Cycling with old filter media - can I avoid algae bloom?

[cbleehk]

Hi all,

I've had a small 20G for almost 2 years now and have just gotten a 150G up and running. I just filled it up with water last night and decided to bring several pieces of cotton that I saved from the 20G and put them over at the 150. I also brought over about 5lbs of rocks that I placed in the filter of my 20G (they were there for 2 weeks). I added a vial of Biodigest & some MB7, carbon dosed with around 5ml of vinegar.

Now, this morning I started reading 2.5ppm of nitrate. I'm trying to get my hands onto some Nitrite test kit to see if it will eventually settle over the week. I'll be patient here, but thinking ahead, I'm wondering if I could avoid the onset of the algae bloom at all and what are the ways if so?

Some action items I have in mind:
1) get a algae scrubber or grow some chaeto in the sump so it will grow there instead of on the rocks
2) dim the lights on the display
3) keep bringing old cottons and combine with MB7 & carbon dosing VSV eventually to grow more bacteria
4) once I see ammonia & nitrites goes nil, I'll add fish for the bio source

What I'm wondering is the effectiveness of each of the above and if I'm taking the right steps?
Because I have beautiful white rocks, I'd love to avoid seeing them go brown and green.


Thanks and appreciate any pointers.

 

[cbleehk]

And here’s a picture of my tank this morning.

 

[lapin]

If you want white rocks dont add water to your tank. Just a cover to keep the dust off. ))) Another option is to add bleach like in a swimming pool. The problem with these options is that nothing will live in the tank. Im afraid you will have brown, green and some red on your rocks. Less light, good bacteria, amphipods and an algae scrubber will help keep it under control. New white rocks are nice. Take some pictures so you can look back and say "wow, look how clean my new tank was".
enjoy your new tank

 

[Katrina71]

I think it's gonna happen no matter, you might be able to minimize it...

 

[cbleehk]

Thanks for pointing out. I guess if it’s unavoidable then I’d rather have coralline on them.

And I think I would try to get an algae scrubber if it helps.

Is it possible to grow coralline algae faster than the others types?

 

[Katrina71]

I had coralline quickly. Just pick cuc with it on their shells. Get an empty shell with it and scrape your rocks.

 

[cbleehk]

Thanks Katrina. I was searching on YouTube and someone made a “coralline smoothie” by scraping old rock and blending it with calcium and magnesium. Do you think this helps?

Does any of the products like Purple Up help? If I keep the parameters well, I’m assume they don’t.

 

[cbleehk]

So I started putting in fish food and two diced shrimps. It’s been around 3 days since I started. I don’t think I’m recording any nitrites and only very little ammonia. Using the salifert under bright lights it’s basically a clear white fog but slightly yellow when it’s not as bright. So I’m not quite sure why ammonia is not taking off.

I’ve been dosing MB7 20ml and VSV 16ml everyday. And nitrates did went up to 2.5ppm and came back down last two days to 1ppm and today 0 ppm. There is a small film of bacteria on the glass so it could mean the rock surfaces have been seeded. Am I right?

I’m pretty sure it’s not done cycling since I had dry rocks 80lbs and sand 80lbs and it’s only been a week. So my question is how many more shrimps should I put in? I already put two and 5 cubes of food so far.

I did have old filter media and around 5 lbs of old rocks in the sump to start with.

I’m just not quite sure how much food converts to how much ammonia for a 180G total water system.

I have 15lbs of live rocks, few liters of siporax from a running tank that I want to bring over. But I’m worried it’s too early. When should I bring them over? Since it’s supposed to help cycle also.