New to this

[crzypatsfan]

My tank has been cycling for about 2 weeks now, no ammonia and nitrates and nitrites tests are good. There is a lot of brown that showed up almost overnight... Good or bad? I've been reading about a water change.. Why do I need to do that? Can I introduce anything living yet?

 

[gone fishin]

Slow down there.

what kind of rock did you use? dry, cured
What did you use to start the cycle?

Until your cycled you do not want to add any livestock yet. The brown stuff is most likely diatoms, fairly common in the beginning.

The link should help with some of your questions and some to come.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1031074

 

[crzypatsfan]

I used cured rock. All I did was add sand, rock, water. I put
A little bit of frozen shrimp in it last week.

 

[BillNye]

What size is your tank? I wouldn't add anything quite yet until all of your levels are zero or close to it and all or most of your brown has cleared up.

To answer your question: You need to do water changes to replenish all of the nutrients have been sucked up and used. It also helps to take out some of the crappy water and replace with new fresh salt water.

 

[scooter31707]

Question, I have did you see the ammonia and nirites rise during the cycle? If you did not test during the cycle to see the increases and decreases, I would be very careful of adding livestock. I recommend finding some pure ammonia and dose the tank until you get to 2.0ppm, once there if it's 0 ammonia in 24hrs, then your tank is cycled