hair algae during cycle

[JDigital]

Originally Posted by marie

Water changes are important, as stuff leaches from the decaying things in the rock, it needs to be removed. You'll still get the necessary bacteria but you remove phosphates that would jump start the algae when the lights come back on

Where do you find your ammonia/trite/trate spikes when you're doing weekly changes in the cycle, you are always going to be removing them and have fluctuating test reading.

If worried about phosphates leaching, there is always the option to run a Phosban reactor during the cycle.