I am officially in a cycle (finally)
(Tank 125gal / sump 30 gal with skimmer and 5 gal fuge bucket)
All my rock is DIY rock and added a few pounds of live rock for seeding.
I artificially created the ammonia with some flake food instead of shrimp (suggested by Aqua Touch)
It took about 2 weeks but I have now hit a spike in ammonia and Nitrate.
My ammonia shot up to 1.0 and then the next day was down to .50. My Nitrates continued to climb and are in the 80 range....(And yes there is a hint of unpleasant oder in the air...LOL)
I had not been running the skimmer, but it seems as if (from what I am reading it not a bad idea to go ahead and run it during the cycle) I was kind of thinking I would let the system run on its own with no help from the skimmer, and then when the cycle is complete, have the added benefit of the skimmer. Still not 100% sure which way to go on this one but its currently on (I am getting a lot of little flakes on the side of the collection cup....not sure if they are pods or not since I am not 100% sure what they look like...(i don't think they are though)
I added some Cheto to my smallish fuge. It looks like I am getting some tenticles on the live rock. It looks like the fuge has some algea growing on the side of the bucket, but none on the glass of the tank (yet)
I am getting just a hint of algea growth in the DT. The sand is starting to get some growth under the top layer. SB is approx 3"
I have adjusted my return lines (4) so that 1 stimulates the surface and the other three point in a general downward direction. I have struggled a bit in that if I point them down they blow the sand off of the bottom and created bare bottome areas. I have them banking off the glass now and have created a sort of figure 8 current around the tank. There is still current running over the sand and rock (not huge flow in reef terms) but there is some flow through the tank. (Until I get to the point where I can add a CUC I have been waving a cleaner brush over the sand bed about 1 time a week to just blow the top layer around a bit and to kick up any of the flake food that has congregated under a rock)
Anyway...enough of the ramble.
I had a couple questions...
I saw a carbon pre-filter unit that I decided to buy $10 and attached it to the bulkhead on the sump (that feeds the return pump) I works great just for filtering any debri that I don't want back into the DT, but I have not yet added the Carbon. The water does have that whitish ting to it that the Carbon would clear up, but I can not seem to find if Carbon would do anything to delay or disrupt the cyle??? Should I continue to wait until after the cycle or go ahead and run it for a day or two. It attachable/detachable in about 2 seconds so I can run Carbon (or any other addittive media) only as I need it.
I am not sure what the algea is growing on the side of the fuge bucket...It showed up about 2 days ago and then almost more than doubled in a day...Some browninsh some purpleish spots....(Note: My fuge light is a 90W florescent floodlight type) My DT lights are two very low end 35" T5s that are probably way past the replacement stage.....(DT lights are a future upgrade for sure)
I realize since I am using DIY rock I am probably months (if not a year away) from any livestock other than perhaps a very small CUC but I think I am to the point where it would be beneficial for me to have someone that knows what they are doing come by and take a look (get a good laugh) and make some suggestions....
I am on the West Side 105th & Camelback...
