Watar parameters to introduce CUC

[akjayintx]

Hi all, I have started a new 24 gallon aqua cube, been cycling with 45 pounds of live rock for the past three weeks or so and for whatever reason the nitrates will not drop to 0. They seem to hang around .1 to .3, ammonia is 0, nitrates about 5. Since its been cycling so long I am getting tons of algae on the rocks and sand. Do nitrites have to be at zero before I can introduce snails??? How long does this cycling thing last? I'm getting frustrated because it looks awful in there but I cant seem to get the nitrites to zero. I'm using RO/DI water, 45 pounds live rock and 25 pounds live sand and nothing else is in there.....

[greatwhite@AlamoAquatics]

yeah itll be better to wait until the tank is fully cycled ... all the algae growth is part of the cycling process ... patients is key everyone on this thread went through that also ... just keep doing what your doing and wait it out ... trust me itll all be worth the wait.. feel free to call me with other questions you might have .. good luck..

[justahobby]

A CUC won't do that much. Your tank is probably brown right? It will go away on it's on (so will the nitrites). Just hang in there and follow my motto in the signature line.

[akjayintx]

Ok sounds good, thanks for the reassurance... I'll wait it out.

[akjayintx]

still .1 nitrites and 5 nitrates...sigh

[Big_Pun]

do water changes and wait it out has the brown stuff gone away yet, wait another week or so and should be fine to add snails and crabs

[akjayintx]

No the brown algae has gotten worse. I'll try a water change but last time I did that my nitrites actually went up. I'll try it again though.

[StevenSeas]

my opinion is dont do a water change if u have elevated nitrites w/o any livestock. This is b/c when u do that you take out some of the bacteria that has developed to eat nitrites and convert it into nitrate. imo thats why you exprienced a climb in your nitrites rafter the water change and that you should wait a week or so and it should be good. Products like cycle or bio spira can help aid in this process. just my opinion may not be right or appeal to everyone just the way i do it and has always worked for me and others i recommend do it

[Jordan N.]

No the brown algae has gotten worse. I'll try a water change but last time I did that my nitrites actually went up. I'll try it again though.

Whats you're source water? If it's not RO/DI you might want to test it for nitrates.

I have to agree with everyone to just give it time. A few months ago I thought I would never hit zero nitrates --eventually I got so frustrated that I just stopped testing. A few weeks later I tested and it was zero, I couldn't believe the results at first.

Edit: @Aggiereefer12 I don't think the issue with water changes is removing bacteria, it's removing the bacteria's food supply. The bacteria it's self only really grows where it has a substrate, sand, live rock, tank wall, coral, ect. I wouldn't recommend buying bacteria unless you're really in a hurry --it won't do anything that time wont. Patience truly is the greatest virtue in this hobby.

-Jordan N.

[StevenSeas]

I know that patience is everything in this hobby after my 3+ yrs in this hobby, I recognize that others have been in much longer. I wasnt recomending buying the products, just sayin that if he couldnt wait for it to finish cycling naturally that there was another option whether it be a good one or not is up to the individual. There is also bacteria in the water column as well as the substrate and I agree it doesnt do much but some. Also good point about the water source, the brown algae is a diatom algae that uses the silicates found in your water supply as well as in a new sand bed for a shell. Time will let this cycle out to where it wont be too bad.

[StevenSeas]

my main point was i advocate to not doing a water change, it will only impede the process imo let it set

[Ping]

Wait, do nothing but weekly water changes, add nothing, and with time, your rock will become alive. It takes time for the dead sponges and other life forms in the rock to fully decompose. Also it take longer for the small sized life forms that have survived the transport shock to begin to regrow deep inside the rock.

If one has the patience (I dont), let the tank age for at least 6 mos before you add any new life forms. The only person I have ever heard of who has actually waited the truely proper length of time for the rock to age is Sherri A.

[akjayintx]

Hey guys, I got copepods! Lots and lots of copepods! Must be doing something right... :)

Brown algae is still everywhere. Nitrites are almost gone I think, I only see a light pink color when I test so its less than .1.... When I initially set up the tank, I bought purified water from a LFS that I fund out later was only RO... I've been using water from Gabe's ever since for topoff which is RO/DI. So maybe thats why I had the algae bloom. Regardless, seeing all those copepods in there makes me think I'm doing ok... Ammonia is 0, nitrates 5. Water gets up to about 81 late in the day...is that too hot?

[ramsey]

That should be fine for the temperature though I'd try to get it down to about 79-80 with 2-3 degree max fluctuation. Also, I cycled my tank for about 2 months before I added my CUC. There was A TON of algae! I wish I had taken pictures. However, I added a handful of snails, three scarlet reef hermits and an emerald crab. Three days later, 90% of the algae was gone. It sounds too good to be true but you'd be very surprised how much the CUC can eat. The emerald is a PIG! He works hard to keep the tank clean.

[edit] Ammonia, nitrites and nitrates were all 0 when I added my CUC.

[ramsey]

Ah yes, I didn't do a single water change until all levels were 0. It's been about two months since I've added my CUC and they've all stayed zero. Since then, I've also added some coral and two fish. A few days ago, everything was still at zero. It pays off to wait.

[akjayintx]

Well here it is a month later and water parameters haven't changed a bit. 0.1 nitrite, 5 nitrate, 0 ammonia. So whats the deal? According to the nitrite test, there is a very light pink, and its not zero until its clear. Is this accurate? Because I would think that two months later without doing anything to the tank but topping off the water it would be zero by now... I'm getting pretty frustrate looking at a box of water every day with a bunch of rocks and some sand and nothing else in it. On the positive side, all the algae blooms have died off, but the rocks are covered in their residue. Not attractive at all.

[Europhyllia]

what kind of test kit do you have? Do you have any macro algae?

[ramsey]

I would try a different test kit. I use the API saltwater master for nitrites, nitrates and ammonia. It's pretty easy to read.

[akjayintx]

Well I finally gave up on waiting for 0 nitrites, it was actually pretty close to clear on the test so I bought CUC, a variety of 11 snails, and they seem to be doing just fine. Going to start doing water changes. Things look go so i'm much happier. Heat is still an issue, I'm looking at some kind of clip on lighting to replace the hood, I'm hoping that removing the hood will help reduce the temperature. As of now with summer heat etc it starts out around 80 and gets up to 82 around 3-4 pm so I usually shut off the lights then...that is with the door on the hood open.