No ugly stage yet?

[Auphoenix43]

Hi everyone. I have a 65 gallon AIO that has been up and running for 4.5 weeks doing a fishless cycle. My ammonia can be dosed to 2 PPM and is processed in 24 hours. My nitrites are holding steady at 2 ppm and nitrates fluctuate between 40 and 80 according to the API tests. Salinity holds at 1.026 and PH at 8.0. I am not running lights. I haven’t had any brown algae or anything yet. Am I doing something wrong? The cycle doesn’t seem stalled but I haven’t had an ugly phase yet. The water has been cloudy so I am guessing that’s free floating bacteria as part of the cycle. Any advice?
Thanks

 

[lapin]

The lights will bring life. You are not doing anything wrong. Dry rock im guessing. Not sure what the cloud is. You can prob run some carbon and see if that helps clean the water.

 

[Rtaylor]

Dry rock takes a really long time.

 

[Koh23]

Without light, you cant have any phase

 

[Lavey29]

Lights out to start is a good way to minimize your ugly phase. About the 4 month mark add corals and turn lights on then you will have your ugly phase but it will be manageable. Keep adding bacteria to build biodiversity.

 

[Rollman]

It will get ugly

 

[Auphoenix43]

Lights out to start is a good way to minimize your ugly phase. About the 4 month mark add corals and turn lights on then you will have your ugly phase but it will be manageable. Keep adding bacteria to build biodiversity.

Thanks everyone. Will do

 

[Freenow54]

Hi everyone. I have a 65 gallon AIO that has been up and running for 4.5 weeks doing a fishless cycle. My ammonia can be dosed to 2 PPM and is processed in 24 hours. My nitrites are holding steady at 2 ppm and nitrates fluctuate between 40 and 80 according to the API tests. Salinity holds at 1.026 and PH at 8.0. I am not running lights. I haven’t had any brown algae or anything yet. Am I doing something wrong? The cycle doesn’t seem stalled but I haven’t had an ugly phase yet. The water has been cloudy so I am guessing that’s free floating bacteria as part of the cycle. Any advice?
Thanks

I cycled mine the same. All is good you will not or should not have an ugly stage yet. I waited 2 months before cycle complete. Your Nitrates are still very high to me. You have to get rid of that yourself filters water changes. You did not mention anything about a skimmer. I had one my Nitrites were zero at the end, and skimmer kept Nitrates to zero as well, no cloudiness in mine

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

are there fish in the tank yet? Once you start feeding regularly and fish start pooping regularly, the algae will come. If you are just dosing ammonia and nothing else and no lights, then there is no food for algae to grow.

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

are there fish in the tank yet? Once you start feeding regularly and fish start pooping regularly, the algae will come. If you are just dosing ammonia and nothing else and no lights, then there is no food for algae to grow.

Sorry to hijack OP's thread, but this is where I'm at now. I have had a pair of clowns in a recently fishless cycled tank for 2 weeks now. Lights on. Just noticed today I have dark green flat spots on my rocks (not "hairy" algae if that makes sense lol) and a little on sand... nothing on glass. I used CarobSea purple LifeRock so I didn't notice it til I looked closer. Would now be a good time to add a small CUC? Was thinking of picking up a cleaner shrimp and couple snails if so.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Hi everyone. I have a 65 gallon AIO that has been up and running for 4.5 weeks doing a fishless cycle. My ammonia can be dosed to 2 PPM and is processed in 24 hours. My nitrites are holding steady at 2 ppm and nitrates fluctuate between 40 and 80 according to the API tests. Salinity holds at 1.026 and PH at 8.0. I am not running lights. I haven’t had any brown algae or anything yet. Am I doing something wrong? The cycle doesn’t seem stalled but I haven’t had an ugly phase yet. The water has been cloudy so I am guessing that’s free floating bacteria as part of the cycle. Any advice?
Thanks

With dry rock and bottled back I didn't really see anything ugly until 4-5 months.

Don't stress about it, just add some life to kick it off

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

Hi everyone. I have a 65 gallon AIO that has been up and running for 4.5 weeks doing a fishless cycle. My ammonia can be dosed to 2 PPM and is processed in 24 hours. My nitrites are holding steady at 2 ppm and nitrates fluctuate between 40 and 80 according to the API tests. Salinity holds at 1.026 and PH at 8.0. I am not running lights. I haven’t had any brown algae or anything yet. Am I doing something wrong? The cycle doesn’t seem stalled but I haven’t had an ugly phase yet. The water has been cloudy so I am guessing that’s free floating bacteria as part of the cycle. Any advice?
Thanks

I did a fishless cycle as well with lights off. It's been 2 weeks since adding 2 fish and lights on, and I am just now starting to see spots of algae.

 

[Jekyl]

Hi everyone. I have a 65 gallon AIO that has been up and running for 4.5 weeks doing a fishless cycle. My ammonia can be dosed to 2 PPM and is processed in 24 hours. My nitrites are holding steady at 2 ppm and nitrates fluctuate between 40 and 80 according to the API tests. Salinity holds at 1.026 and PH at 8.0. I am not running lights. I haven’t had any brown algae or anything yet. Am I doing something wrong? The cycle doesn’t seem stalled but I haven’t had an ugly phase yet. The water has been cloudy so I am guessing that’s free floating bacteria as part of the cycle. Any advice?
Thanks

My ugly phase didn't get in full swing until around 6 months.

 

[lapin]

Sorry to hijack OP's thread, but this is where I'm at now. I have had a pair of clowns in a recently fishless cycled tank for 2 weeks now. Lights on. Just noticed today I have dark green flat spots on my rocks (not "hairy" algae if that makes sense lol) and a little on sand... nothing on glass. I used CarobSea purple LifeRock so I didn't notice it til I looked closer. Would now be a good time to add a small CUC? Was thinking of picking up a cleaner shrimp and couple snails if so.

You can add the crew. I doubt the algae is a problem. They might not even like the algae. They might like the fish food better. I know the shrimp will. You can hand feed them once they know you.

 

[Lavey29]

Sorry to hijack OP's thread, but this is where I'm at now. I have had a pair of clowns in a recently fishless cycled tank for 2 weeks now. Lights on. Just noticed today I have dark green flat spots on my rocks (not "hairy" algae if that makes sense lol) and a little on sand... nothing on glass. I used CarobSea purple LifeRock so I didn't notice it til I looked closer. Would now be a good time to add a small CUC? Was thinking of picking up a cleaner shrimp and couple snails if so.

If your running light with no coral then the only thing that will grow is algae. Clean up crew can help but not stop it. That's why it's better lights off first 4 months then add corals. Fish don't need light. Your tank needs to develop biodiversity first or your ugly phase will be long and hard.

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

You can add the crew. I doubt the algae is a problem. They might not even like the algae. They might like the fish food better. I know the shrimp will. You can hand feed them once they know you.

Ok great! I have a quarantined pistol shrimp and ywg on order from Dr. Reef - from what I've read it sounds like it's ok to add cleaner shrimp with a pistol shrimp? Just picked up these little dudes ftom my LFS.

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

If your running light with no coral then the only thing that will grow is algae. Clean up crew can help but not stop it. That's why it's better lights off first 4 months then add corals. Fish don't need light. Your tank needs to develop biodiversity first or your ugly phase will be long and hard.

That is good to know, thank you. Will keep the lights down for a while. I figured the uglies were coming regardless.

 

[Jekyl]

That is good to know, thank you. Will keep the lights down for a while. I figured the uglies were coming regardless.

They are.

 

[Lavey29]

That is good to know, thank you. Will keep the lights down for a while. I figured the uglies were coming regardless.

Oh they are, no way to stop unless you used live rock but if you give your tank time to develop biodiversity and then add some easy starter corals when you turn the lights on the ugly phase will be very manageable for you.

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

Oh they are, no way to stop unless you used live rock but if you give your tank time to develop biodiversity and then add some easy starter corals when you turn the lights on the ugly phase will be very manageable for you.

Ok fingers crossed, lol! So the mushrooms I was going to get are on a live rock from an established tank... if I dip that will it kill off the good bacteria? I just don't knkw what pests could possibly be hiding on the coral and don't want them in my tank...