New to Salt Water

[Pflanman]

Hello!

I have had freshwater tanks in the past but just got my first salt water tank. It's a waterbox 20 with an ai prime light and an auto top off system. Its about a week old. (I don't have the lights on yet just for the picture). My question is how long before adding inverts? Should I put the light on a bit to get some algae growth so they have something to eat? Do I add corals or fish first? I know patience is the name of the game here I'm just curious about the order of adding livestock.

 

[Chris A.]

Hi and welcome
You need to cycle the tank and a good way would be with this system
Brightwell Aquatics MicroBacter Dry Rock Bacteria Starter Kit https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0846533RC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_3C6PM8GEM54GQKE99AYK

do a search on cycling a reef tank as well so you can see different views/opinions/practices.

 

[coralfishreef]

Welcome

 

[Pflanman]

I've been adding fritz nitrifying bacteria and some frozen food every few days. Is that not enough?

 

[Zeefishies]

Welcome

 

[scavdog]

fritz 9 works fine. Personally I used ammonium chloride and things progressed nicely. This was a first for me. I am assuming you are testing.

 

[Pflanman]

Yea I've been testing. Nitrates are around 0 so far

 

[scavdog]

Test ammonia at this stage. Ammonia will spike then subside. Then Nitrite. You can't have nitrate until the end of the cycle.

 

[Pflanman]

I see. I'll start testing for ammonia.

 

[Drichards]

Welcome!

 

[BiGGiePauls33]

 

[Pflanman]

Hi again. I have been testing for ammonia and it's between 1.5 - 2. The last few days I have started to get brown algae on the rocks and sand and its growing. I still have not showed any nitrates in my testing though. Shouldn't I be seeing the ammonia levels go down and nitrates go up since I have algae? Should I add some snails to start eating the algae? Or am I just being too impatient? The tank was setup on December 5th. I have also been dosing some fritz nitrifying bacteria a few times a week. I haven't added any food for awhile since I noticed ammonia levels going up.

 

[ChrisV]

Are you testing for nitrites too? If so, what are you reading?

 

[Pflanman]

No my test kit doesn't have a nitrite test. I was thinking I would just read nitrates and that would confirm its cycling. I guess I should pick up a nitrite rest kit too.

 

[Cpage101]

1 did you add nitrifying bacteria?
2 test your nitrites do you have any yet you will see these before nitrates
3 how long have you been cycling the system now?

 

[Mixed Reefer]

Are you running lights while cycling? No need. That’s your algae problem!?

 

[Pflanman]

I haven't tested nitrites. I need to pick up a kit mine doesn't have it. Been cycling since December 5th. Lights are only on for about 45 minutes a day but I only started that a few days ago.

 

[Pflanman]

I wouldn't call it an algae problem. It's just on a few rocks and a little on the glass. Don't I want some algae to grow?

 

[Mixed Reefer]

Your cycling your tank. No need for lights. Actually the longer you hold off after cycling the better chance for the good bacteria to multiply. You should give your tank three months in my opinion no light at least. The algae growth could be from sun coming in window also. Algae needs light to grow. So my suggestion would be to remove light either way. It takes time to cycle. Don’t rush it. You need to test to see the cycle happen. Ammonia then nitrite to nitrate. Like mentioned before. Record your results. You’ll be able to see the changes happening in your tank. No need to test nitrate until you start seeing results on nitrites.

 

[ChrisV]

A really critical point of nuance related to Doug's post is that many of the nitrate test kits cross react with nitrite. So if you have nitrate present in the system it will be considerably more difficult (or impossible at some nitrite concentrations) to test for nitrate using hobby grade test kits.

Another relevant in point is that the bacteria that convert ammonia to nitrite multiply considerably faster than the bacteria that convert nitrite to nitrate. There is a really fantastic talk available on YouTube given by dr tim hovanec at a past MACNA. Worth a watch if you haven't seen it yet.