Water paramaters while cycling

[CrOsSwIrE]

Ok, just a little timeline to get started...

I just started my cycle 1 week ago today, and my paramaters are as follows.

three days in

ammonia - 1.5
nitrites - .25
ph 8.0
nitrates - 20

today

ammonia - <.25
nitrites - 0
ph 8.0
nitrates - 20

Is it normal for the tank to cycle in as little as a week?

I added about 100lbs of live rock on the second day, and
another 100 lbs of live rock on the 4th day. All of the live rock was cured, and all of it was in another tank at one point in time.

I noticed the other day that I had some rock with green hair algae on one of the rocks that I moved over (didnt bother to clean it off first) I just pointed one of the returns from the overflow at the rock and blew it off now the rock has some kind of brownish algae that looks like surface rust on the rock, and has passed onto the one next to it. It seems that all of the little critters on the live rock (tons of little tiny feather looking things, some zooanthids on a small piece of rock, something that I have no idea what it is, and a few hermit crabs are perfectly healthy.

How long should It take for this type of setup to cycle?

I have a 125gal AGA Megaflow, 420w of vho lighting 2 blue atinics, and one white. Wet/dry, skimmer, Uv sterilyzer (uv is turned off for cycle)

I'll post a few pics in a little while...

P.S. - I know I shouldn't have anything alive in there, but my other tank took a dive, and I lost some fish. I figured they'd be safer in the new tank than the old one...

[kraze3]

I guess it is possible for a tank to cycle in a week. Still though, let it sit for a a month or so to get all parameters stablized.

The brownish stuff you see is most likely an algae bloom, common in new tanks. When your ammonia drops to zero you can look into a clean up crew to go in take care of the algae

The little whie bugs are probably pods, they're good. There is a link at the top of the forum that may help you identify things

Here's a link on water parameters
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php

[PatMayo]

If you are using curred rock it can cycle that quickly. Just to be on the safe side I would wait another week before I added anything. I added curred rock to my tank as well but waited 2 weeks before adding anthing. I never did test mine for ammonia or the trates.

The brwon stuff sounds like it is diatoms. It is a normal thing for new tanks to go through. It shoud clear up in a couple of weeks. I would keep light to only a few hours per day and I would make sure you have plenty of flow. Good flow will help combat the algae.

After another week I would test once again then add the cleanup crew if the test is ok. I would still keep the light to a minimum, it will help keep the algae to a minimum.

Regards,

Pat

[CrOsSwIrE]

Looks like I might get through this faster than I thought. As far as the cleanup crew. What would you reccomend for someone that Is doing mostly fish only (plus a couple of things that tagged along)?

[kraze3]

Youll get a mix. Some have both snails and hermits. Others dont like hermits and go for all snails

Heres everything you wanted and dint want to know on snails
Part I
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rs/index.php
Part II
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-06/rs/index.php
Part III
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-07/rs/index.php

As for hermits the most common ive seen are the red scarlet and the blue hermits, The red are supposidly less agressive.

[CrOsSwIrE]

currently, I think I have 5 blue hermits...

[kraze3]

i personally like the hermits, they are fun to watch. I have snails too. I have lost a few snails, i figure a hermit was hungry but i dont think its that big of a deal. i like having both.

[CrOsSwIrE]

I like my hermits. I may go and pick up a couple of snails too.