New at this and confused

[drstratton]

This is a continuation of what KJ posted:

Intermission: You are not done yet! You may have cultivated a nice crop of groovy bacteria and your water may be clean as can be, but, there are still 3 more stages to the cycle process before you can start your stocking. Take this time to consume all of which you have already done. The next 3 stages often put fear into the eyes of many newcomers. These are perfectly natural and are partially a representation of how the earth became an oxygen rich planet. Before there was any oxygen breathing organisms, there was the evolution of Cyanobacteria. This is a photosynthetic bacteria that creates Oxygen as a byproduct. There are several colors, but the commonality is that it is like a slime. The Cyanobacteria spread over a vast area and the atmosphere became oxygen rich like we breath today, without the smog. Cyanobacteria is responsible for life as we know it. The same applies to the reef. Now that your mind has been blown you may move on to the next stage of the cycle.

Pre-Algae Cycle:

If your lights have not been setup yet do so now. Set your timers as you would for a reef tank. Anywhere from 6-12 hours is a good amount of time. Set the photoperiod to be on during the hours you will be viewing the tank most. If you work 2nd shift it is OK to have the lights come on after you get home from work or when you wake up in the morning. As long as there is not a supply of sunlight near the tank you wont have a long term battle with algae.

Stage 4: Diatoms

diatom algae image via reef2reef member Steven R

Diatoms are a brown dusty life form that consumes silicates. There is no avoiding Diatoms during their initial bloom. Leave it be. Let it go crazy. Before you know it, the brown stuff will soon start to change colors. Generally red, this is the start of the next stage!

Stage 5: Cyanobacteria

cyanobacteria image via reef2reef member murfman

Cyanobacteria will now begin its course. Again you will let the slime just do its thing. This will be the nastiest of the stages. Cyanobacteria can gross some people out, especially if they catch a whiff of it. It is best to leave it be. It will start to clear up eventually. The clearing of the slime makes way for yet another stage.

Stage 6: Green/Brown algae

hair algae image via reef2reef member johnmaloney

If you have made it this far, give yourself a round of applause. This is the final “battle” of the cycle process. When the slime is gone you will see your first signs of plant life, algae! Green Hair algae is usually the type that you see, but some other types have been known to occur. This stuff will grow like mad. At this point you are ready to move on to the next phase.

The cycle is a long process in terms of hobbies. Find yourself a good rhythm for testing. Get yourself in the habit of staring for long periods of time. Practice observation by watching as life forms start taking foot in the aquarium. You will see things from dust sized particles to worms that reach a foot long. There really is no telling what could form in your tank. This is a great time to prepare for the animals you will get. Knowing how to describe things and being able to correctly test the water will help you get the information you need. Your parameters are perfect now. You are now ready to move on to the next section. You should actually study the next section during your cycle, since you will have quite a bit of time on your hands with all that waiting.

Cycles can be artificially induced, but it is always preferred to use as little foreign liquids as possible. Another thing you can do during the cycle is preparing your clean up crew and first fish, but be prepared to keep them quarantined for a prolonged time since the cycle is unpredictable.

 

[drstratton]

This talks about when to add a clean up crew:

At the point where one can see that the algae is about to bloom, as in you can see it start to form on the various surfaces of the tank. I find this is a good point to do a massive water change, what I suggest to people is to take out as much water as you can (without exposing the LR) and while blowing the rock and sand surface (you do this to remove dead and decaying material). This will allow you to remove allot of the available material in the water column and detritus one the rock and sand. This will make that pendulum swing a little less and thus a shorter period.

When can I add livestock, corals, etc. So when can you add critters??? Once the bacteria cycle has completed and you have followed it with testing you should see no measureable levels of ammonia, nitrite and very low levels of nitrates. So this is the point where you can add some critters to your system (prior to algae cycle if you wish), so some fish that tend to be hardy, snails, worms and so on (make sure you research how hardy the critters are). I prefer folks to stay away from corals at this point because the tank is still pretty unstable, nutrient wise and a good algae bloom can smother a coral pretty quick, but if you feel you absolutely have to stick to some of the very hardy soft corals like leathers and similar.

The Moron Cycle So now you are in the zone of looking for complete balance, no big swings in nutrients, temp, pH, or any of the elements that make up the salt water itself. Look at it like a Zen type of thing. Now this brings us to one of the final types of cycle that all reefers go through (some for years and years). I like to call this cycle the moron cycle. The moron cycle is when the reefer goes through a period of perpetual tinkering. The need to change heaters, add or change a skimmer, lighting upgrades and all the other things we do that has an effect on the nutrients and chemistry in the tank. Although this cycle sometimes never ends its best to see that your system has a gone through a period of time (I suggest at least 6 months) where all the parameters stay flat line. So no big swings in pH, temp, nitrates, calcium, mag, alk and so on. At this point (as long as you have the proper lighting and such) you should be able to jump into the more difficult critters to keep, such as fish harder corals and even sps.

I hope this helps!!!

 

[Reefrookie220]

Buy an auto top off unit, like the tunez osmolator. That replaces evaporation and helps keep salinity constant, also I don't recommend buying water at your store. Look at a rodi unit like bulk reef supply or air water and ice.

 

[Chris DeLaro]

When you go to reefcleaners.com they have packages geared toward the size of tank. You can buy snail & crab packages or just snails. You don't want to add anything to the tank until you know your parameters and the tank is completely cycled! I have another article to add on to the one KJ listed. I'll find it and post it!

I received such BAD info, my tank has been up two weeks today and all they have told me to do is use my hydrometer and make sure it is 1.021-1.023, nothing about checking any other levels of ANYTHING. and after 3 days they said it is ok to add some "starter" fish. So they SOLD me 3 green chromis, 3 yellow tails and after a week 2 clowns. I lost 2 yellow tails and they said that would be normal during the time you are cycling your tank. Also I need to add water to my tank due to evaporation, do I need to prepare water before I add it and what type of water or can you buy prepared water that would go strait into my tank?

 

[tj w]

You only need to add fresh rodi water when topping off due to evaporation. The salt doesnt evaporate thats why you top off with fresh water. Be sure it is rodi water and not tap water.

 

[drstratton]

I received such BAD info, my tank has been up two weeks today and all they have told me to do is use my hydrometer and make sure it is 1.021-1.023, nothing about checking any other levels of ANYTHING. and after 3 days they said it is ok to add some "starter" fish. So they SOLD me 3 green chromis, 3 yellow tails and after a week 2 clowns. I lost 2 yellow tails and they said that would be normal during the time you are cycling your tank. Also I need to add water to my tank due to evaporation, do I need to prepare water before I add it and what type of water or can you buy prepared water that would go strait into my tank?

The best thing to do is to buy an RO/DI unit like reefrookie220 said and make your own water. I wouldn't go back to the fish store, they're giving you horrible advice and selling you fish just to make money. If any of your fish survive it will be a miracle. Your salinity should be 1.024 to 1.026. I keep mine at 1.025.

 

[cmcoker]

Your salinity should be 1.024 to 1.026. I keep mine at 1.025.

Agree on need for rodi unit.
And salinity should be higher, but I would not jack around with that right now.. Unless you get rid of the fish, I would return them to the LFS if possible.
If not just keep the salinity where it is, let the tank cycle, monitor ammonia, water changes to keep ammonia low enough for the fish and once ammonia is under control then you can raise the salinity.

Increasing salinity is stressful on the fish if done too fast, just raise it about 0.002 over the course of a day.

Also if you keep the fish, get a Seachem ammonia badge and some Prime to have on hand, it can reduce ammonia in a pinch but I wouldn't rely on it in place of water changes.

 

[Isaac Alves]

This is a great thread. I've learned so much from your troubles Chris. Hope it goes well.