Bacteria Bloom

[jtdunham]

I have a bacteria bloom and have received conflicting advice on how to handle this situation. One LFS owner said do not do any water changes because it will prolong the bloom cycle and do not add any Calcium Strontium or other supplements except PH buffer.
Another LFS owner said to do a 20% water change weekly and to add about 5ML of bacteria daily.
And finally, an online company's tech support person said do nothing and it will clear up in a few days. They also said I could add bacteria, but it probably wont help or hurt
It has been 2 weeks since this bloom happened and shows no sign of dissipating. My amonia is going up everyday, my PH is stable, so far, at 8.3
I have no fish or corals just rock and sand in a 34 gal.
I would like to have a reef aquarium, but under these circumstances I obviously should not even try to add livestock or corals.
What should I do? I really would like to get past this situation so I can enjoy my aquarium.

[dmweise]

What kind of bacteria is it? Is it cyano?

[jtdunham]

I do not know. The water looks like thinned out milk. I do have a little red algea looking stuff on some of the rocks.

[Neptune@gabesfish]

how long has tank been up?

[jtdunham]

6 weeks. BTW- I just started using water from the LFS. I have an inexspensive RO filter but I think it will be better from the LFS

[Neptune@gabesfish]

So whats the rush? Your tank has been up 6 weeks and it is just cycling .. you are exactly where you should be .If someone told you that you could set this tank up and already have corals and such in it SAFELY they were wrong. Saltwater should be taken SLOW. You will reduce your risk of failure if you take your time. The reason most tanks crash is because people are impatient and like instant gratification. Take your time......it is not a race to see who can have the most stuff in the shortest amount of time. You will be happier, and so will your tank, if you take your time, and enjoy the HOBBY.

My opinion is do nothing and let your tank cycle. If that was not obvious by the above post.

Gabe

[jtdunham]

Words of Wisdom
Thanks

[Bill S]

What Gabe said.

What you have is a somewhat normal part of the tank cycling. "Bad, bad things happen in this hobby to those that rush".

BTW, who was the online company? They were right on.

[jtdunham]

The online company is DR. Foster and Smith-Live Aquaria. I love working with them. Good company with incredible over the phone tech support.
Todd