Algae growth at END of cycle?

so my tank has only been running for 4 or 5 days now, and i'm already seeing algae growth, the lights have been turned on like twice just to test n see if that was going to raise the temp.

i was under the impression that u were supposed to see algae growth at the beginning of the END of the cycle...

some of this might give more ifo...

i've been adding microbacter7 everyday.
80lbs live reef sand
45lbs of very porous, very lightweight dry rock.
temp about 79.5-81.0
wavemaker running entire time.
HOB marineland filter running
fluval 406 running
skimmer running from time to time.

dead shrimp added first day.

but i never saw a high enough ammonia spike.

is it possible that the ammonia spiked and lowered within the 24hrs between testing?

i've heard of tanks cycling within a few days before, but only when seeded live rock was used...

opinions?

 

I'm doubting that the cycle was that quick Billy. I might suggest that you leave your skimmer off during the cycle. Are you running any media in the canister or HOB?

 

I agree if you had used liverock to cycle then it could have cycled that quick but the shrimp method normally takes longer, As far as algea it's really not a good indicator of the cycle ending at all, I have had algea blooms in the second week of a cycle right when the Nitrite phase started and the nitrite phase is the longest part of the cycle so it wasn't anywhere near being over, Iv also had algea blooms show up well after the cycle was complete so it's really not a good indicator at all, And I agree with fish keeper I would leave the skimmer off during the cycle.

 

While I believe it is entirely possible, given that you started with a large amount of live sand and have been adding a bacterial supplement, I'm going to be cautious enough to not tell you that you're ready for livestock...

Keep your lights off and make it as dark as possible for the tank. As already mentioned, turn off the skimmer and remove chemical media from your HOB. Stop adding the Microbacter and start ghost feeding. When you see Nitrate climbing and your Ammonia and Nitrite are zero, then you're good to go.

 

Oh did you use real live sand?

 

ok, i'll leave the skimmer off.
no media in the HOB, just the filter pad as of right now.

as far as the canister, it's a fluval 406, i'm running it with what it came with,
the first level is the foam pads,
the second are the rock-ish type things for bacteria to grow on,
the third n forth levels have 2 bags of carbon each (4 total)

 

lights off... does this mean even the 4 LED moon lights?

stop adding microbacter n ghost feed.... the bottle says to add it everyday for the first two weeks for a new tank... shouldn't i keep adding it for the two weeks?

my ammonia has stalled out at 0.50
nitrite is showing up,
and nitrate too actually, but just barely.

 

I would remove the carbon at this point billy.....that may work against the cycle...

 

I would follow the microbacter directions for a new tank. I'm curious why Mr. Bill suggested to stop adding it?? that you're seeing nitrite show up is a good thing.

 

really? i didn't know that.

would i be able to save it and use it again if it dries out?