Am I ready for a clean up crew?

Hi everyone. I realize this answer could probably be found somewhere, but I like interacting with you smart people.

So... my tank is pretty much set up. I have a bunch of base rock, as well as 15lbs of live rock. (See picture below). The tank has been up and running for about 3 weeks now, and I'm pretty positive the cycle is, for the most part, over. I added a shrimp about 2 weeks ago, and let it mostly decay. The ammonia went sky high, and everything fell in place from there. No3, No2, and ammonia are all at zero today. My Ph is off, and my specific grav. needs some tweaking, but once those two are in place, where do I start adding livestock?

I would be perfectly content adding just a few hermits and a shrimp, or something like that, no fish yet. (I don't want to kill anything). But I had pretty much.... nothing for them to clean up? There is no algae in the tank yet... but I haven't started running my lights. (I ordered a coralife lunar aqualight - 2x 65w [one actinic])

My question is this:

Do I turn on the lights when I get them in 2 days, and let them run until I have algae blossoms, then put in a clean up crew? Or can I just fire up the lights, throw in some hardy bottom feeders, and give them stuff to eat?

Thanks

Brett

 

I would be running the lights and getting some algae forming in the tank.

Do you have anything eating away at nitrates? Seems odd they'd be reading zero after a cycle. 3 weeks would also be a pretty quick cycle.

Pac

 

Turn on the lights when you get them and then order a clean up crew. Keep checking your nitrates they may bounce on you.

 

So I realize it must be strange that my nitrates are at Zero... I just did a double check. I tested my tank water in one vile, vs tap water in another. My test strip color isn't very different between the 0 and 5.0. Having compared the two, I now see that my nitrates are at 5.0ppm. And yeah, 3 weeks does seem fast compared to what I read... The lights get in on Wednesday, so I'll fire em up and give it another few days before I add anything.

 

You’re using a “test strip”?

 

My brain is not functioning correctly today.

I meant the card that you hold the vile up to, to see what value the color corresponds to.

 

Good, because I was about to fill a pillow case with some soap bars to beat some sense in to you ala FMJ style.

I'm a proponent of using lights during the cycle. I like to let that "nuisance" algae go because whether or not you use lights during or after the cycle they still will most likely appear for a period of time. Adding a CUC will really test your system and clean it up. If your system doesn't spike with the the massive amount of poo that snails can put out, you're good to add your first fish.

Good luck and be patient.

 

if you think youre finished cycling , as has been said here , fire up thse lights and get the algae growing. add some CUC and see how that all goes. let them go to work for a week or 2 , and if your water is still reading zeroes , add a hardy fish . if your CUC and fish survive the next couple weeks, think about adding another. these are all my opinion. i wish you the best of luck. take it slow, and dont rush things.

guy