imaginal
Member
Hi All,
So I've had my tank for about 3 weeks but didn't start the cycling process until a few days ago. I added about 30lbs of dry live rock to a 40 gal tank, then the 100mL bottle of bio spira to the tank. I'm starting to see a bunch of green algae and a few spots of purple taking root. Salinity at 1.022 and temp at 78, Ph is around 8.1. Running a power filter with carbon but will have my protein skimmer in about a week. 2 power jets moving things around. Light is only on about 4 hours while I'm home staring at the tank and reconsidering rock placement.
The LFS guys say that I need this to run for a while, they will test the waters, then I need to add snails and hermit crabs to make sure everything is ok. Their advice seems sounds, but I'm open for other suggestions. I've read that I should start with a fish during this process, and other posts saying I should wait weeks. Should I buy the nitrite and amonia test kits and track my own process or do it by feel and take the LFS opinions? What about snails being the first additions?
So I've had my tank for about 3 weeks but didn't start the cycling process until a few days ago. I added about 30lbs of dry live rock to a 40 gal tank, then the 100mL bottle of bio spira to the tank. I'm starting to see a bunch of green algae and a few spots of purple taking root. Salinity at 1.022 and temp at 78, Ph is around 8.1. Running a power filter with carbon but will have my protein skimmer in about a week. 2 power jets moving things around. Light is only on about 4 hours while I'm home staring at the tank and reconsidering rock placement.
The LFS guys say that I need this to run for a while, they will test the waters, then I need to add snails and hermit crabs to make sure everything is ok. Their advice seems sounds, but I'm open for other suggestions. I've read that I should start with a fish during this process, and other posts saying I should wait weeks. Should I buy the nitrite and amonia test kits and track my own process or do it by feel and take the LFS opinions? What about snails being the first additions?