I have an interesting question about cycling that I haven't seen adressed before. I am setting up a 12 g Aquapod with 14 lbs live rock. The live rock was cured for several weeks prior to going in the tank. I have not stocked anything but there are two very small snails that hitchhiked in. Ammonia levels have remained steady around 0.4 ppm (we are on day 7) and nitrites still read 0. Nitrates, however, are up around 40 ppm and hair algae are growing here and there.

The question is: Should I begin water changes to address the nitrates and hair algae or wait until the cycle "finishes" and deal with what might be a worse hair algae problem?

hair algie, or any algie for that matter is nothing to be overly concerned about.in my opinion people get so worked up about it, the stuff is resiliant as anything,

too much nutients u get it, to much light in the wrong spectrum u get it, opps ive over feed the tank, & my fish are pooping more now, u get it! your kid dropped in his donut, u get it! theres nothing really bad about algie except its a not the thing we imagine in a reef setting, ok not totally correct, it does take up oxygen during its own cycle, but it also creates it as with anything of phyo origins & really looks like it belongs in the matrix, and theres always the concern it can smother your live stock but hey, thats nature for u! but a new toothbrush, clean up crew, & alittle time always wins against algie! as for the nitrates, theres nothing to say u cant do a water change really, theres nothing to say u cant leave the lights off completly during cycles ether, there is nothing to say u even need a DSD. if your rock is semi cured, u have water motion, u have a good skimmer sucking out the gunk, i would just leave it to do its thing, then worry about water changes after your all your test parmeters are normal & zero!