AKA MAVERICK
New member
180 CYCLE, Wasn't sure where to post this but because my tank is 180 gallons with a 55 tall sump, I figured the guys with bigger tanks would be able to give me better advice on my cycle. I started my tank JAN 1 of this year, fired up the pump (mag 24) and let the system run. I have a octopus skimmer but figured I wouldn't run it during cycle. I stole about 20 lbs live rock out of my 29 gallon tank (been running for about 2 years) and put 15 lbs in sump and 2 rocks in main display of 180. I also took about 6 full cups of sand from my 29 gallon and put them in 6 piles evenly spaced around my 180 gallon display. After about a week I Finally tested the tank, NO CHANGE. Figuring that I didn't put enough bio load on the system I tossed 2 shrimp from new years into the display and dropped another in the sump. Knowing that a cycle can take anywhere from 3 to 8 weeks I only check it every 3 or 4 days. When I started to see thick brown alga on 30 percent of rockwork I tested. I did catch a slight ammonia jump to .5 but 4 days later my ammonia had zeroed out and .5 nitrites and 20 on nitrates. Now 19 days after start everything is just about zeroed out. Brown alga subsiding and a little bit green alga still growing. On live rock things are coming out (spaghetti worm, grrrr an aptasia and I think a couple of copepods out and about). SO "¦"¦ should I add a couple snails slowly to increase bio load or try to explode a bigger cycle with some flake food and maybe some brine shrimp? My idea of slow is maybe one fish a month, not looking to rush it but watching 5 snails is more fun then boosting the cycle again.
