Cycle check up

[Markclaster]

So I put water in Jan 25. Liferock and Live sand.
Checked parameters today to see where I’m at.
Temp 78
PH 8
Ammonia.25
Nitrites and nitrates 0
Salinity 1.026

I also started noticing small growths starting on my rocks. They are white. Somewhere between feathery and cobwebby is how I would describe them. Pics below

Am I headed in the right direction?

 

[Doberman13]

It is hard to tell from your pictures but they could be bacteria blooms or (less likely) pineapple sponges.

 

[Eric_n_Ga]

Almost there. Ammonia still being present shows that your bacteria hasn't consumed it all yet

 

[ActiveAngel]

Hard to tell... all we can say is that you’re not there yet. Sorry that I would not agree to “almost there”. There is zero signs of progress yet. Still, it’s a waiting game.

Did you put in “life rock” (a branded name), or live rock (rock that is Cultivated with bacteria)? I find it odd that in 1 week, you wouldn’t have even trace amounts of nitrite yet.

 

[Markclaster]

Hard to tell... all we can say is that you’re not there yet. Sorry that I would not agree to “almost there”. There is zero signs of progress yet. Still, it’s a waiting game.

Did you put in “life rock” (a branded name), or live rock (rock that is Cultivated with bacteria)? I find it odd that in 1 week, you wouldn’t have even trace amounts of nitrite yet.

LifeRock from Caribsea. Should I have nitrites?

 

[Eric_n_Ga]

Hard to tell... all we can say is that you’re not there yet. Sorry that I would not agree to “almost there”. There is zero signs of progress yet. Still, it’s a waiting game.

Did you put in “life rock” (a branded name), or live rock (rock that is Cultivated with bacteria)? I find it odd that in 1 week, you wouldn’t have even trace amounts of nitrite yet.

I was thinking liferock and sand or he would have algae and aptasia by now . Only cause almost everyone that starts with live rock has a what's this " aptasia " post and has algae present.

 

[Markclaster]

I was thinking liferock and sand or he would have algae and aptasia by now . Only cause almost everyone that starts with live rock has a what's this " aptasia " post and has algae present.

Thats what I was trying to avoid lol

 

[Eric_n_Ga]

Good luck with that .

You can add bio spira to the tank , I don't use it like a magic potion that instantly cycles a tank, but you can definitely speed up the process and ensure you have a pretty good diversity of bacteria by adding it . Don't worry about testing every day. Add it and test once a week till you see 0 ammonia , then give it a few more weeks to stabilize . You will also see some algae start to bloom in a few weeks ,that's normal . Add your clean up crew , then start thinking about more complex critters after that's established.

 

[ActiveAngel]

Good luck with that .

You can add bio spira to the tank , I don't use it like a magic potion that instantly cycles a tank, but you can definitely speed up the process and ensure you have a pretty good diversity of bacteria by adding it . Don't worry about testing every day. Add it and test once a week till you see 0 ammonia , then give it a few more weeks to stabilize . You will also see some algae start to bloom in a few weeks ,that's normal . Add your clean up crew , then start thinking about more complex critters after that's established.

yes, do this. And it doesn’t have to be bio-spira. Any brand of “nitrifying bacteria” will do. I’m a fan of Fritz Turbostart. All the brands will claim to be the best.... but it’s mostly the same. Don’t stress about it too much.

 

[Markclaster]

So as suggested I added biospera to the tank. This is condition today, 1 week later
Ph 8.2
Ammonia.50
Nitrite 5.0
Nitrate 0 (unless you can have lower than zero then it’s that)

 

[dball711]

You're right in the middle of your cycle, be patient it will pay dividends!

Rock work looks great.

 

[civics14]

You're right in the middle of your cycle, be patient it will pay dividends!

Rock work looks great.

You must be lucky cause after my cycle I didn’t get any dividends, just a drain on the bank lol.

 

[Adam]

So as suggested I added biospera to the tank. This is condition today, 1 week later
Ph 8.2
Ammonia.50
Nitrite 5.0
Nitrate 0 (unless you can have lower than zero then it’s that)

Keep us updated with the white growths you're seeing. Some pics would be helpful.

@civics14 sounds like you're well on your way to seeing the dividends and be like @dball711

 

[Markclaster]

Keep us updated with the white growths you're seeing. Some pics would be helpful.

@civics14 sounds like you're well on your way to seeing the dividends and be like @dball711

 

[Adam]

I somehow missed the pics in the OP.

Keep a very close eye on those white patches. If they continue to expand and you start seeing speckled white dots that grow then please let us know.
The expansion will be much more pronounced after you're first water change. If that's the case you're going to be in for a long battle.

 

[Markclaster]

I somehow missed the pics in the OP.

Keep a very close eye on those white patches. If they continue to expand and you start seeing speckled white dots that grow then please let us know.
The expansion will be much more pronounced after you're first water change. If that's the case you're going to be in for a long battle.

What is called? How would it get in there?

 

[Adam]

What is called? How would it get in there?

It's some type of bacteria that sucks up Alkalinity leaving deposits behind. It seems to have something to do with the bacteria blend they're using and the right set of variables that trigger a specific strain to become dominant. Funny that there's no meaningful change to Calcium or Magnesium when this occurs. I saw it happen with a local member here that used both CaribSea products. I've also seen several complaints on R2R about Liferock.

I don't know whether or not you have this problem or not. I'm just trying to give you the signs to be on the look out for and setps you can take to, possibly, eradicate it if this does occur in your tank. The member here eventually scrapped the rock and restarted their system after months of battling.

Right now it's just wait and see.

 

[lmm1967]

DOH! - I can attest to what Anit77 is saying. I'm not the person that had to scrape rock but I will say this....

I added a full box plus a couple large pieces of that rock to my already up and running 120gallon tank. Tank had been up for several months and was an upgrade from a 60 gallon that had been running for at least 2 years.

I decided I should have more rock in the 120 - even though everything was running fine - and I thought why not try out that nice red looking CaribSea rock.

Well - within a couple weeks I started fighting a bacteria bloom - I'm lucky enough to be using a 30" life reef skimmer so I never really worried about lack of O2 due to bacteria - but I'll tell you that white slimy bacteria was a nightmare. It took several months to get it under control. Water changes didn't matter, carbon did nothing, vibrant did nothing (but cause cyano in my case) - I could not get it to react to anything I did.

While trying to sort it all out I went as far as wondering if the open bottle of NoPOx sitting 4 feet away from my sump was somehow overdosing carbon via gas exchange and fumes or something crazy. Dumped the NoPOx down the sink (hadn't been dosing it for at least 6 months) and no noticeable impact.

The good news is no animals seemed bothered by it at all. Eventually it sorted out and I'm fairly certain it did it on it's own - I really wasn't trying anything any longer once I started to notice it going away. 18 months later and I'm good to go in that tank.

 

[Markclaster]

Well yuck. I don’t wanna have that. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[lmm1967]

just keep an eye on it - if it expands you'll want to be sure you have really good surface agitation and keep your skimmer running all the time.

Depleted Oxygen levels is one of, if not the most, critical issues with bacteria blooms.

Fish don't seem to give a hoot (as long as the breathe of course) and corals seemed fine as long as they didn't get smothered.