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@odin Thanks for the info man. Appreciates. I'm kinda impatience on the waiting part.

You can do it the other way around and add them strait away without adding any ammonia and having completely clean water from the start but you will need to test the water constantly and be prepared to do water changes to lower the ammonia and Nitrites etc.


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odin wrote: ↑04 Dec 2018 15:04 You can do it the other way around and add them strait away without adding any ammonia and having completely clean water from the start but you will need to test the water constantly and be prepared to do water changes to lower the ammonia and Nitrites etc.


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I'll probably use this method for my Alpha new tank. I'm halfway throughout the ammonia/nitrite stage now.

Updates on my tank, still cycling but halfway there. Algaes are growing wild everywhere on glass and rocks, although there are brown colours now but i'm happy to see so
much algae growing.

Ammonia remains at zero,
Nitrite at 1.0ppm "patiently waiting for it to turn to nitrate, understood it takes a longer time"
Nitrate at 10ppm (Huge drop from 80ppm 2days ago)
Water Temp at 28 degrees

2 question, if you can see my black lava rock on the left is lik 3/4 of tank height, if on a later day when i do lets say a 50% water change and that would expose half of my top lava rock to air and not submerge under water for like a good 10minutes, would it be a issue like bacteria/algae will die?

2) If my Nitrate is below 5ppm when nitrite is down to 0, is water change still required?

Paulao wrote:@odin Thanks Odin. gonna load some updates.

-5 days after last water test with ammonia 2ppm, nitrate & nitrite 0ppm, got some new test result earlier on.

-PH stays at 8.5
-Ammonia stays at 2ppm,
-Nitrate spike to 5.0ppm,
-Nitrite spike to 0.25ppm

I think bacteria is building well. No signs of algae growth yet. So usually how do you guys decide like "now is the time to put in the shrimps?"
Is it like only when algae is established ? i understand that with high spike of nitrate, algae would grow naturally, any guidelines on how high should nitrate reach (eg. 20ppm etc) before parameters are ready for water changes / ready for shrimp input?

@Algae In Space Totally Agreed. I'm addicted to them now.. well an "animal person" sounds like a happy person to me.. Anyway I've participated in your questionnaire few weeks back. Nice set of question which got me to realise some "answers" which i needed for myself.

Nice setup. Love those rocks & corals. I can't wait to see the arrival of the residents in there : )

Acit wrote: ↑10 Dec 2018 02:03

Paulao wrote:@odin Thanks Odin. gonna load some updates.

-5 days after last water test with ammonia 2ppm, nitrate & nitrite 0ppm, got some new test result earlier on.

-PH stays at 8.5
-Ammonia stays at 2ppm,
-Nitrate spike to 5.0ppm,
-Nitrite spike to 0.25ppm

I think bacteria is building well. No signs of algae growth yet. So usually how do you guys decide like "now is the time to put in the shrimps?"
Is it like only when algae is established ? i understand that with high spike of nitrate, algae would grow naturally, any guidelines on how high should nitrate reach (eg. 20ppm etc) before parameters are ready for water changes / ready for shrimp input?

@Algae In Space Totally Agreed. I'm addicted to them now.. well an "animal person" sounds like a happy person to me.. Anyway I've participated in your questionnaire few weeks back. Nice set of question which got me to realise some "answers" which i needed for myself.

Nice setup. Love those rocks & corals. I can't wait to see the arrival of the residents in there : )

@Acit Me too. Having a hard time holding my itchy hands back from being impatient and making the no moves. e.g. putting in shrimps before it cycling is done..

Paulao wrote: ↑10 Dec 2018 02:41

Acit wrote: ↑10 Dec 2018 02:03

Paulao wrote:@odin Thanks Odin. gonna load some updates.

-5 days after last water test with ammonia 2ppm, nitrate & nitrite 0ppm, got some new test result earlier on.

-PH stays at 8.5
-Ammonia stays at 2ppm,
-Nitrate spike to 5.0ppm,
-Nitrite spike to 0.25ppm

I think bacteria is building well. No signs of algae growth yet. So usually how do you guys decide like "now is the time to put in the shrimps?"
Is it like only when algae is established ? i understand that with high spike of nitrate, algae would grow naturally, any guidelines on how high should nitrate reach (eg. 20ppm etc) before parameters are ready for water changes / ready for shrimp input?

@Algae In Space Totally Agreed. I'm addicted to them now.. well an "animal person" sounds like a happy person to me.. Anyway I've participated in your questionnaire few weeks back. Nice set of question which got me to realise some "answers" which i needed for myself.

Nice setup. Love those rocks & corals. I can't wait to see the arrival of the residents in there : )

@Acit Me too. Having a hard time holding my itchy hands back from being impatient and making the no moves. e.g. putting in shrimps before it cycling is done..

I just "threw" them in on day one . You need good lighting for mucho algae - that's my experience.

@Algae In Space did you "threw" them in when water parameters are still cycling?

Sure did! First and second tank as well. In the second tank I use Microbe Lift Special Blend since day one according to instructions. Had diatom and green algae in first tank. Still no diatom in sight in the second tank. Will reduce the Special Blend after the first phase and see if algae will come. I'm in no rush.

Looking good, when your nitrites are at zero do a large water change to reduce the Nitrates as much as you can then put the shrimp in. With the tank being cycled you shouldn't need to do any water changes to expose the rock but if you have to then i wouldn't be worried about 10 minutes out of the water myself.