Cycling Colors

[xtrmist]

I thought you wait 1-2 months before adding anything live.

[xtrmist]

Okay so all my levles are perfect with the exception of Nitrates they were between 90-180, i check my salinty and it was 1.26 so it took out 5 gals and am letting the RO refell the fuge. I'll check again in the morning.

[Kris]

Sounds like the bacteria have established themselves perhaps.

[aquanicssd]

I thought you wait 1-2 months before adding anything live.

In this case (due to nitrates) definitely don't add a cleaning crew, they'll most likely die (crabs definitely, they hate the nitrates being above 15-20). At this point you could do a few 50-70% water changes back to back, while trying to get salinity in check -- get the nitrates down to <20ppm (but do daily water parameter checks to ensure the bacteria are in your live rock, sand, and filter media) Then add the cleaning crew. (some might die if nitrates continue to rise, this is probably ok, but wait until you can get nitrate production and water changes to be "somewhat" consistant).

Sounds like the bacteria have established themselves perhaps.

DEFINITELY. During the initial phase, you'll want to do water tests about every day. Monitor and watch the levels and (in my experience) add a CUC at the moment nitrates begin to rise and algae starts filling the tank. The bacteria will keep turning Ammonia to Nitrate, the CUC will clean and eat algae, the water changes keep the CUC from dying, and you can begin to add fish to keep the cycle going.

(My personal, initial setup, albeit a bit rusty as it was my first go) I had salt water, live rock, two crabs, nite-out: a nitrosomas in a bottle product, and algae tablets for a ~week. Added a damsel. Everything started and continued great. (This was a ten gallon at the time, eventually moved to a 50 then to a 180).

[xtrmist]

Okay just saw the last reply.
Well I got about 10 hermis added 5 turbo 5 snails with the “snorkel” that borrow in the sand. May have been too ambitious but I added 2 skunk shrimp as well.
Water has started to get cloudy about 4 days ago and is maintaining. Can still see through, just cloudy. PH is good ammonia is 0 nitrites 0 and nitrates are closer to 80 now. Salinity is holding at 1.24

Kinda odd my chaeto got so brittle that it flaked away when I moved it. Too much light of the refugium?

[dizzyjay]

“Snorkel”: probably nassarius snails- you owe it to your pets to do regular water changes (no more than 30% at a time, wait a day or 2 between) until your nitrates are in check. Also maybe dose a bacteria like microbacter7. Keep in mind that you’ve just added bioload to the tank and it may be too much for your young tank’s bacteria- I’d remove any [visible] dead snails or shrimp from the tank as they might trigger another mini cycle by introducing new ammonia. The brittle chaeto suggests to me that the cycle isn’t complete. It’s possible to read 0 ammonia and or nitrites during a cycle- doesn’t mean they won’t spike back up- should go a week with zeros before considering the cycle complete- please don’t get damsels or any other fish yet.

[xtrmist]

Copy no fish yet, i get it. I took the recommendation to add CUC from earlier post. The chaeto was offered with the Algea Barn Refugium setup. I do some water changes and test, seems odd the cloudyness is persistenting; most research suggests only a few days. Its just maintaing not increasing or decreasing.

[dizzyjay]

Probably bacteria bloom; is the cuc forging & eating? Especially pay attn to see if the shrimp are eating- they are considered clean up shrimp but are best used to keep parasites off (clean) fish. If they are not eating, you may need to supplement their diet with frozen food. You won’t need a full cube, just take a cube and wave it across the top until some of it melts into the water column and save the rest. (Turn off any pumps while feeding). Will probably see the nasarrius snails emerge for a meal - which is fun. Consider dosing some bacteria if you’re not already- it jump starts and helps the good stuff grow & dominate the tank.

[xtrmist]

CUC are moving around. almost all the yellow coating of the sand is gone as well as some of the rock. I will do the cube thing. Checked levels last night and from what i can tell all levels are awesome with exception of nitrates. Its around the 90+ the colors are little hard to decipher at that level.

Update. It looks as though there is smoke in the water. Does that make sense? I turned off the system for about 15 mins, thinking it might be micro bubbles; that's when i saw what looked like smoke in the water. No puns intended here. Good news is the PODs are plentiful, wow are there a ton!