Wondering if I can introduce fish yet...

Hey everyone!

My tank has been cycling for 3 weeks now. The water has remained nice and clear, the temp. is staying steady at 78 and the sg is at 1.024. Oh, and I currently have 2 little hermits having a field day in my rock.

In the last few days a brown algae has started to bloom on the sandbed and live rock. I've been running my lights on a normal cycle, and have been replacing about 3 gallons of water every three-ish days from evaporation.

I know that you get an algae bloom during cycling, and that in general it means that the nitrates in my tank are climbing. I checked my nitrite lvls and they are somewhere between 0.35 and 0.8 on the chart.

I'm wondering if it's safe to introduce a blenny into the tank at this time, a bicolor to be specific. I want to put in some more crabs, possibly some snails, and the bicolor to help with the cycling and algae cleanup. Will they be ok?

Thanks! ;D

 

Did you go though a full cycle from ammonia then nitrite to nitrate spike? I would wait at least six weeks at least before putting any fish in there and then 1 at a time. Be patient and take it slow. Let your tank cycle properly and don't worry about the algae spike as all tanks go through this.
Good luck!

 

I would get test kits for ammonia and Nitrite and don't add anything until those readings are 0

J

 

What is in your tank to cycle your tank through???Ie. damsels, clown or dead shrimp from local supermarket, though I would be hesitant by using damsels as they are very territorial and aggressivem towards other tank mates and are very hard to remove from a reef tank with all the live rock, so unless you plan on keeping them as residents, I would try other options>>>....Make sure cycle is all the way through before adding a blenny or it will die. Not as hardy as damsels.
good luck