Chooki11 Posted February 10, 2011 Report Share Posted February 10, 2011 Hi there, I have a question or 2. First off i'm new to saltwater tanks, and am very excited for the whole process. But i'm a little confused, I have had my tank for a week and has been cycling with live sand and live rock the whole time. The ammonia stage has peeked and now dropped, the nitrite stage has never shown up, but I have algae everywhere (on the the rocks, and the sand is turning brown), my Ammonia, Nitrite, and my Nitrate are all reading 0ppm, what does these mean? I use an API Saltwater master test Kit to check the High Range PH ( which was reading 7.8, now reads 8.2 after adding PurpleUp for 3 days Coralline Algae Accelerator. I realize the title says it all, but I was still expecting the cycles to follow through). I am adding Stability New Tank Stabilization System by Seachem ( recommended dosage). My Ammonia stage peaked at 0.50ppm 2 days ago, and lastnight it was at 0ppm, the nitrite was at 0ppm and the nitrate was at 0ppm. I know this is what i'm looking for, however it worries me that maybe i messed up somewhere. 8days for a full tank cycle would be awesome but unlikely with my luck lol. Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated!!! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corrosionjerry Posted February 11, 2011 Report Share Posted February 11, 2011 Something does sound a little off / however with enough liverock that has been cycled and sand it may be possible that the cycle was very quick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted February 11, 2011 Report Share Posted February 11, 2011 The brown algae is diatoms, indicative of a new set-up. It just goes away once things stabilize. Pick up a PO4 test kit, if your phosphates are high, then you have a reason for all the algae. Algae typically needs PO4 and/or NO3 to grow, so if you have one, you'll have algae. You can get rid of PO4 through WCs, or get the algae to grow somewhere other than your main tank - that's why sumps w. refugium are popular. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chooki11 Posted February 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 Thanks for the info!! My Nitrates finally spiked and everything seems to working as it should!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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