help what to do. wait?

[captainken]

setup a 58 gallon. with a aquaclear skimmer in sump
with 30# of live rock. 2 vho 110s.
10 days from the start of the setup of live rock.
the cycle has started with the new live rock . high amomnia, nitrites and the nitrates are noticable. water change are done

problem
I noticed today that diatoms(brown dusting) are forming on the top of the rocks.
Do I need to leave the lights off till the cycle is done? I am running the lights from 1100am to 2100pm.

I check to ro and everything is testing ok. so its not the water.

is this just part of the cycle? should i run my lights at all?

I am making water changes every couple of days to keep the amomnia down at a accetable level.

5 gallon water changes.

sg is 1.023. temp 78.7.

help need advice. do i just need to be real patient?

[aquaticsdeptleader]

patient

[thefatman]

yep. be patient. the diatoms are a good thing. ( ijsut learned this myself) they show that the cycel is working.

also, i'd stop doing the water changes. you're actually slowing the process. there are a number of threads that i've read on here, relating to new tank cycling.

so far the majority rule has been, to set it up, and let it run for at least a month. no water changes, no cleaning, no nothing, just let it run. you shouldn't have any livestock in the tank at this point, so the high ammonia doesn't matter, it's needed to produce the nitifying bacteria. then your nitrites will go up. that's needed as well, to produce the nitrafying bacteria (name?) then you'll be all set.

IMO, everytime you do a water change, y ouare removing bacteria that you jsut waited to develope, and you are removing necessary ammonia and nitrites. naturally you wouldn't want them in there with livestock, but for the cycle, you need the spikes, it's a good thing and shows that the cycle is working.

don't worry, patience is something i need to learn as well.

[Junkzoo]

patience,,,,
hang in there,,,,it'll get better
did i mention patience?
keep us informed,,,

[Mickadee]

you can somewhat control the diatoms on the rocks with a turkey baster just blow it off with it.'
Mike

[MontanaRocknReefer]

Yup like Mike said you can blow it off with a turkey baster but like the others have said "Patience" as it is all part of the cycling process! It will go away as quickly as it came!

[captainken]

so i guess I am not doing to bad then.

Do i keep the lights off or on?

When the amomnia drops and the nitrites drop. the nitrates be high? then i will do a water change?

nothing except rock in tank. no livestock.

turkey blaster. good idea.
Im about to blast away.

[Geoff]

this is prolly the hardest part. the sitting around and waiting for the tank to cycle with nothing in it. i let my tank go for 2 months without a water change. you need the nitrate in the water in order to feed the bacteria that use it for food. just keep watching the LR, there are a lot of neat critters in there.

use the photoperiod you want to use when the tank is fully up and running. this will allow those niche critters to get a foothole where they will feel comfortable.

HTH,

G~

[captainken]

Thanks for all the help.

[Mrs Smith]

Yeah, if there's nothing in there but sand and rock, don't do any water changes. Now, if you'd gone and put a fish in there, we'd be telling you to do water changes.

Patience is soooo hard!

Danielle

PS. Where in Kansas are you?