First Ever Reef Build - 55g

looking for some advice....today is 8 days since i added the 3 small pieces of live rock and a couple cups of sand from an established tank. Still no sign of algae growth and my tests are all showing zero still. Any suggestions? Has the cycle even started yet? TIA

 

Toss a little food in there daily for the next couple of days or toss a piece of raw shrimp in there.

 

Have you added something to spur on the cycle - I know a lot of people will add in a piece of table shrimp.....Did you add beneficial bacteria as part of your cycling? I don't think a tank can cycle without help in that quick of a period of time...

 

Ha! great minds think alike

 

I didnt add any beneficial bacteria and im kicking myself now...from what I read I thought the live rock/sand would take. What is my best option now?

A. Add flake goldfish food or a brine pellet (both of which I have with me),

B. Go buy some shrimp

C. Wait and buy a thing of commercial beneficial bacteria ???

D. Wait it out and let it go slow (going out of town for 2 weeks so dont mind so much, as long as it goes)

 

Go get some bio spira.....toss it in there. Get a piece of shrimp and toss it in for a couple of days and then remove.

 

This is an Astrea star I believe, and I am currently in a battle getting rid of about 50 of them in my tank. I believe I have them out now but they reproduce quickly. See the shorter legs? Those have been broken off to multiply into more and are regrowing.

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but this looks identical to the tiny Astrea stars in my tank. They are algea eaters and are harmless untill there are 100s of them and they try eating the bio film off your sps coral.

Good looking rock work though! Keep it up, it's addictive

 

yea the guy I got the live rock/sand from told me they come out at night and just eat the algae off his glass. He has had his reef tank going for 8 years or so and never said he had much of a problem (his tank was much larger than mine tho). He also told me there is another type that is more coral hungry. Hopefully I can keep them under control....as my first form of life I don't think I could get rid of them yet

 

It's not even that they try to eat the coral or harm them on purpose, they eat the bio film on the coral and eventually can kill it. This generally only happens on over population so just keep an eye out on them.

 

cool, good to know - Thanks