Time for CUC?

[wink1906]

Been about 3 weeks of cycling a 75 gallon with 75 lbs uncured Tonga Fusion and 30 lbs of cured Tonga Shelf.

Ammonia spiked, hit 0. Over the last week nitrites have been dropping and today are at 0. Nitrates are at 20.

I'm noticing a green hair algae on the LR, sand and glass. Small amounts of dark purple brownish algae (thinking its the beginning of some diatom or a bit of cyano).

I'd prefer not to let the hair algae get too out of control so wondering if now is the time to add the Clean Up Crew. Thanks a million for the help!

 

[wink1906]

And almost forgot...

Water change - now or wait until nitrates spike further?

Cheato for the fuge - now or wait until nitrates subside?

tx!

 

[iwishtofish]

Hi wink1906. I'm at about the same stage you are, but my nitrates dropped to 5-10 after I added Chaeto. (If you add it now, it might prevent you from knowing if your nitrates would drop on their own).

I was advised to add the Chaeto to ward off algae. That seems to have worked so far, but I know I will eventually get algae regardless.

 

[Lotus99]

You can add the chaeto now.

A water change before you add a CUC would be good, too. I would wait a week to check that ammonia and nitrites stay at zero before adding the CUC.

 

[drummereef]

I would do a water change. Test again for nitrate and see where you stand. Optimally you don't want to add anything until your nitrates are 0, but many factors are involved in getting them there. Even if there is some nitrate left it will be fine to add your cleanup crew.

 

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10251847#post10251847 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by drummereef
I would do a water change. Test again for nitrate and see where you stand. Optimally you don't want to add anything until your nitrates are 0, but many factors are involved in getting them there. Even if there is some nitrate left it will be fine to add your cleanup crew.

I agree--there will always be a trace of nitrates. You are do for a water change but only use r/0 water.
The green algae is as a result of the live rock--dead stuff giving off phosphates and nitrates. Eventually if you do not add nutrients for them from over feeding or not using r/o water they should eat themselves out of house and home and die off. the purple algae is good--a good sign of a healthy tank--you want that to grow---it will cover rock and take up the space for green algae to grow.
Sounds like you are at the stage where you can consider a clean up crew---snails and emerald crabs are great algae eaters.

 

[wink1906]

Thanks for the advice as always!

At this point I'll stick to a 20g water change (using RO/DI) and monitor the water quality mid week. If Ammonia and Nitrites are still at 0 on Wednesday I'll order a CUC for the weekend/next week.

I'll also wait on the cheato, want to make sure I'm getting a true pucture of the nitrate situation

As far as the algae goes, Im running only the 2x 10K Ushio MH 175's now for 6-8 hours per day, should I consider trimming that back a bit while the nitrates are climbing to discourage any algae growth?

 

[wink1906]

Sorry to bump this - wondering if I should keep lighting the tank as noted above during the hair algae part of the cycle?

 

[petoonia]

There's no need to run the lights. I didnt run any throughout my cycle, and I had barely any algae. Just be sure to gradually introduce them when you do start using the lights, otherwise you will end up with an algae bloom.

 

[Aquarist007]

I wouldn't change the lighting----shutting lights off does not help the algae problem and I am sure the corraline algae can use the lighting.