New 75g setup

[rtaylors3]

I just setup my 75g setup with about 100lbs of live rock(cured) and 70 lbs live sand. I am fully aware of the cycle it must go through but from what I have been reading there would be brown algae that would grow and then disappear (maybe). Well I know I am getting ahead of myself and I must be patient but I have GREEN algae and no brown. Is this normal? It has only been up a week and my ammonia still reads 0. I know, I know patience right

 

[crvz]

sure, depending on the source of the rock and sand, you may not have a diatom issue or other brown algaes. just keep at it, do water changes, and hopefully the green stuff will disappear soon.

 

[an411]

at a week I would not do any water changes yet leave it for at least a month. let the bacteria population build up before doing any sort of water changes. are you running your lights while cycling? you could only get one type but from what I seen most tanks get both.

 

[rtaylors3]

I am running my lights and the rock came from someone else who broke down their tank. This stuff is growing like crazy!

 

[an411]

alrlight that is good that you are running your lights I have seen people not run there lights while cycling cause they want to avoid algae to later find out once they turn the lights on that the algae starts to appear.

 

[crvz]

so in this case it's unlikely that you're going to have a large cycle, particularly if these rocks came from a mature system, but you may have rocks that have a large amount of excess nutrients in them. A "cycle" happens when the rocks have a lot of die off (shipped from other parts of the country/world), but when you get them locally from hobbyists you probably won't have much die off at all. It may take a number of months for the green algae to go away, but as long as you keep up with water changes and nutrient control (good skimming, light feeding), it will go away. Check this article for some tips.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-07/nftt/index.php

 

[rtaylors3]

The ammonia, nitrite and nitrate all read 0. I am guessing that means nothing has happened yet. Thanks for teh article CRVZ. It scared me a bit but brought me to reality.