The time has come

[ismvel]

I am cycling my new tank.....

Last week, I started filling up my tank with RODI water...I put in the sand, and put in the rock I have, it WAS cured...I was about just about doneway filling the tank when a family emergency came up in Florida...so we packed up and left. Well the tank was left for 5 days with the rocks fully submerged in water, but no salt and no powerhead to circulate anything...I know I am going to have to go through the full cycle now...No big deal. We got home yesterday, and I finished filling up the tank with RODI, added salt, and have it up and running....

Question is: The water has a greenish tint to it....what is the cause and what do I need to do? I imagine a water change could fix that..but I just started my cycle, that would be pointless, right?

[apedroza]

Could be more die off from the live rock sitting in freshwater. Hope everything turns out better. You may also want to add more cured live rock to help speed the process.

[ismvel]

so what is the fix for this? a major water change? I do have about 50 lbs of cured LR in a small 29 gallon tank...I can take some of that out....as it eventually will be transferred over anyhow.

[hobogato]

get it running and start skimming wet. also run lots of carbon and test the water. when there is no ammonia, you can start adding cured liverock. if you add it now, the ammonia that is probably there from the liverock dieoff could kill off alot of the stuff on the cured rock. if the ammonia is really high, do some water changes to bring it down. bottom line, you are gonna have to go thru the whole cycle now.

[Fish4life]

^^^^^^^^. Might be a minor FW phyto bloom. Make sure that you use high quality carbon, some kind of carbon that isn't rinsed with phosphoric acid, or you might be adding to the problem.

hope that helps.

Cheers,

Kurt

[ismvel]

get it running and start skimming wet. also run lots of carbon and test the water. when there is no ammonia, you can start adding cured liverock. if you add it now, the ammonia that is probably there from the liverock dieoff could kill off alot of the stuff on the cured rock. if the ammonia is really high, do some water changes to bring it down. bottom line, you are gonna have to go thru the whole cycle now.

Well, err....I mean, um.....the thing is.....

I don't have a skimmer yet...LOL...I was just setting it, thinking I would have to go through a small cycle anyhow....but when I had to leave, I realized I would have to go through the full cycle...which is no big deal at all to me...and that is the reason I didn't add any of my LR because I didn't want the ammonia in the tank killing anything off. I will just ride it out and do some water changes in a couple of days.

^^^^^^^^. Might be a minor FW phyto bloom. Make sure that you use high quality carbon, some kind of carbon that isn't rinsed with phosphoric acid, or you might be adding to the problem.

hope that helps.

Cheers,

Kurt

Thanks Kurt...i'll have to go look into getting some carbon and try running itsee what happens....