pics of tank cycling for 3.5 weeks

OK here are some pics after tank has been cycling for 3.5 weeks my ammonia is at 0 my nitrites is lowering around .8 or so hard to tell with the cards. I have some brown stuff growing on tank glass i hope it those diatom that i have read about. I scraped the glass i had a white substance on it with a razor blade finally came off pain in the . So i hope by next week i can add some fish finally i hope lol. Also a pic of my sump and skimmer I put more br than lr due to the price difference and over time bs will become lr from what i have read and told by lfs.
Tony

 

Sweet, how big is that tank?? You will start to get all the algae blooms soon, and mybe some red slime will start. This stuff drives everyone crazy, but it will go away soon, and you will have a mature tank, or well that is how I see it. Good luck and keep the pics commin,

Michael

 

tank is done cycling

: : thanks the tank is 55 gal. i tested the water yesterday my ammonia is 0 my nitrite is at 0 well i have the cards to measure they are .3 or less. after a got the reading i was excited.My ph is 8.0 my kh is 7 I had a green hair algae bloom on 2 rock so i cleaned them with a toothbrush. I scraped the brown algae bloom off my tank not sure if it was a good thing.I don't have a nitrates test kit i will have one this weekend. when should i do the water change. i have hair algae on my sand.
Thanks
Tony

 

isnt your ph a lil low? ..

i have mine around 8.4

 

yes i believe i am using the tetra test kit so it's hard to get a accurute reading i have been adding seachem reef buffer to the tank once i get a better test kit i will be testing for alkalitiy that might be the case for it beeing low i will add alkalitiy to raise it if that's the problem

 

I'll let you in on a simple secret PH means nothing at all. to many variables with relying on Ph. for instance if your Ph was at 8.00 in the morning thats great but if it was a 8.0 oh say 9:00 Pm you have a problem.. As for cycling I know its difficult to not want to rush it.. I cycle mine the old school way and I never have tested for ammonia or nitrites in my life well not the last many yrs. I'd take that money wasted on the 2 kits and buy myself a good DKH and Calcium and magnesium kit.. If the DK is correct the PH has to be..

The Ph follows the DK not the other way around. Like a cars gas gage all that does is tell you a liquid is in the tank not what the liquid is could be water could be diesel could be anything but gas..You assume its gas and not something else in that gas like sugar. It happens you get the Ca and Dk and Mag to proper stable levels and the ammonias and nitrite will do what they do in their time and you can't rush or push it. they come and they go in a certain time frame.

 

What time of day is the Ph at 8.4 in your tank ? You using a monitor/meter or a test kit ?

 

Don't Do Water Changes Till After You Have Cycled. If You Do One Too Early You May Start The Cycle Again. I Read That The Best Way Of Removing Algae Is To Actually Remove It. Meaning Use A Brand New Cleaning Cloth, Wipe The Diatoms, Then Rinse The Cloth In A Bucket Of Ro Water, Redo. When You Remove Diatoms From The Glass Or Equipment It Will Then Be Free Swimming In The Water And New Baby Diatoms Will Develope, So Esentially You Want To Try To Get It Out Of Your Tank...or Starve Them. I Wouldn't Be Too Worried As Your Tank Is New But Remember Try Not To Over Feed, Leave Lights On For Extended Periods, And Not Add Products With Sylicates. Diatoms Love Sylicates And Left Over Food.


I Would Start With A Cleaning Crew First Then Slowly Add A Fish In A Few Weeks After The Cleaning Crew. Never Add More Than 2 Fish At Once And One Is Better Than 2. If It's Clowns Then Add 2 At A Time...better For Compatability Purposes.

Btw, Tank Looks Really Good. I Loke The Rockwork. I Used Tufa As Base Rock And Bought About 30lbs Lr And My Tufa Is Already Seeded With Coraline And Critters And That's 5 Months After Starting The Tank.

I Am Not Good With All The Chemistry Side To This Hobby. As Said Before In A Few Months You Won't Really Test For Ammonia Or Nitrites. I Test That Maybe 1 A Month And That's Only Because My Tank Is Fairly New. I Really Only Monitor Ph, Alk, And Ca Weekly And Bi-weekly Nitrates And Phosphates. I Have Always Tested My Water Between The Hrs Of 5 - 9 And My Ph Has Always Been Between 8.2 - 8.3 It's Hard To Tell Because The Colour Is Almost The Same.

I Would Work On The Calcium, Ph, And Alk. I Use Esv Bionic For Alk And Ca Supplementing. Very Easy To Use And It Has Trace Elements As Well. I Dose The Ca At Night And The Alk In The Morning A Few Time A Week. Remember That Calcium And Alkalinity Work Together. You Have To Find A Happy Medium For Them. As You Raise The Alk The Ca Will Lower And Vice Versa. My Tank Is Happiest When The Ca Is 400-420ppm And Alk Is 8 - 9 Dkh.

I Would Check The Calcium When You Get The Livestock In There As I Was Advised To Wait And Then Found Out After Adding My Corals That My Calcium Was At 320ppm.


Good Luck, Enjoy, And Take It Day By Day.