Does the cycle ever end...ps are we sure about the brown stuff

[New&no clue]

Hi All, I’m new to the saltwater aquarium world, and by new I mean 3 weeks and 3 days. I have a 55 gallon tank with 40lbs of live rock, 10 pounds of live sand, 15 hermit crabs, 14 snails (1 disappeared), a peppermint shrimp, and a heavily debated bristle worm or fire worm (the jury is still out). I’ve tested my water once to twice a week and currently my levels are at

PH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrite:0
Nitrate: 10

I’ve read a bunch of article, watched the YouTube videos, talked to my local pet store fish people, but what is my end goal here? Am I waiting for the Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate to all be zero and then I can add fish in?

My second questions is I have brown algae, and everything I’ve read has said that brown algae is very common when first cycling a tank and it happens when the Nitrates are increasing. My questions is it never really explains what to do about it. Will it go away on it own as the nitrates drop back to zero, or do I need to add more to my CUC?

 

[Westoncase]

End goal should be 0 ammonia 0 nitrite and low nitrates. At least that’s the way it was explained to me. Test the water before you add it to the tank to make sure your ammonia is right. The water I buy from my lfs reads at .2 ammonia when it’s actually 0. So when I test my tank water and it reads .2 ammonia I know it’s at 0. I use read sea tests. Every new tank has brown diatom algae. It just has to run its course. It should eventually go away. Within the first few months you’ll see all sorts of algae. Just gotta keep your parameters in check.

 

[BadFish619]

0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, a small reading of nitrate. That means your beneficial bacteria is indeed converting ammonia into nitrite into nitrate. The brown algae will go away. It doesn't happen overnight. Give it a few more weeks or even a couple months

 

[FishyFish]

Are you using API test kits by chance? They tend to show .25 ammonia all the time which is why I ask. I'm definitely not an expert but if your nitrite is 0 and your inverts are doing well it seems odd that you still have ammonia. But to answer your question yes, you want nitrite and ammonia to be 0 always but you do want to have some nitrates.

 

[brandon429]

your tank is cycled or the animals would be dead overnite, the test is misreading as above.

a changing, growing daily reading would be an issue, not what the debated zero is.

manually clean out any new invaders, or risk a total takeover. Invasion is independent from cycling, you're done there. The new invaders that take over a tank are best hand guided out, with water changes, siphoning and rock cleaning.

 

[New&no clue]

Yes, I use API saltwater and I’m not a big fan of it, is there better test to use, something that might be easier to read

 

[New&no clue]

Also what is considered “low nitrate”

 

[BadFish619]

Also what is considered “low nitrate”

If you're keeping fish only you can get away with a slightly higher reading. Mine is at about .20 right now. The problem with api is it reads total ammonia. So you'll likely always get a false positive. I use it and I'm always at .25. To combat this I bought a seachem ammonia badge for $7 that alerts me if my level ever rises

 

[Sabellafella]

Hi All, I’m new to the saltwater aquarium world, and by new I mean 3 weeks and 3 days. I have a 55 gallon tank with 40lbs of live rock, 10 pounds of live sand, 15 hermit crabs, 14 snails (1 disappeared), a peppermint shrimp, and a heavily debated bristle worm or fire worm (the jury is still out). I’ve tested my water once to twice a week and currently my levels are at

PH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrite:0
Nitrate: 10

I’ve read a bunch of article, watched the YouTube videos, talked to my local pet store fish people, but what is my end goal here? Am I waiting for the Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate to all be zero and then I can add fish in?

My second questions is I have brown algae, and everything I’ve read has said that brown algae is very common when first cycling a tank and it happens when the Nitrates are increasing. My questions is it never really explains what to do about it. Will it go away on it own as the nitrates drop back to zero, or do I need to add more to my CUC?

Welcome! Agree with everything above, plus you started with live rock so you should be absolutely fine with adding fish at this point. Until your tank reaches equilibrium between ph, feeding,fish stock, routine,coralline algae(basically all around maturity) you may be susceptible to some nasty forms of algae. Just need a healthy amount of algae eating aquatic life to keep your tank fresh.

Low nitrate is 0. Optimal would be anywhere from 1 to 10ppm. Dont loose your head on it, just need to get a hang on a proper routine, and feedings.

 

[FishyFish]

Yes, I use API saltwater and I’m not a big fan of it, is there better test to use, something that might be easier to read

I use Salifert and have been very happy with them. Other people recommend Red Sea a lot and Hanna checkers are definitely the easiest to read but much more expensive. You could also ask your LFS to test your water if you want a second opinion until you're able to pick up a different test kit. You don't have to buy all the tests at first, you can start with just PH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.

I'm not sure exactly what nitrate number to aim for, it probably depends on your system. Personally I'd be happy with 10-20. Having 0 nitrate can cause a different set of problems. Mine got really low a while back and unfortunately I lost a few snails before I figured it out.