Setting up the tank question!

[hp0111]

Hi everyone. I bought a used tank around a month ago. The tank had some algae and smell before it was taken down.
I did clean everything and left the old rock outside of my house since then. However, I just set up the tank 3 days ago. I used live sand with the Fritz Turbo 900 and Fuel fishless, one of the old rock above and the new one out of the box. After one day I saw something look like some dead algae on the old rock and was questioning myself what should I do( the pic is attached below).
Parameters:
Nitrate : 46.6 ( Idk if that is normal for now, test in day 2)
Ammonia :4.5-5 based on the color I guess
Nitrite: 4.5

Is there any advices for what I should do next and expect in the next few days or weeks? Should I do a weekly water change to bring the Nitrate down?
Thank you for reading my post!

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Looks like the tank is still cycling, 3 days is nothing. I would wait another week or two for ammonia to drop to zero before taking any action. I normally let my tanks cycle 3 or 4 weeks before adding any livestock.

I don't see whats on your rock, but the tank should have some flow with a powerhead. Weird things grow in no-flow area's.

 

[Narideth]

Any old algae or like, dead critters from the rock sitting dry outside will have to decay off the rock if you don't remove it manually. I had to do this myself, I scrubbed off/picked off dead algae from rock I'd used before to try and keep too much from getting into the tank, but there's going to be some added ammonia from that breaking down.

The above comment is right, just let the tank keep cycling for a bit longer before you try to do anything about the nitrates, unless you want to try and get some of the dead algae out and it's easy to do. Your tank will eventually work through anything that's dead on the rocks but it might take a bit longer for your ammonia to go down.

 

[hp0111]

thank you yall for the advices. I’ve seen a lot of people saying that we need to dose ammonia to at least 2ppm for a few days during cycle. So do I have to do it as well since I only poured those 2 bottles I mentioned above and have not done anything else besides that?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

thank you yall for the advices. I’ve seen a lot of people saying that we need to dose ammonia to at least 2ppm for a few days during cycle. So do I have to do it as well since I only poured those 2 bottles I mentioned above and have not done anything else besides that?

I know that some folks do that, I've never done it. I just add ammonia in the beginning to start the cycle, then I wait.

Adding more ammonia doesn't make the tank cycle faster and it doesn't make more nitrifying bacteria grow, so I personally don't understand why add more ammonia.

 

[hp0111]

Good to know about it. As of today everything still looks the same except the nitrate goes higher to 75ppm. I’ll update my tank in a few more days if I see some changes.