Nitrites falling, algae starts showing up?

[jt325i]

Are they connected? Tank has now been running about 2 weeks. Ammonia is at 0ppm. Nitrites have been steadily falling from a high of around 5ppm down to around .25ppm yesterday. Checked it this eve & it's 0ppm. I imagine this means Nitrates are starting to form. I don't have a test kit for it yet. (Plan on going to Petsmart as I got a $40 gift certificate for Christmas) Tank is planted somewhat..... 5 gallon w/4 lutea & an anubias in it. Since Ammonia & Nitrites now read 0 is my tank completely cycled?

 

[Wazzucycler]

Originally posted by jt325i
Are they connected? Since Ammonia & Nitrites now read 0 is my tank completely cycled?

The tank is cycled but add fish slow. If you add too many at once it will produce a bunch of ammonia and do a mini cycle again. The decreasing nitrites and algae are connected as the algae is feeding off the nitrates produced by nitrites being broken down. You can get the nitrate test kit at petsmart for 6 bucks at petsmart. Id get one for sure.

 

[RTR]

Most algae, just like higher plants, prefer ammonia, so the appearance of algae has little or nothing to do with whether or not the tank is cycled.

Zero ammonia and nitrite are hints that you tank may be cycled, but this depends on whether or not the tank can clear whatever level of ammonia you were using and the resulting nitrite both in 24 hours. That is the test.

If you fishless cycled using 3-5 ppm ammonia, you can fully stock the tank immediately after the nitrate-reducing water change. There are no concerns with minicycles after fishless, provided the full load is introduced shortly.