JeffG93 April 7, 2008 Share April 7, 2008 Hey all, new member here. New to hobby, been keeping freshwater about 10 years. I've got a 29 Gallon tank up and running. 7 Days ago I added partially cured live rock and 2" of live sand along the bottom. I started running the lights 7 hours a day, increasing an hour a day up to 11. Tested the water day 2, 4 & 7. Salinity: 1.24 Ammonia: 0ppm Nitrites: 0ppm Nitrates: 20, 30, 10 ppm The nitrates are the only thing that has fluctuated in the last 7 days. I also noticed a red-brown algae bloom over the top of the live rock on day 4, which has slowly grown. My questions are: Is the algae a normal part of the cycle? Or am I running my lights too much (2 x 55 watt T5 power compacts, both bulbs are 50/50 bulbs, half 10,000K and half Actinic) ? Is it possible the tank has cycled? The rock smelled 'fishy' when I bought it, so I have to assume not, however I am surprised I haven't seen an ammonia/nitrite spike, unless I missed it in between tests. I plan I waiting at least 8 or 9 more days before adding the cleaning crew anyway - I was just wondering! Thanks for the help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaironman April 7, 2008 Share April 7, 2008 Your tank has not finished the water cycle yet. Minimum is two weeks to get the bacteria going to build up and cycle your tank water. The red algae/cyano starts now and depending on the load of waste in your rock, plust water flow in and out of the wet/dry filtering system (assuming you have one) and what kind of skimmer do you have also. Can you give us more equipments setup for this 29G tank, skimmer (which brand), how many powerheads and types, sump setup configuration if any, etc... The more info. the better for everybody to make an educated guess on it. HTH, KLee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffG93 April 7, 2008 Author Share April 7, 2008 Thanks for the help: I've purchased a starter kit, a Red Sea Max, details here: http://www.redseamax.com/redseamax/Red_Sea_MAX_specs.html It has a 'Professional turbo protein skimmer driven by a 1,200 lph/320 gph pump' 3 total powerheads, (2 x 145 gph) & 1 Hydor Koralia 2 (600 gph) I'm not using any carbon right now. I've replaced the 'bio balls' with live rock rubble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaironman April 7, 2008 Share April 7, 2008 Nice tank. Let's wait another week and test the water again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffG93 April 7, 2008 Author Share April 7, 2008 Nice tank. Let's wait another week and test the water again. Sounds great, thanks for the help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason the filter freak April 7, 2008 Share April 7, 2008 Its normal it'll calm down after a while, with good filtration and good flow it'll be gone after a while don't rush it looking good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanman April 19, 2008 Share April 19, 2008 I tend not to run my lights that long - and you have no real need for much lighting until you get some corals in there. I would cut back to 5-7 hours a day until you need them - it will save you some algae cleanups. bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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