Hey, i've just started to setup my orca well it's been cycling for about 2 weeks now and the salt is in the little green band on my hydrometer, the temperature is 24 degrees and i have about 6 kilos of lr in my tank with 1 kilo in my filter, i have argonite live sand and i've removed the ceramic rings, as i did a little research off you all before i started hope you dont mind :). my nitrite is 0ppm but im a little confused at this, and at how fast its got to this stage i've been using biomature but i've stopped now its reached this, So does this mean i can add Coral and fish now ?

And just a question my live sand and lr is covered in like a brown substance it appears to be spreading so how do i stop it ??

hey starscream,

Thats good that your nitrite is at 0ppm did you use cured live rock? I wouldnt start adding any fish or coral just yet id personally give it up to 3 weeks, i was in the same situation as you and my nitrite was always at 0ppm but i waited up to 4 weeks just to be on the safe side. Once your ammonia is at 0ppm, your nitrite is still at 0ppm and your nitrate will probably be at 5-10ppm then you'll need to do a water change and add your clean up crew Patience is the key to marine keeping, as howard says nothing happens quickly in a marine tank. The brown hairy stuff you are seeing is all part of the cycle and a type of algae you dont want to get rid of this it will go with its own accord and your clean up crew like crabs and turbo snails will monch through it

Tash

Thanks i just wondered if everything was going ok, do i still change the water while its cycling or change it once i start to add my cuc ? and i used lr that was in my lfs's tank that he had been running for a couple of years

theres lots of bubbles coming off this brown algea too is that normal ??

Hi,

I echo what the other poster has said. Wait, wait and then wait some more. You want to be 100% sure that you will not have a delayed spike of ammonia or nitrite.

Perhaps you could get your LFS to do a test for you just to confirm as sometimes test kits can read a little inaccurate.
Which kit are you using to do your tests, and what are your ammonia readings?

The brown stuff that you are referring to is either cyno or diatoms, both are feeding of the breakdown of organic matter but will resolve themselves in due course.

What clean up crew (CUC) are you going for?

Regards

EDIT: Don't water change till you are 100% that the cycle is over, you will slow it down if you do.

Like Morn100 said above You'll do your 20% water change before you add your clean up crew so after say 3-4 weeks of your cycle. Just keep checking those results every 2 days to keep an eye on all of them. I know its a waiting process but i can say to you it is so worth it! I've had my tank set up for 8 weeks i think now and its great to see life in the tank but knowing that the patience had paid off. Like morn100 said what clean up crew are you looking to get?

Tash

My ammonia readings are 0, and the test kits im using are made by api and i want some

Red legged hermit crabs
Blood Shrimps
and some turbo snails

is that ok ?

Get you LFS to double check those results as API can be a little squiffy to say the least.

Like the sound of your CUC but what about some more snails?

Say 2 x nassarrius and some Trochus snails

Just a thought.

Ahh Right yeah that sounds good to me i didnt want to overload my tank i dont no how much load it will take and does anyone know where i can get a wg-jad 308 skimmer ?

yeh sounds good to me too!

I had 3 blue legged hermits, 1 turbo snail and 2 cleaner shrimps (a little later on) you can get that skimmer from ebay for a good price. Theres also alot of threads on it, let me see whether i can find it for you

Tash

If you could find it but not on ebay as my paypal is playing up i've just seen in my tank something that looks like a centipide it freaked me out but it ran away