my new tank

[d00kie]

Ok i have been letting my water cycle in my tank now for about 3 weeks, nothing in it just bare glass. Going to order live rock soon to put in it. I was on vacation and i come back and i have brown algae starting. How can this be? It used to be a freshwater tank but i cleaned it all out. Just wondering what you think this is, is this tank cycling with out stuff in it?

 

[broomer5]

Well without the introduction of ammonia, either from fish waste, live rock die off or using the cocktail shrimp method .. I really wouldn't say your tank is cycling with just saltwater in it. Ya gotta get the nitrogen cycle started with something.
You are most likely just seeing the diatoms starting to grow.
Brian

 

[cchung718]

you probably need to cycle the tank again after you get your live rock. Are you using raw shrimp for cycling? What type of filter do you have? If you have a w/d filter and are using raw shrimp, you probably could get away with it. But if you're not, you need a source of ammonia. Secondly, I don't think there's anything that bacteria can live on.

 

[d00kie]

Yeah im not using anything to cycle i just think it is the diatoms, I was just letting my water age because im going to cycle with live rock when i buy it, which is going to be a little bit yet since it cost so much.