Cycle question

SaltydawgI · 05/27/2013, 07:42 AM

Is it possible to complete a cycle and not see a diatom bloom or some form of algae?

Current stats:
1.024
temp 80
ammo 0
nitrites 0
nitrates 20-40
ph- 7.7

I started cycling my 29g on 4-22 with a shrimp dry rock and sand. I witnessed the ammonia spike and then the nitrite spike and this id where I am at today. I still feed the tank with a few flakes of food daily. I haven't added any live rock or CUC as of yet.

SaltydawgI · 05/27/2013, 08:09 AM

Oh forgot to mention I have been only running my lights a couple of hours a day.

bnumair · 05/27/2013, 11:02 AM

looks like ur good to go. lack of light hours and lowers nitrates may have avoided algae and depending on what type of sand u used there may not be much silica for diatoms to occur. or it could all be just too early and u may see these later on.

hogfanreefer · 05/27/2013, 11:07 AM

It sure wasn't possible for me, however my diatom bloom only lasted a few days and my algae bloom a couple of weeks. Still have some in my refugium but the tank algae is limited to just a hint of color to the dry rock.

I bet you have some algae soon (when you have to turn your lights on for coral,etc.)

CrushtheTurtle · 05/27/2013, 03:26 PM

I would say your good to go adding a bigger bio load, just remember the cycle is never "complete" algae blooms can arise at any time, once lights turn on for more hours or higher phosphate levels..etc

SaltydawgI · 05/27/2013, 03:44 PM

Thanks to all for the helpful input. I am new to this and just wanted to make sure I was doing things right. I definitely do not want to rush anything. I will be moving forward slowly. Thanks again.

MTF7 · 05/28/2013, 12:24 PM

I also have a 29g it's a biocube but I had old rock which was sitting in standing tank what're for atleast 2 months and. O lights on what so ever ( was trying to kill off algae, never did) but I scrubbed all my rock really good and I put 40lbs of carrabian fine sand in that was all new cleaned all the sludge and waste out but left just enough in to give me an ammonia spike. First day I put the water in ammonia was around .5 next day it was .25 then the nitrate spike then it took about 2 weeks for me to start getting diatomes and right when the diatomes were starting to cover every rock I put 10 Astraea snails 3 new hermits ( I actually have one that survived the standing water I put a mark on his shell and named him lucky) and 3 nass snails everything has been fine been adding like a little bit of byozime every other day and a little scoop of phytoplan every day and my 1 3/4 month old tank has only had one water change at the very start and happily has a FREE GSP frag and a diamond goby. So I sort of added my CUC right when I saw diatomes and they took care of the algae bloom because I know I started to get tiny little HA strands

Fizz71 · 05/28/2013, 02:40 PM

I don't consider diatoms or algea as "cycling"...I refer to that as "aging" which your tank will do over the next year. Like bnumair said you could still see it all later once the tank is running on full lighting with things living in it. When it does, don't panic..it's normal.

Not adding any live rock could be another reason you've had no diatoms or algea...you don't have any of the organisms in the tank to reproduce in the first place. Starting with all dry rock you need to move very slowly with adding life. Live rock tends to have more bacteria on it than you initially need so it's ready to go, but you're starting (literally) with the bacteria on a shrimp's back.

So you only grew enough bacteria to handle the ammonia from the rotting shrimp.

I'd get a small CUC in there and a small hardy fish from your stock list like a clownfish.

Good luck.

05/27/2013, 07:42 AM	#1
SaltydawgI Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Rochester Posts: 151	Cycle question Is it possible to complete a cycle and not see a diatom bloom or some form of algae? Current stats: 1.024 temp 80 ammo 0 nitrites 0 nitrates 20-40 ph- 7.7 I started cycling my 29g on 4-22 with a shrimp dry rock and sand. I witnessed the ammonia spike and then the nitrite spike and this id where I am at today. I still feed the tank with a few flakes of food daily. I haven't added any live rock or CUC as of yet. __________________ Ron ...IT HAPPENS... Current Tank Info: none

05/27/2013, 08:09 AM	#2
SaltydawgI Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Rochester Posts: 151	Oh forgot to mention I have been only running my lights a couple of hours a day. __________________ Ron ...IT HAPPENS... Current Tank Info: none

05/27/2013, 11:02 AM	#3
bnumair Dr. Reef at ur service Join Date: May 2009 Location: Tulsa, Ok, USA Posts: 7,751 Blog Entries: 15	looks like ur good to go. lack of light hours and lowers nitrates may have avoided algae and depending on what type of sand u used there may not be much silica for diatoms to occur. or it could all be just too early and u may see these later on. __________________ Water Quality: NO3 0,Phos 0,Cal 440,Alk 7.5,Mag 1300 "Reef Fast, You Crash, Reef Slow, You Pass" Mike's Reef 3:16 Current Tank Info: 350g DT,95g sump, 50g Frag tank, 4800gph return 4x Sea swirls. 6x AI Vega Color. 200# Pukani rock, dual recirculating skimmer, Biopellet, GFO Carbon rx's, Cal rx. Closed loop. 1.5hp chiller, genesis renew. Apex & RKE

05/27/2013, 11:07 AM	#4
hogfanreefer Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Conway, AR Posts: 2,117	It sure wasn't possible for me, however my diatom bloom only lasted a few days and my algae bloom a couple of weeks. Still have some in my refugium but the tank algae is limited to just a hint of color to the dry rock. I bet you have some algae soon (when you have to turn your lights on for coral,etc.) __________________ DSA 155,Custom Trigger 42" sump/refugium, MP40 X2, MP 10 X 2, AI Hydra 52 X3, Apex controller, Tunze ATO Current Tank Info: DSA 155 gallon, mixed reef, SPS and wrasse dominant

05/27/2013, 03:44 PM	#6
SaltydawgI Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Rochester Posts: 151	Thanks to all for the helpful input. I am new to this and just wanted to make sure I was doing things right. I definitely do not want to rush anything. I will be moving forward slowly. Thanks again. __________________ Ron ...IT HAPPENS... Current Tank Info: none

05/27/2013, 03:26 PM	#5
CrushtheTurtle Registered Member Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 151	I would say your good to go adding a bigger bio load, just remember the cycle is never "complete" algae blooms can arise at any time, once lights turn on for more hours or higher phosphate levels..etc

05/28/2013, 12:24 PM	#7
MTF7 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Illinois Posts: 285	I also have a 29g it's a biocube but I had old rock which was sitting in standing tank what're for atleast 2 months and. O lights on what so ever ( was trying to kill off algae, never did) but I scrubbed all my rock really good and I put 40lbs of carrabian fine sand in that was all new cleaned all the sludge and waste out but left just enough in to give me an ammonia spike. First day I put the water in ammonia was around .5 next day it was .25 then the nitrate spike then it took about 2 weeks for me to start getting diatomes and right when the diatomes were starting to cover every rock I put 10 Astraea snails 3 new hermits ( I actually have one that survived the standing water I put a mark on his shell and named him lucky) and 3 nass snails everything has been fine been adding like a little bit of byozime every other day and a little scoop of phytoplan every day and my 1 3/4 month old tank has only had one water change at the very start and happily has a FREE GSP frag and a diamond goby. So I sort of added my CUC right when I saw diatomes and they took care of the algae bloom because I know I started to get tiny little HA strands

05/28/2013, 02:40 PM	#8
Fizz71 FragSwapper Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: West Lawn, PA Posts: 5,800	I don't consider diatoms or algea as "cycling"...I refer to that as "aging" which your tank will do over the next year. Like bnumair said you could still see it all later once the tank is running on full lighting with things living in it. When it does, don't panic..it's normal. Not adding any live rock could be another reason you've had no diatoms or algea...you don't have any of the organisms in the tank to reproduce in the first place. Starting with all dry rock you need to move very slowly with adding life. Live rock tends to have more bacteria on it than you initially need so it's ready to go, but you're starting (literally) with the bacteria on a shrimp's back. So you only grew enough bacteria to handle the ammonia from the rotting shrimp. I'd get a small CUC in there and a small hardy fish from your stock list like a clownfish. Good luck. __________________ --Fizz Current Tank Info: Current system is 8x2x2 240g peninsula setup with a single "chamber" 100g sump in the basement with an RDSB. All corals are 100% home grown from frags of fellow reefers (low natural reef impact).