Cycling new tank

Chorse Momma · Apr 18, 2013

I have had my 60g running now x2wks. Since then, the tank chemistry has me baffled. I had re-used some of my old rock that I had. Some of it was dried but the bulk of it was in a trash can with water in it, pump and heater. So here are the results of week 1: pH 8.2, Ammonia 0.50, Nitrite 1.0, Nitrates 15 and phosphates 0.5. Test today- (week2)- pH-8.1, Ammonia 0.125, Nitrite 0.25, Nitrate 5, Phosphate 0.25-.5, KH 7 and calcium 540. I have an LED light (Pharos) and a sump that is about 15g of water. There is some brown algae (or diatoms??) on the rock(not too much) and the same appearance on the sand. It seems to be in the area where the light falls on the bottom of the sand. I thought I would've had a bit higher ammonia spike?

revsgirl · Apr 18, 2013

Bump

Chasing the Dream Giver, not the dream! Tonya

Davinci · Apr 18, 2013

No, you used old rock so there is not much amonia there to start with. The point of the cycling is to have enough bacteria there to balance the ammonia production. now we can cycle pretty fast because we can use products like microbacter. I would say gve it another week or 2 and you should be fine. Remember to add your fish slowly. they are the ones that produce the big amonia.

Chorse Momma · Apr 18, 2013

I was fortunate enuf to have cats that had visited the sump to use the sand that is there.

Adrock · Apr 18, 2013

the test results sound about right since most of the rock was in water the dry/dead rock probably gave you enough ammonia to help start the cycle just remember add animals slowly and not all at once and you should be good let you bio load grow slowly

Reefing Madness · Apr 18, 2013

Everything sounds good. Its curing or cycling if you will. And you are correct about the diatoms, they will collect most where the light hits first.

Chorse Momma · Apr 19, 2013

I do have some brown hair-like algae on the rock with the brownish/yellow discoloration. It looks like ittle plugs of the algae here and there. I just got some macro for the main tank and a good load of chaeto for the sump. I have a spray bar on the tank return line that is powered by Mag9 for good water turnover.