First Water Test Results....hmmmm....

[canarygirl]

Hi all,
I'm new here and I have a one-week old marine tank, 40 gallons with 40 lbs of live cured Figi-type rock (allegedly cured, anyway). One of these rocks came with some pink lichen-like stuff on it, the size of a silver dollar, and several reddish-brown, palm-tree looking plants on it. These are .5-1" tall, with segmented "trunks." I forget what the lfs guy called them...
Over the past couple of days I've noticed some new flora on the rocks--I've got a bit of hair algae starting to grow, and what looks like a patch of red slime algae too. The sides of the tank have developed horizontal striations of some other kind of algae too.
Today I did my first tests of ammonia, NO2, and NO3. Everything came out zero. It kind of surprised me as I was expecting one of these to be elevated. I don't suppose it's possible that my tank could have completed a cylce aleady? After only 1 week??
I'm a bit worried about the algae getting out of control and want to bring in a clean-up crew as soon as it's safe to do that. In the meantime, I will reduce the amount of light--I was turning on a 20W "Aqualight" florescent bulb for 10-12 hrs a day...the box says it "encourages plant growth." (I have a different light fixture for when I introduce corals/inverts.)
That's about it...oh, the salinity is 1.021. The tap water in my area does not have stuff in it that requires the use of phosphate-remover or RO water, according to the lfs staff. Tap water is fine to use.
Do you think I should continue to watch and wait, or should I introduce some cleaners at this time? :notsure:
Thanks for your help!

 

[fbm]

Very few people use tap water with no problems. Use if you must, but when you start to develop uncontrollable algea problems this is most likely the cause.
You sg is kind of low if you are wanting to have inverts. Should be up to around 1.025-1.026.
Now to your original question, if the live rock was cured then it is possible you will never see a cycle at all. To check it add some food to the tank and check in 24 to 48 hours. If nothing has changed then I would say that you are good to go. If you see a ammonia spike then you just started a cycle.

 

[the gift]

WELCOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The pink lichen is called corraline its great stuff read up on it...
You might want to bring up your sg to around 1.023-1.025...
Keep your photoperiod down during the cycle at around 6 hours.
Also have you started the cycle with anything have you seen anything spike?

 

[the gift]

dang fbm beat me to it...ha

 

[f14peter]

Originally Posted by Canarygirl
The tap water in my area does not have stuff in it that requires the use of phosphate-remover or RO water, according to the lfs staff. Tap water is fine to use.
Um, I beg to differ . . . do you know what's in your tap water? No seriously, tap water can vary significantly from area to area (even within a relatively small area such as city limits) and can contain a wide variety of elements. The water source itself, the means of storage and transport, any additives mandated by the governing municipality . . . all can affect what tap water contains.
One thing you'll quickly learn is that advice from the LFS can sometimes be of dubious value, and even outright wrong.
I highly doubt you've cycled in a week. I suspect that there hasn't been anything in the tank to really kick the ammonia up. There are a variety of ways to initiate an ammonia spike . . . adding a raw shrimp, food, etc.

 

[canarygirl]

Thanks for the welcome and feedback.

About the tap water...I followed the lfs guy's advice because I'm ignorant/dependent at this point. I live in the Seattle area and he said our tap water is so clean here that people don't need to worry about using it. You may be right, though.
To answer the other question, today was my first test and I have done nothing to encourage a cyle. Rationale borrowed from the lfs guy, who said it would be a waste of money to start testing right away....that as long as my salinity is fine that is okay for the moment, and "One morning you will wake up and your tank will be covered with brown stuff. When that hapens come back and get your cleanup crew. It maybe a week, it may be 2 or 3 weeks before this happens...." So I proceeded this way for 7 days before I decided I wanted to know what was going on with the amonia, NO2 & NO3.
I am gradually tweaking the salinity to bring it up to 1.024, I'm just not there yet.

 

[fender]

Hi and welcome to SWF!!!!
I am not going to probably tell you what you want to hear but it is truth none the less....
1.) Tap water is debatable. I have used it but don't recommend it. It may have copper which will kill inverts or high nitrates that contribute to algae growth. Phosphates are hard to detect as it comes in different compounds and not all kits measure the same way.
2.) The cured LR may be why you don't have a "cycle" yet. I would go grab an uncooked shrimp from your local market and leave it in the tank for a few days and then check your ammonia.
3.) If you are having algae problems now with nothing in the tank but LR and water... see point #1. The algae may be soaking up the nitrates so there is none free floating.
4.) Bring up your SG to 1.024. No real reason to be at 1.021 - your clean up crew (when you get it) will be happier there.
Oh and welcome again. Things may be a little rough at the beginning and difficult to handle patiently but if you read and take things slow this hobby is the best!!!!!
EDIT: I am slow

 

[canarygirl]

Ok, so based on what everyone's said I think I should do a copper test of my aquarium before introducing anything into it.
Is there any reason not to add a phosphate remover at this point? Can I hurt anything if by doing this if there are no actual phosphates in the water? Should I do a 20% water change already with RO water?

 

[fbm]

I don't believe in adding anything just because. I wouldn't use phosphate
remover, save your money for other things.
No reason not to do a 20 percent change now with RO water, but it isn't needed. You can wait.
I forgot about copper in tap water, I filled mine with tap water and i couldn't keep my inverts alive. I believe, though I never tested, that it was do to copper in my tap water. I would run carbon in your system for 3 days then more carbon for 3 more days. Just to remove the metals that are in your tap water. Just my opinion. This you don't have to do either but I would test for copper for sure.

 

[canarygirl]

Thanks everybody for your help. Next steps: test for copper, test the cycling with raw seafood. I'll post back with how it went.

 

[goblin]

Welcome to the board and hobby.
Here is a link to a thread on tap water verses RO/DI water.
Click here

 

[canarygirl]

Hi again,
Here's an update, 48 hrs after adding 1/4 of a raw scallop to my tank (about the same amount of meat as a coctail shrimp).
After 24 hrs, I measured ammonia (only). It had come up slightly and I estimated the value to be ~.1 based on the color.
After 48 hrs, I measured again and got these results:
ammonia = ~.1, same as previous day
nitrite = 0
nitrate = 5
So there was a little bit of a reaction, but nothing big. What do these results suggest about the cycle-status of my tank? Should I leave the raw scallop in there any longer or take it out?
Thanks....

 

[hot883]

So I guess I missed something. Why are you testing for copper?
TAP water should not be used at all.
If you bought the live rock locally then it will not have die off on it.
If you shipped in the live rock it will help cycle the tank.
Cycle will take 4-6 weeks. DO NOT rush this part. here is where you make all the money. PATIENCE. You want and need a good cycle so when you start to add things there will be enough bacteria in the system to control the toxins.
Welcome to the boards BTW. Barry

 

[canarygirl]

Barry,
I thought I should test for copper because I already filled my tank with tap water (per the strong advice given by the guy at my lfs). I was prepared to use RO/DI water and he told me not to bother that it was a waste of money in this area because the water here (supposedly) doesn't need it.
That being said, I will always use RO/DI water from here on for water changes and top offs.
The LR I bought was from this same store, not shipped to me directly. I did not rinse it before putting it in the tank (per instructions). I was told that the LR was cured. I tested the water values after one week to see what was happening and ammonia, NO2 and NO3 were all zero. Then 2-3 people on this thread suggested that I instigate a cycle by adding raw seafood. So I did.