Cycling a tank...

[oceanreefer124]

I never had to cycle my tank. I bought a complete running set up from a friend of mine. So I have a couple of questions as we are setting up a tank for my father.

Tank has been running for around 3 weeks and is now getting brown algae, he has 4 fish in the tank. The tank is a 55 gal with a 48" PC for lighting. Has a sump, refug and a protein skimmer.

What should we be doing next? Should we be doing anything to combat the algae? Does he need to add any snails, crabs, or anything else to the tank?

Sorry I dont have much more info on the tank. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[tnyga]

the bloom (brown algae) will go away on its own...levels spike yet and come down? I may be wrong but 3 weeks is a little early for a cycle..but again, I may be wrong

 

[oceanreefer124]

how often should he be testing the water?

 

[gwhiz]

What else is in the tank? Live rock, live sand, etc? He really shouldn't have fish in there until it's cycled, but that's water under the bridge at this point. What kind of fish?

When I cycled mine I checked the Ammonia level daily and did a partial water change whenever the Ammonia reached 1.0 or so. But I only had LR and hitchhikers in the tank, no fish at that point.

 

[tnyga]

I tested mine every few days..just nitrates, nitrites, ammonia and ph..Just so I had an idea when it did cycle. But Im a noob so Im paronoid

 

[victor626nj]

a 25% water change would help woth the algae blom its diatom is all and you will probably get them for the next 3 months tell it matures ...if he has fish already and they are alive keep up with water changes weekly,give it another we or two and than add a clean up crew if he doesnt already have one .then just let it set and mature for about another month ...then if you want to add one or two corals

 

[victor626nj]

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