How long before first algae bloom

Aquarium has been up two weeks and a day. Parameters all look good except Nitrates are a little high at 10ppm - first water change scheduled for today and I don't have any carbon in the flow yet. The skimmer is removing gunk since I added the fish and started feeding them, but nothing really heavy.

If my memory is correct, I had an algae bloom after the first week with my Nano. So far Zero algae. I have my first two fish in and they seem to be doing fine - been there for a week. I did add extra equipment in the Phosban filter and UV filter, but I expected something at the end of two weeks.

 

Wow, this going to be a long post.
A cycle period can last up to 12 weeks, which you should not do any water changes at this time. 10ppm is not a high reading. Anything above 100ppm is considered high. You shouldnt have bought any fish yet b/c you havent finished with your cycle yet, they have a good chance of dying.


luna

 

NH3 - 0

Cycled the rock before putting it in tank (6 weeks) where I treated it for flat worms and other nasty critters. Then I freeze dried (literally set it out to dry in cold temperatures) for a week. I had such bad critters with the last aquarium that I wanted to start with cleaner rock.

 

I don't understand how you cycled your LR by "freeze-drying" it outside. Once you take out the LR out of the water, it is not "live rock" anymore. Which means you have to "re-seed" the LR, which means you have to go through a cycle.


luna

 

Sorry - Didn't state the sequence properly - Did the freeze dry and then placed the rock in vats with heat and circulating water for six weeks. There was a period of about two hours from the water where I did my aquascaping when it was once again out of the water.

 

Well....you are going too fast already. Two fish at this point is one too many. I am a believer in the one fish cycling process. One fish. Two to three months. If you have two damsels, then I would leave them in. If they are anything else, I would return them to the LFS and get one damsel to cycle the tank.

Turn off the skimmer.....you don't need it right now. Also, the Phosban reactor I would turn off for the time being. PO4 is toxic to corals but not so bad for fish. Save your money. Also, I would run just actinics to minimize algae growth. Just for the cycling period.

Minimize your feeding as well. Three times a week will keep most fish alive. Damsels for sure. If you have anthias, tangs or wrasses, they require a bit more feeding (especially anthias), but you should not be anywhere close to putting any of these fish in. Three times per week and one damsel.

Your rock is dead as of now and re-seeding as we speak (as Luna pointed out). And unless you nuke the rock, the life will find a way to wait out the cold. Not all, but some. There are things you can do to get rid of the pests when they rear their ugly heads, but, again, you are not close to worrying about that right now. I tend to buy fish that look good AND have a purpose, whether it to be controlling flatworms, bristleworms, etc, etc......

ITO the cycle, just test every other or every third day and mark things down. Ammonia spike first, then nitrite, then nitrate. As one goes down the next will increase. The last, nitrate, will dip a bit, then start rising again. This is the time you can consider yourself cycled. After the second rise of nitrate. Now.....every cycle is different, but you should have a standard one because you introduced base rock instead of live rock.

Then.....only add one fish every two weeks or so. The biology of the tank changes with additions. You will always set off a new cycle with additions....the trick is to do it in such a way that it doesn't go way out of whack. With the addition of waste is the requirement of the system to provide more bacteria (through growth in your substrate/rock) to handle the added nitrogen compounds. If you go too fast, you can end up with another three month cycle to deal with....I know, I rushed it once. OK....twice

So GO SLOW. BE PATIENT. The time will fly by and before you know it, you will have a thriving tank with all sorts of good life in it. If you rush, you will still get there.....but it will cost you extra money and more time. Simple as that really.

Later dude!!!!!

 

BTW, great size tank. I am a big fan of the 48x18 footprint. I have a 90g myself. Same footprint...just an added six inches on top.......

Do you have a sump?

 

Thank you, this is what I meant by "a long post". If your LR was out of water for 2 hrs, thats a long time. Good luck my friend.


luna

 

Yes - I have a sump refugium combo. Nothing in the fuge but some sand and rock rubble.

 

Feel free to delete this thread if you think it will generate too much traffic.