man will it get any better

OK i thought my tank was done cycling. I have been testing it i have the cards to match color so it's tough to get an exact reading. Well this Saturday my wife and i go to the lfs all excited some fish for the empty tank lol i take a water sample to them just to double check. they said that my ammonia is high . With my test kit is was showing <.3. so to make a long story short no Fish. Also i have a problem with hair algae so i was talking to the Lady she suggested a peppermint shrimp. Well i have been doing some reading about them it doesn't say they eat hair algae? If so what should i get. I will be getting a new test kit. This week

 

If your tank is still cycling you can not introduce anything to deal with the hair algae just yet. But almost nothing will eat the long hair algae. I would recommend pulling as much out by hand as you can. Then once your tank is ready get a clean up crew. Clean up crews consist of a combination or different snails and hermit crabs (Crabs optional). This will control algae growth as long as water quality is good

J

 

Hey seabass
You did a good thing not buying a fish.
Looks like you doing the right thing, TAKING IT SLOW!!
Soon enough, you gonna be able, Like Jason said, to build up your cleaning crew so they can maintain the tank. But let that time come, dont make it come!

 

yes will do so could this mean that my test kit is old being that thier is a difference between my readings and the lfs reading . so what is a good test kit.

 

Ok seabass, I went through the exact same thing as you are going through. I used to use the red sea test...waste. I then changed over to amarican pharmaceutical tests as the red sea said everything was a ok, NOT. So once I changed the test kits I knew what was really going on in my tank. I like them, easy to use, affordable, and the company is great to deal with. You want to stay away from hagen and red sea kits as both are notorious for being crap.
I know salifert and seachem are great but they are expensive and soon enough you really won't be testing for ammonia and nitrites, I now only test once a month for those.

I had a tiny bit of hair algae on one of my rocks and when I got a yellow tang it was gone in a week. Sorry but none of my shrimps ate hair algae.

Be patient, go slow, and try to remove the hair algae by hand.

 

The algae is all part of the process we are now cycling a 180 and it was algae all over the top of the rocks strains floating up 2 inches or more all over the rocks we started to cycle this one at the end of August.. I just added the snails this weekend and they have about munched the algae up.. It will be a another month before i really get started on the stocking of it.. Still have to finish the lighting yet just VHO's actinic on it now. and a few fish.. that where kind of forced on me to save about 2 weeks into the cycle they made the initial cycling.. I think they will be fine now at this stage into the cycling.. As for ammonia and nitrites in there i never test for that I allow the time needed to let them fall out .. But as a rule of thumb about 8 weeks in is a good time to add the snails and clean up guys IMO..

 

cool thanks guys i feel better now that i know it's not only me that has gone through this type of stuff. like i said i will get a different type of test kit> My tank has been cycling 5 weeks now . so my peppermint shrimp as told by my lfs that he ate algae and he doesn't being i have him in the tank already what does he eat?

 

I'd not listen to your lfs' advice anymore if he told you that shrimp eat algae. As for what the peppermint shrimp will eat, just plain old flake food is fine.

 

I've never had to worry about feeding anything special to my peppermints...the savages grab whatever I put in the tank and give my fish a run for it.
I'd becareful putting a shrimp in the tank too soon. I think I've read that they're particularly sensitive to water quality in new tanks...

 

lol thanks am starting to believe that i have to find another lfs lol