7 weeks into cycle nitrites/nitrates off the charts!!! Need Advice
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as those links show some brands are packed with ammonia, some are shipping bac in a dormant state and they take time to reanimate upon tank intro, and even if they weren't the hydration alone w hold the bac it would take a while for them to die in truly sterile water anyway. simply a shorter shelf life.
whole industries must exist to keep bacteria out of a fluid. keeping bacteria in a fluid is easy
whole industries must exist to keep bacteria out of a fluid. keeping bacteria in a fluid is easy
tdileo
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This is actually kinda interesting. I still will always go with a piece of established rock though. I've been paid to help set up other peoples new tanks and always throw in some rock I have sitting in my sump and tell them to pick 1 fish to start. After a month I take mine back and tell them to get another. Never failed me, and thats how I started with my first tank. In freshwater I used some filter media and a scoop of gravel or sand
Brew12
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I think the biggest problem with bottled bacteria use is a lack of understanding of how the bacteria function. People start their cycle by adding food and see ammonia and nitrite spike. Then they take a bottled product, dump it in their tank, and think their problems will be solved. Unfortunately, nitrifying bacteria don't work that way.
The first problem is that a strain of nitrosonomas bacteria that will efficiently process ammonia at 1ppm will do almost nothing when ammonia is at 5ppm. Similarly, if a strain will process ammonia at 5ppm it will hardly do anything with ammonia at 0.5ppm. Nitrobacter bacteria that process nitrites work the same way. If you want these products to work best, you should add them before adding a food source.
Another issue is that the rate of ammonia/nitrite processing is dependent on pH, temperature, and oxygenation. In a very new tank the pH and O2 levels can swing enough to impact the rate at which the bacteria multiply.
The first problem is that a strain of nitrosonomas bacteria that will efficiently process ammonia at 1ppm will do almost nothing when ammonia is at 5ppm. Similarly, if a strain will process ammonia at 5ppm it will hardly do anything with ammonia at 0.5ppm. Nitrobacter bacteria that process nitrites work the same way. If you want these products to work best, you should add them before adding a food source.
Another issue is that the rate of ammonia/nitrite processing is dependent on pH, temperature, and oxygenation. In a very new tank the pH and O2 levels can swing enough to impact the rate at which the bacteria multiply.
mcarroll
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You aren't making that up!! Try buying a few gallons of bacterially pure water. (It exists.)
(I only bumped into this in reading, but did you know there are bacteria that actually specialize in the ultrapure water environment??)
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No I didn't know their strains but it sounds like freshwater extremophiles!
People have indeed complained of ro/di water line and tank smell at times depending on install variables
People have indeed complained of ro/di water line and tank smell at times depending on install variables
Mandrew
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I cycled my dry rock tank in 3 days with biospira. I don't know how they do it but they do. It just works lol
I just went through the same thing. Tank was great for a few weeks then boom. A few days of water changes and some prime is all I used then everything was fine. I did loose one fish in the process. Big water changes with ro/di water will do the trick.
psfive
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my 6 year old 40 breeder crashed a month ago. Not sure if I overloaded the system or possibly a velvet outbreak after buying a cleaner shrimp at Petco. Lost all my fish except a diamond goby who seems to be doing great. I have done 10 % water changes every week since. I have a fluval hang off the back filter plus a fluval canister FX5, protein skimmer and 3 power heads. Salinity is 1.025, temp is 78, ph 7.4, nitrate .25 and ammonia is .25. I test with a api master kit. What should I do to get my levels better so I can add fish in another month.
Brew12
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Welcome to Reef2Reef!
I am guessing your test is a false positive for ammonia. If it isn't then it should go away in a day or two.
Unfortunately, if it was velvet in your system it is still going to be there. To kill the parasite responsible for velvet would require non reef safe medications or leaving the system without any fish for 60 days to starve it out.
You do have the option to try and manage the system with the velvet present. You will need to use high quality feed (fresh or frozen) and keep the system properly stocked but it can be done.
psfive
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I really have no clue what happened. I did see a few specks of ich and post mortem fish looked to have a white coating on them so then I thought velvet. We lost a chocolate chip starfish, 2 cleaner shrimp, lawnmower blenny, serpet star, 2 clowns , 2 pencil urchants and 4 damsels. Only survivor was our diamond goby. We had all of them for over a year and they were healthy. Do you think we overloaded tank ? The shrimp and blenny were added a week before everything went haywire. Are gobies that tough to survive velvet? Its just so confusing. My levels don't seem to be horribly off to cause all this to happen
Brew12
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Did you lose the shrimp and starfish? The parasites that are velvet and ich would not impact the inverts.
That is a lot of inverts for the tank size but the fish load sounds fine. It sounds more like something killed either a fish or invert and that caused a spike to kill the rest of them. And yes, Goby's are pretty tough but any fish can survive velvet or ich if their immune system is strong enough.
Reef_Tank_Fan_SC
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I am in the process of cycling a 29 gal nano as we speak. I am using Dr. Tim's one and only and ammonium chloride. I can say that nowhere on the bottle does it say that your cycle will be done in a week or two. Nor does it claim to be a miracle in a bottle. It simply states that you dose the ammonium chloride then add one and only. Then everyday thereafter you check ammonia and nitrites. Add ammonia as needed to feed bacteria until it is able to bring ammonia down from 2.0ppm to 0 in a 24 hour period. The point I am trying to make is that the bottle bacteria is ment to be used as a tool to help you succeed in doing your cycle properly and correctly in a timely manner. There is still however the human element that requires you to do the checks and have the patience to make sure it is complete.
Now to the OP post, I personally would do small daily water changes (10-15÷) so that it didn't cause to drastic of a change to quickly. Also if the fish are eating and seem fine I wouldn't move them to much to avoid to much stress (however keep a close eye in them and react quickly if you see a problem). Also cutting back on your feeding to once a day will make a difference in your nitrate however with less feeding and less food in the tank you may see more aggression with fish at feeding time. Just a heads up. Just stick with it and you numbers will come down.. Also make sure that you are checking that ammonia frequently. That is your #1 hazard in a tank that's not fully cycled.
Now to the OP post, I personally would do small daily water changes (10-15÷) so that it didn't cause to drastic of a change to quickly. Also if the fish are eating and seem fine I wouldn't move them to much to avoid to much stress (however keep a close eye in them and react quickly if you see a problem). Also cutting back on your feeding to once a day will make a difference in your nitrate however with less feeding and less food in the tank you may see more aggression with fish at feeding time. Just a heads up. Just stick with it and you numbers will come down.. Also make sure that you are checking that ammonia frequently. That is your #1 hazard in a tank that's not fully cycled.
psfive
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It killed everything even my snails. Good to know that velvet wouldn't have killed those. Had to have been a spike then? How many inverts and fish should we have for our 40 breeder? This really has us fr
mcarroll
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A cleaner shrimp doesn't crash a healthy 6 year old tank – not even one from there.
Can you post a new thread in the Member Tanks or maybe under Reef Aquarium Discussion to describe your overall situation with the tank, how old it is, how it was started, livestock, etc, etc....including any and all recent history of any changes or happenings?
(You're welcome to PM me if you don't want to start a thread for any reason.)
((Among other things, a toxic algae bloom could do that, BTW.))
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I would have to vote raindrops as the ultimate contaminated world vector and for ro di to be purer (anyone reading with access to a bac lab/ do a test!)
Up until recently I didn't know that spores molds and fungi ride upper troposphere air currents to disperse literally everywhere. I figured aerial contamination was lower closer to earth but some scholar articles randomly clicked through showed raindrops to be an excellent alternative to dr tims lol
Somehow aerosol protections prevent them from drying out on the trip around the globe
Up until recently I didn't know that spores molds and fungi ride upper troposphere air currents to disperse literally everywhere. I figured aerial contamination was lower closer to earth but some scholar articles randomly clicked through showed raindrops to be an excellent alternative to dr tims lol
Somehow aerosol protections prevent them from drying out on the trip around the globe
psfive
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A cleaner shrimp doesn't crash a healthy 6 year old tank – not even one from there.
Can you post a new thread in the Member Tanks or maybe under Reef Aquarium Discussion to describe your overall situation with the tank, how old it is, how it was started, livestock, etc, etc....including any and all recent history of any changes or happenings?
(You're welcome to PM me if you don't want to start a thread for any reason.)
((Among other things, a toxic algae bloom could do that, BTW.))
yes I can do that. Thank you so muchA cleaner shrimp doesn't crash a healthy 6 year old tank – not even one from there.
Can you post a new thread in the Member Tanks or maybe under Reef Aquarium Discussion to describe your overall situation with the tank, how old it is, how it was started, livestock, etc, etc....including any and all recent history of any changes or happenings?
(You're welcome to PM me if you don't want to start a thread for any reason.)
((Among other things, a toxic algae bloom could do that, BTW.))
mcarroll
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Either they're small enough that the drops are relatively so huge that it doesn't come into play, or they're resistant to dehydration. I'm guessing with most of those critters that they're resistant to dehydration.
A further guess: If they're making it that high up I almost wonder if they begin the journey dehydrated....seems like only dust would be light enough to get up there into the clouds via wind.
