Ammonia stuck?

[Mycota]

Im probably just being impatient but im cycling a 20g fusion. Never had to wait this long for ammonia to drop.

I have ~1 inch fine oolite bed (yes i love the fine grain) mixed with just about a cup of aragonite crushed coral for texture.

~20lbs dry dead rock (cooked for 1 week in 10% bleach then dechlorinator soak and 2 rodi soaks)

4 pieces of live reef rubble and one of those ceramic media cubes from LFS sump.

IM ghost Skimmer is on with cup drain just draining back into sump. New skimmer, breaking it in.

Kessil A160we Lighting on normal schedule. 4 hrs high intensity with 3 hour ramp up/down on each side.

Reef crystals salt mix

Not running any media yet but plan on chemipure elite or blue until tank is around a year then probably just carbon once things get nice and stable.

I used ghost feeding until my ammonia got to 2ppm (about 4 days of ghost feeding more than i would normally give stocked tank). I have stopped ghost feeding as my ammonia is where i feel it should be.

I then added dr tims bacteria once ammonia was present. Approx day 7.

I am now on day 20 and ammonia is still 2ppm. I tried to double check this with another expired (2 yrs expired) ammonia test kit and it gave reading of 8ppm. Tonight i think i will make some fresh saltwater and test it with both kits to see if one or both are giving false positive and i actually dont have enough or too much ammonia.

The live rock rubble i purchased has fan worms and i see mini brittle starfish arms reaching out from a few spots. So that livestock seems fine at these levels.

Diatoms have started to appear as of yesterday. In the past i only got diatoms after nitrogen cycle completes.

As always ammonia 2ppm, nitrite 0ppm, nitrate 0ppm.

Never have seen any nitrite or nitrate.

Salinity 1.026
Temp 78
Phos 0.25
Alk 8 dKH
Calc 450
pH 8.2

No water changes as of yet.

Any ideas on what is going on/stalling this? My other 3 tanks cycled faster than this. Im probably just being impatient because i got a longer cycle than in the past. Heck i wouldn't be surprised if i get home and nitrites have shown up just because i made this post. Lol

So i guess the main question here is: isa 20 day+ ammonia spike normal or could something be inhibiting the cycle?

 

[GBRsouth]

If the ammonia level turns out to really be 8ppm, I'd be concerned that it is high enough to kill your bacteria. If so water changes to bring it back to 2ppm and another bottle of bacteria after this.

 

[Mycota]

Kind of my thoughts too except for the fact i have diatoms and hitchhiker invert livestock (fan worms and mini brittle star as well as 2 types of pods) that seems fine when 8ppm ammonia would probably kill them. Especially the starfish.

Hopefully tonights fresh mixed saltwater test may shed some light on potential false positive tests.

Either way hopefully i have time to sneak out this weekend and take a water sample to LFS for comparisons.

 

[WWIII]

Could always add another bottle of bacteria to see if there's any effect. Maybe a different brand for the heck of it. Maybe get another ammonia test as well. It would be very hard to maintain exactly 2 ppm ammonia for 20 days without adding anything to the tank, I would think?

 

[Mycota]

Right! I think my test kit is bad. I doubt i ever even used it before because it was the api set i bought mainly for ph and nitrate awhile ago because my nitrate kit was really low and my probe needs a new sensor and there isnt much of a reason to test ammonia after cycle unless something looks very wrong.

 

[Mycota]

Ok so quick update since i got home.

Both ammonia test kits read 0 on freshly mixed saltwater.

But i think things are happening. The newer test kit now reads about 1ppm and the older one is reading 2ppm.

Diatoms have doubled since yesterday.

No nitrite but nitrate is at 5ppm

So it seems the bacteria is definitely populating. Hopefully tomorrow will show some nitrite. I assume right now the bacteria converting ammonia to nitrite are just starting to doing there thing so therefore theblive rubble can keep up for the moment.

My hypothesis is in the next day or two i will get the nitrite spike i have been waiting for. Ive heard it can happen fast and some people miss it. I will continue to test every night to see how it goes.

Thanks for everyone's input. Ill update as things change.

 

[GBRsouth]

Don't worry if you don't see nitrite, but you are seeing increasing nitrate. It means you already have sufficient bacteria to process the nitrite.

 

[Mycota]

Ah makes sense. Thanks

 

[Mycota]

Seems the cycle has finally kicked into gear. I didnt change anything. Was going to give it another week before i tried anything. So im glad i waited.

First tank I've set up in a few years so i guess the excitement was making me impatient.

Tonight's readings were:
Ammonia dropped to 0.5
Nitrite finally appeared at 0.25
Nitrate upto 20

Seems like it wont take but another week or two now.

Gotta start figuring out my stock list. I'll probably do the obligatory nemo clownfish for my son first.

 

[Mycota]

Ammonia and nitrite are both now at zero. Nitrate is at 40ppm and phosphate at 0.25.

Probably give it until the weekend. And do a 50% waterchange and add a clownfish.