Where's my uglies??

SallyWho · Nov 2, 2018

I've had my tank set up for a couple of months now. It sounds kind of counter intuitive, but I'm a little weirded out that I have no algae, cyano, diatoms, or ANYTHING. I'd have thought that there'd be something growing by now. There's only one fish, two hermits, and one snail in this 120g (added a metric butt ton of pods, though), but I overfeed like crazy. No filter socks, and only occasionally turning on my skimmer. My intention was to get the tank a little dirty so that stuff would grow for my cuc to eat, but no dice. It might be insufficient lighting? I haven't got my canopy built yet, so in the meantime I'm using some uber-cheap clearance LEDs from Petsmart ($13 apiece!) with simple whites and blues. I know I'll probably look back on this time with fondness, but right now I'm just wondering how much longer I'm going to have to supplement junk for the cuc so they don't starve in my pristine new tank! And oddly enough, even with overfeeding and under filtering, my nitrites, nitrates, and ammonia are all good! So, uh, when is it supposed to get ugly?

ihavecrabs · Nov 2, 2018

It will once conditions are right for algae and diatoms to grow.

Doesn't usually take much though.. even the cheap lights should do it! What are your nitrates and phosphates at currently?

SallyWho · Nov 2, 2018

ihavecrabs said:
It will once conditions are right for algae and diatoms to grow.

Doesn't usually take much though.. even the cheap lights should do it! What are your nitrates and phosphates at currently?

Two days ago, nitrates were 20. I haven't broken out my phosphate test kit yet, but will do so later tonight! Zero ammonia, though.

jrill · Nov 2, 2018

It's coming...

Sailingeric · Nov 2, 2018

I was like you, thought I dodged a bullet, then it happened, cyano. It took a few months to get rid of it but since then I have been the clear, until about a week ago when I started getting a little red on sand again. I had been feeding heavier and now I have cut back and it seems to be going away.

TessGlo · Nov 2, 2018

Algae, cyano, dinos, they will come for a visit at some point, its reefer baptism.

You have a fairly large water volume and few critters, your baptism will come once you have added more critters and their nutrients.

SallyWho · Nov 2, 2018

jrill said:
It's coming...

I can only hope! I purposefully didn't get a large cuc because I didn't want to starve them. But even with only a few, I'm still having to feed the little guys!

TessGlo said:
Algae, cyano, dinos, they will come for a visit at some point, its reefer baptism.

You have a fairly large water volume and few critters, your baptism will come once you have added more critters and their nutrients.

So I just need to wait until it's better stocked? Okay, guess I'll go get some more fish!