Cycling my 75g Parameter?'s

[drstratton]

So, I've had 3 shrimp rotting away in my tank for 10 days. Here are my test results!
API - Ammonia: 1.0
API - Nitrate: 10
Hannah Checker - Phosphate: .44

I need a new Nitrite test, so I wasn't able to test for that.

I am seeing some nice spots of green algae growing in my tank. I think the reason that I am seeing Nitrate and Phosphate so soon is because, I probably didn't get the sand in my sump completely rinsed. So it must still have some good bacteria growing in there!

Since I am showing Nitrates and have such a high Phosphate reading do you think that I should go ahead and put some Chaeto into my sump?

Thank you!

 

[drstratton]

I'm reposting this question in a different thread! Thanks!!!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'd hold off on the chaeto until ammonia cycling is dine since it may take up the ammonia and slow the cycle.

I'd probably take out two of the shrimp.

 

[drstratton]

Thank you for your time, I will do that. I started another thread in the beginners forum and added something that I didn't put in the above text. My tank is also producing coralline algae!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

In 10 days that seems unlikely. More likely is cyanobacteria, which can initially look like cyano being purplish in some cases.

 

[drstratton]

I didn't think about it being cyano. Here's a picture of what I have going on!

 

[brandon429]

I found this to be interesting as well, the sump you mentioned in the other thread is a great source but Im surprised it adhered as fast to the dry rock that was recently re cured

 

[drstratton]

Yeah, I would have never guessed cyano! Coralline would have been much cooler!

 

[brandon429]

can you try to rub it off to see

if this is indeed coralline also means there's a bed somewhere in your tank full of nitrifiers

if these are coralline it starts a trail of events that leads up to predictable biology and that's neat. if you didn't have a sump id be mind=blown

 

[drstratton]

Is there a way to know definitively if it's cyano & not Coralline, besides the time line? Can Cyano be blown off the rocks?

 

[drstratton]

Missed your request to rub it off. I'll go try.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Yes, coralline can't rub off and cyano will.

Are you sure the purple wasn't there already? 10 days would be super fast to get coralline spots that large from spores.

 

[drstratton]

It definitely won't rub off and I'm 99% certain it wasn't there when I placed the rock back into the tank! I started noticing a few spots and now I'm seeing a bunch more! I looked back at some tank shots that I took, but when I try to zoom in I just can't tell for sure. Wouldn't the muriatic acid that I soaked it in have bleached it out? It sat in the acid for several days!

 

[brandon429]

were those rocks for sure not there after the bleaching?

Ive noticed that its possible to retain pigment from expired coralline on some of the live rock I have tossed in junk drawers, but if you said these rocks were formerly white after the bleach and then these came on scene that's a biological outlier, not common and doesn't follow the normal timeframes
this kind of clue hunting is fun.

 

[drstratton]

Like I said, I'm 99% certain that the spots were not visible, but I could be wrong about that! I was working pretty hard to get everything cleaned up and put back together so I could start cycling my tank! I do remember looking at the rock and wondering how long it would be before the coralline would start to grow again. Do you think that it was there and it's just slowly coloring back up? If that makes any sense! I didn't even have all of that rock in my tank when I had it running 4 years ago. Some of it has been sitting outside for the last 5-1/2 years. I placed everything in the muriatic acid, even the rock that was outside. Here's a picture of what my tank looked like when I had it running before!

 

[drstratton]

I just thought of something, I've actually had water in my tank since about September 21st, if that makes any difference. I didn't get the shrimp in until October 1st!

 

[brandon429]

I feel we have to always leave room for outliers and just accept some befuddlement. mostly things in reefing are predictable and I like to make posts challenging that, at least you have a preferable organism who is hard to beat lol usually its just bryopsis not responding to our treatments as an ex of a poor outcome outlier lol. I like the fact that the natural world wont bend to all whims and prognostication posts. I would have literally lost money betting anywhere here they could spot coralline on white base rock within that time, Im glad you did not ask me for a bet and on that note if anyone ever does im decline heh

 

[drstratton]

I think I'll take more closeups, so that I can have a frame of reference. Wish I had done that before.

 

[drstratton]

My ammonia has been @ 0ppm for a week now. Nitrites were @ 2ppm and Nitrates @ 20ppm a week ago. I blew a light dusting of brown algae off of my rocks tonight and cleaned some off of my glass. The raw shrimp that I placed in the tank is still there but deteriorating very quickly. Should I wait until all of my parameters are at zero to do an ammonia test or can I go ahead and do that now?

Thank you!

My parameters:
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite .50ppm
Nitrate 10ppm
Phosphates .19ppm

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'd take the shrimp out as the tank seems cycled from an ammonia standpoint.