I've been cycling my 10 gallon salt water tank for 9 days now. I "seeded" it with a pound of live rock from a mature tank. As my ammonia source I used a bay scallop, which is very moldy right now. Brown dust started to appeared on the bottom of the tank about 3 days ago I'm assuming it's diatom. Today I noticed little bushes of brown algae growing on the rock. I have been testing the NO3 and it still reads 0 ppm. How much longer do you think it will take before the NO3 levels rise? Is there some succession of algae ex. diatom>brown>green>tank cycled? I do not have test for NH3 and NO2 so I do not know their levels.
P.S. I realize the only for sure way i will know my tank is cycled is when the I get my NO3 peak but I'm anxious and waht to know how much longer to expect that to take.
P.S. I realize the only for sure way i will know my tank is cycled is when the I get my NO3 peak but I'm anxious and waht to know how much longer to expect that to take.