hair algae during cycle

[likwid]

Thanks guys, I have now shut off my lights and timers and covered the tank with a blanket to block all light from entering. Do you think the hair algae will be gone by the time the cycle is done by doing this?

[Trigger Man]

It's hard to say, it depends on how long you cycle the tank from today and how much algae there is currently in the tank.. By shutting off the lights and covering the tank, as well as continuing to do the weekly water changes you should be alright. Basicly your tank cycling will now be complete when you no longer see any algae in the tank. Now it is down to the boring patience thing, but it will be well worth it. ( you can try removing as much algae as you can when you do your water changes, as well use RO water to speed the process if you are not already using it)

[likwid]

Originally Posted by Trigger Man

It's hard to say, it depends on how long you cycle the tank from today and how much algae there is currently in the tank.. By shutting off the lights and covering the tank, as well as continuing to do the weekly water changes you should be alright. Basicly your tank cycling will now be complete when you no longer see any algae in the tank. Now it is down to the boring patience thing, but it will be well worth it. ( you can try removing as much algae as you can when you do your water changes, as well use RO water to speed the process if you are not already using it)

Hmm, I was told not to do any water changes until the cycle is complete?

[marie]

Originally Posted by likwid

Hmm, I was told not to do any water changes until the cycle is complete?

Water changes are important, as stuff leaches from the decaying things in the rock, it needs to be removed. You'll still get the necessary bacteria but you remove phosphates that would jump start the algae when the lights come back on

[JDigital]

Originally Posted by marie

Water changes are important, as stuff leaches from the decaying things in the rock, it needs to be removed. You'll still get the necessary bacteria but you remove phosphates that would jump start the algae when the lights come back on

Where do you find your ammonia/trite/trate spikes when you're doing weekly changes in the cycle, you are always going to be removing them and have fluctuating test reading.

If worried about phosphates leaching, there is always the option to run a Phosban reactor during the cycle.

[yeeg]

When you mention cycle, are you referring to curing of the rock?? If so, I didnt do any water changes for the 2 months I cured my rock...It would depend on the size of the tank as well...I read somewhere that "the solution to pollution is dilution"...My pounds of live rock to gallons of water was about 0.85:1...

Just make sure you have a kick butt skimmer to get rid of the garbage...

[marie]

I did water changes twice a day for 2 weeks when I started my rock...but then I was more interested in keeping the critters that make the the rock "live rock" alive then getting ammonia readings.

When you buy "live rock" all the bacteria necessary to complete the nitrate cycle are already in place. Our job is to wait for all the dead stuff inside the rock to finish decaying and polluting the water, then we need to remove the pollution before algae takes over.


It worked for me anyways, I've cured 4 batches of live rock and the nitrates have always reached 0 in about 3 weeks


*edit* Here's an interesting read http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic23945-9-1.aspx

[marie]

Originally Posted by JDigital

Where do you find your ammonia/trite/trate spikes when you're doing weekly changes in the cycle, you are always going to be removing them and have fluctuating test reading.

After the first batch of rock that I cured I never bothered testing for ammonia or nitites, I just assumed they were there and my goal was to lower them as quickly as possible. At the 2 week mark I started testing for nitrates


Oh and I had the lights on the tank...the better to see the worms,pods and snails crawling around

[gbeef]

just take your time and wait. If the hair alage is getting bad and the levels arent of wack too back look at getting a turbo snail or 2 it will MOW through all of it in a couple or so. The hair algae could be from Dye off orrrr... your water. If you using tap water your going to have algae from my personal experince, This is due to phospates.

[Trigger Man]

Normally I do my first water change 10 to 14 days after I start cycling. Then I do another one 2 weeks later. The reason behind it being that I always use LR and try to get rid of as much die off as possible in order to keep nutrient levels as low as possible. Also taking into consideration that you mentioned that you've already got algae blooms emerging, the water change after cleaning off as much algae as possible will help.