i got a 10 gallon aquarium and set it up, after about 2 weeks it has tons of diatoms and some cyano however no signs of a cycle. I read online that adding bio spira and a cuc could help with the algae, at this point I don't expect a real cycle as I've added a bottle of bio spira. Anyways I ended up adding a emerald crab and clown goby. Not sure if that will do anything or not(probably not). I need suggestions on getting rid of the algae, I'm considering just restarting the tank at this point to avoid issues down the road, thoughts?
No cycle started, tons of brown algae
iemsparticus
The Addiction is Real
Diatoms clear up by themselves once they consume the silicates in your tank. Just be patient. 
Fishfinder
2500 Club Member
The cycle started when you put water in
Best Fish-Jake
Valuable Member
Your cycle starts as soon as you add livestock or another ammonia source to the tank (like ghost-feeding). To determine whether or not your tank is cycled, test your water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. To safely add fish, you'll want ammonia and nitrite to both be at 0, and nitrate preferably below 40 ppm.
When you cycle a tank using bottled bacteria, you should test to make sure the bacteria population can support fish before adding any. You can test this by ghost feeding a couple pellets/ piece of frozen shrimp to the tank allowing it to decay into ammonia. You should test your water daily to monitor the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels. In order to determine whether your tank is habitable to fish, your tank should be able to process 2ppm of ammonia into nitrate within a day or two.
Algae growth is perfectly normal to see in a new aquarium. This point is generally referred to as the 'ugly phase'. Eventually it will get better. I always reccomend doing 15% waterchanges weekly on tanks this size, and you'll definetly want to be using RO/DI water.
When you cycle a tank using bottled bacteria, you should test to make sure the bacteria population can support fish before adding any. You can test this by ghost feeding a couple pellets/ piece of frozen shrimp to the tank allowing it to decay into ammonia. You should test your water daily to monitor the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels. In order to determine whether your tank is habitable to fish, your tank should be able to process 2ppm of ammonia into nitrate within a day or two.
Algae growth is perfectly normal to see in a new aquarium. This point is generally referred to as the 'ugly phase'. Eventually it will get better. I always reccomend doing 15% waterchanges weekly on tanks this size, and you'll definetly want to be using RO/DI water.
iemsparticus
The Addiction is Real
You don't really need to measure Nitrite during a cycle, because Cloride out competes Nitrite in saltwater for intake through the fishes gills, and even though it is possible for them to still uptake some, it won't be enough to be of concern.
Really, you just need to test for Amonia and Nitrate. First Amonia will go up, then it will go down. Then after a bit, Nitrate will go up, then go down. At that point, it is cycled... you have all of the Nitrifying Bacteria colonies you need... just a matter of slowly adding fish to the system so that the bacteria has a chance to catch up with the bio-load increase.
Really, you just need to test for Amonia and Nitrate. First Amonia will go up, then it will go down. Then after a bit, Nitrate will go up, then go down. At that point, it is cycled... you have all of the Nitrifying Bacteria colonies you need... just a matter of slowly adding fish to the system so that the bacteria has a chance to catch up with the bio-load increase.
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