Cycling question?

[solarbearusa]

Ok, I have had live rocl in the tank for 11 days now, I have tested a few times and ammonia was around .25 and trites and trates have remained zero. My live rock is almost completely covered in brownish red algae now and it is also all over the sand bed. There are a few places on the live rock where the brown algae looks king of stringy/hairy....
I tested again tonight and ammonia is zero and trites and trates still zero. Have I even started to cycle?

 

[mr_x]

are you running light over the tank? there is no need to.
you should have a decent amount of flow in the tank as well.
if you had ammonia of .25, then there was some die off.

 

[geoj]

You are fine, what type of top off water are you using and what is your Phosphate number?

 

[aquaguy24]

how big is ur tank..wat kind of rock and sand did u add..if it was all live ur cycle is problably done..how often did u test..wait another week and keep testing if it still zero add a very small clean up crew and see how that goes.

 

[solarbearusa]

thanks for the help. I dont think I have a phosphate test in my test kit. I used tap water with the dechlorinator and instant ocean mix. I plan on using RO for water changes.
The Tank is 72g's, I have only tested it about 3 times but never did see any nitrites or nitrates so didnt figure it had cycled. I put live sand in originally and it was in there about a week before the live rock (75 lbs worth) was put in. I have been running my light cycle because I thought it would promote coroline algae growth. Is that not the case?

 

[mr_x]

coralline is going to come and go throughout the cycle. personally, i'd leave the lights off until after the cycle is over, and the bacteria has matured. coralline won't grow where the other algae is anyway. you'll have to get rid of that first.

 

[geoj]

“brownish red algae now and it is also all over the sand bed”
This algae should go away as you use RO top off and water changes.