

[reeferfoxx]

GHA os the first sign of plant life. I would say, perform water changes to get nitrates down to 10 or lower and start adding clean up crew. Your cycle is about finished

 

[tom reilly]

Thanks, thats great to hear. Tired of watching shrimp rot.

 

[reeferfoxx]

Thanks, thats great to hear. Tired of watching shrimp rot.

Oh, I didn't realize you still had shrimp in the tank. Definitely remove the shrimp and let the hair algae run it's course. Perform a 20% water change and your nitrates should reduce significantly. Maybe even get a fish or two in addition to the clean up crew to keep the beneficial bacteria thriving.

 

[LakeCityReefs]

Oh, I didn't realize you still had shrimp in the tank. Definitely remove the shrimp and let the hair algae run it's course. Perform a 20% water change and your nitrates should reduce significantly. Maybe even get a fish or two in addition to the clean up crew to keep the beneficial bacteria thriving.

Definitely add a fish. You need an ammonia source in order to keep your beneficial bacteria going.

 

[tom reilly]

great. will order a clean up crew. will set up a qt tank and order pair of clowns.