Cycling and not on a bicycle :-)

[splashed]

Hey guys, gotta question. I have had sw for a few years, but recently moved across country, sold all my stock and not starting from scratch. Everytime before when I setup, I used SW from my friends and lr and ls. This time I have to cycle and I feel like a newbie. I setup about a month ago. Put in ls and live rock and mixed some salt water. About 2 weeks ago my tank started producing tons of brownish orange algea now it is covering everything. The books I have said this is supposed to happen, to not clean it, to just test my water and see if it is ok. Are my tests supposed to come back like normal? Or do I look for certain stuff? And I dont want to start with Damsels, cuz they are hell to catch. So, I want to be 100% sure before proceeding. Any suggestions?
Thanks a million!

 

[toughguy80]

Sounds like your cycle is coming along normally. Just wait for your ammonia and nitrites to reach zero on your test kits and nitrates to get to a steady "safer" level, I've heard 20 on test kit is a safe enough level but others might be able to confirm this. Ideally you'd want all levels at 0 but that doesn't always happen.

 

[splashed]

So the levels will drop by themselves? I don't do a water change before testing?

 

[beaslbob]

I highly recommend you add plant life you like to starve the browns and greens. macros like caulerpa profilera and brillo pad are good choices. And you may also want to protect those with a refugium as the future fish will eat them.
For cycling I recommend mollies. a single male at first. and just don't feed him for a week. He will find food by cleaning the tank during that week. Even clean any scum off the top of the water. They are cheap, readily available and extremely hardy.

 

[schneidts]

Originally posted by beaslbob
For cycling I recommend mollies. a single male at first. and just don't feed him for a week. He will find food by cleaning the tank during that week. Even clean any scum off the top of the water. They are cheap, readily available and extremely hardy.
Why put a fish through that much stress, when you can just use a raw cocktail shrimp??

 

[nacl-man]

Well it sounds like you've got the cycle pretty much going good on its own. Just wait until your levels '0' out and follow jw's advice:
Originally posted by jwtrojan44
The levels will drop on their own. Once the nitrates level off, you can do a 25% water change and your ready for some stock.
and you should be g2g.
How much LR did you get to start with and what type(s) of filtration & water movement are you using? /END STANDARD QUESTION SET

 

[beaslbob]

Originally posted by schneidts
Why put a fish through that much stress, when you can just use a raw cocktail shrimp??
because the shrimp will create a cloudy smelly mess.
And you have to do the above anyway.
Again the fish is not starving or under any more stress than if a shrimp had been used. I had never had nitrItes remain non 0 for more than 4 days. And never lost a fish with that method. In fact I used 5 mollies in my 55g with males and females. They were active, eating, having ---, and having babies during that week. Us humans should live so well. :thinking:

 

[schneidts]

Originally posted by beaslbob
because the shrimp will create a cloudy smelly mess.
And you have to do the above anyway.
Again the fish is not starving or under any more stress than if a shrimp had been used.
I don't follow you here. If a raw shrimp is used, then no fish are in the tank. Anyway, the shrimp, in my opinion, creates a much stronger cycle, in turn, producing much higher bacteria populations. And no animals are harmed in the making of your tank.

 

[schneidts]

Originally posted by beaslbob
They were active, eating, having ---, and having babies during that week. Us humans should live so well. :thinking:
Sounds pretty good. All that's missing is the wine and song.

 

[splashed]

Thank you guys, youve helped ease my worries.
BTW, I only started off with 12lbs of lr, Im going to order 25 more from our hosts here in about a week, just saving up some $$$

 

[nacl-man]

Good deal! The rock here is top notch!
Good Luck

 

[diddley]

splashed - follow trojan's advice, it's sound.
don't worry about bob's advice, he shovels that stuff to anyone who'll listen, especially newbies.
bob- he doesn't need a molly or anything else for that matter, he cycled the tank with the live rock.