How long before algae grows in new tank

[DaBrowns]

We added the live sand last Wed., live rock on Fri....waiting until algae begins to grow to add anything like the cleaners etc.

Just wondering what the ballpark is or some generality?

 

[LakeEd]

I would wait a while before adding any animals. Add an uncooked shrimp, and let your cycle begin. Monitor Ammonia, watch it spike the drop to ZERO Then watch Nitrite rise, until it drops to Zero. At that time, you tank is concidered "Cycled".

That is, however, just the BEGINNING cycle. You will have several more small cycles (including a diatom, brown algae, stage to go thru also), but after this innitial cycle, you can do your 1st water change... then SLOWLY start adding clean-up crew and livestock. Remember... SLOW is the key word there!!!

 

[MarineTeng]

algae shows up quickly, like ed said, just feed the algae and bacteria with some food uncooked shrimp works well among other things and then wait at least till your ammonia and nitrite is 0, some say to wait till nitrate is 0 but i wouldn't wait that long for cleaners, as some tanks never do, though given a lot do

 

[Meche]

I started with no biology other than 4 fish and it took me about a month to get a diatom bloom. I think that would be the outside estimate for you (having LR and LS).

 

[Krish]

As the others suggested, it takes time. Some tanks take about 5-6 weeks to drop off all signs of ammonia and nitrite whereas it can happen a lot quicker or longer all depending on the condition of the rock you are using (like how much die-off you will experience etc) so I'd just watch things and keep testing which will give you an indication when is the right time. Algae usually starts growing as nitrates start to rise which is usualy after the "cycle" (the initial one) is complete

 

[Skimmy]

if you added uncured live rock, then the shrimp is probably unnessesary, it will cycle all on it's own, if the rock is cured then shrimp is great method.
once the tank is ready,
the real trick is to add the fish slowly, like one every 7 days, this way the bacteria colony has time to adapt/grow to the new inhabitants.

from the day you added live rock (if uncured) it would take about 35 days to colonize every surface in the aquarium and have your nitrates go down.

 

[wgregww]

when you go thru the diatom and brown alge stage is it ok to clean it off your glass, or should you just let it go.

 

[Krish]

It's fine to clean it off, but it will just grow back if there are still silicates in the water for it to consume. All available silicates have to be used up in order for the diatoms to go away which means if you do water changes without using ro/di water, chances are you will just be fueling the diatoms. Some people put snails in their tanks to take care of the diatoms so they don't have to looks at it, but once you no longer have the problem, make sure you you have some other food for your snails or a new home