60 gallon cycling?

Betta-Chetta · Feb 4, 2018

Hey everyone i was curious to see if anyone knew why my 60 gallon is still showing the same results as week two. Tank has been running for a little over three weeks. I added turbo start at the beginning of the second week. The parameters are

Ammonia : 0.25 ppm
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5.0 ppm
Salinity: 1.024
Any idea why it still says that?
Thank yall for the help!

NowGlazeIT · Feb 4, 2018

What test kit are you using for ammonia

Betta-Chetta · Feb 4, 2018

NowGlazeIT · Feb 4, 2018

I think your ammonia might be lower then the test show getting a .25 on api can be common.

Betta-Chetta · Feb 4, 2018

Oh ok ya because i went to my lfs and they said to add the turbo start and i should be good tp start adding stuff. But if im not getting good readings i dont want to add stuff. Just want to make sure its ok

NowGlazeIT · Feb 4, 2018

Couple ways you can go from here I’ll name a few that come to mind.
You can try a test kit from salifert their cheap
You can add pure ammonia in small amounts and test to watch ammonia go up and back down
You can ghost feed frozen fish foods and test ammonia to watch it go up and back down
You can add a hardy fish and monitor ammonia. But to go this route you’ll need to get some kind of ammonia reducer like prime to have just in case ammonia spikes up.

NowGlazeIT · Feb 4, 2018

Betta-Chetta said:
Oh ok ya because i went to my lfs and they said to add the turbo start and i should be good tp start adding stuff. But if im not getting good readings i dont want to add stuff. Just want to make sure its ok

Turbo start or bio spira this are good for getting good denitrifying bacteria in the tank but it needs time to colonize in your surface area and food (ammonia source)to populate

Betta-Chetta · Feb 4, 2018

Ya ive always used bio spira in all my tanks and just cycled with live rock and live sand for a month but this id the only tank out of 9 that has ever done this

NowGlazeIT · Feb 4, 2018

So it’s good you didn’t jump right away and start adding stuff. Waiting and testing is all apart of a successful reef nowadays. I would watch those levels go up and down and if you already have then add a fish you like and test from there. The api is terrible for giving a solid 0 on ammonia sometimes but very good at picking up moderate levels of ammonia so it can be reliable just takes getting used to

NowGlazeIT · Feb 4, 2018

Betta-Chetta said:
Ya ive always used bio spira in all my tanks and just cycled with live rock and live sand for a month but this id the only tank out of 9 that has ever done this

Woah then maybe your test kit is going out

Betta-Chetta · Feb 4, 2018

Ya very true i mean i dont have a light for it yet anyways so im not in a huge rush to set it up right away either

NowGlazeIT · Feb 4, 2018

Betta-Chetta said:
Ya very true i mean i dont have a light for it yet anyways so im not in a huge rush to set it up right away either

Now your situation is sounding a lot like the one I was in not long ago hah I bet your getting low readings because there’s not much action in that tank 5ppm nitrate is very low if it was like 20 and ammonia was reading .25 I’d be way more confident that your tank is good to go