SW tank, alge blooms 'red sand' help appreciated!?

Question

I have a saltwater fish tank (reef tank)
it is a 55gallon, with 60lbs fully cured live rock from an established tank, and 30lbs agronite, 20lbs live sand, and 1lb live sand from another established tank. I have a skimmer running 24hrs and a fluval 305...

i was getting set up for the 'cycle' and i starting adding small amount of pure ammonia for 3 days until my Am ppm was at 1.5.....

i never saw any nitrites, but my ammonia has been dropping and my nitrates are up to a nice 20ppm....

now that nitrates have shown up for the last 2 days, and my ammonia is now at 0...i have a few questions.

1. if my ammonia is dropping (now at 0) why is my nitrates showing and i never seen any nitrites?

2. my sand is having some light 'alge blooms' of red...its like the sand is sorta turning red...why is this, and is it ok?

3. is my tank cycled? did i kind of clone a tank? should i add a fish or 2 to keep ammonia in there? a cleanup crew? (i already have 5 hermits and 5 snails) thanks

Answer 1

1) It all depends on what bacteria were on the live rock and in the live sand. There are two groups of bacteria involved in the process - one which converts the ammonia to nitrite, and another which converts the nitrite to nitrate. If both groups are low, you'll get the three separate peaks. But since you started with a good source of living bacteria, the ones in the second group (nitrite to nitrate) may have been able to keep up with the amount of nitrite those from the first group were creating. If this were the case, you wouldn't have noticed any nitrite.

2) Red, or reddish-brown? If red, this may be cyanobacteria (see photo: http://www.sloreef.com/bojan/Cyanobacteria_files/Cyanobacteria1.jpg ) (red slime algae) and you don't want this in the tank. It's feeding off the nitrate that's being produced, and if you're using tapwater to mix the salt, there is probably phosphate in the tank as well. Cyanobacteria doesn't like high flow, so use a powerhead to direct current at problem areas. Do some water changes to lower the nitrate level, and use a phosphate absorbing pad that you can cut to fit the filter if you've been using tapwater. It would be better to use reverse osmosis water (the Culligan self-serve dispensers in some stores are this, or get an RO filter for home use), or at least mix this with the tap water to reduce the amount of phosphate.

If a reddish-brown, this is more likely diatoms (http://www.saltcorner.com/sections/guest/algaepage/Brown/diatoms/Diatoms2.jpg ), and this is natural in a new tank. You'll still need to control the nutrients, but the snails and hermits will help control this - they won't eat the cyanobacteria.

3) The tank's cycled only when nitrate is the only compound of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate that you're able to detect. Since you're there, it would be okay to add one or more fish, depending on their size. Start with species that would be smaller and more peaceful, then build to the larger, more aggresive species of the fish you intend to keep. Just go slowly, and add 1-2 fish per week. You may also want to increase the size of the cleaning crew - these will also help clean the

Answer 2

i also have a 55g, fish with live rock and a few soft corals. your clean up crew is way to small. i would go with 25-30 hermits, and a 15- 20 good size snails. i also 2 serpent stars, and a lawnmower (rock) blenny. my hermits love the red (slime alge). a little bit isnt bad just as long as it is not taking over your tank. when you do your partial water change make sure you suck up what you can, i do mine once a month. i wouldnt worry about it. and with the ammonia you want to keep it a 0ppm it will rise a little, but keep it as low as you can. some times you will not see the nitrites go up. which means you have a good cycle going. if you are planning on keeping just a reef tank i would put two or three blennys, or a combo of smaller alge eatin fish to keep things moving in the tank. also its best to have 1.5 lbs of live rock per gallons of sw. it is expencive but your nitrates wont rise as quickly. you can also try some chempure, and phosgaurd, that will minimize your alge. you should get on to a a forum for sw tanks, they help alot. my favorite is aquariumadvice.com trillions of QnAs for begginers advanced people lots of ideas

Answer 3

mmm...as far as I know the fluval filters are not quite good for saltwater tanks since they use a sponge filter this will increase your nitrates and this can create a good enviroment for algae boom.