ATM colony day 3- zero nitrites or nitrates

[GARRIGA]

Fritz Turbo Start what I'm trying next and might solve current concerns with fish already added although that added used decades ago without bacterial products. Entire damsel family seems to be bullet proof to new cycles.

 

[spamvicious]

How do things look now?

Ammonia is still showing as 1ppm on the Red Sea test for total ammonia. Nitrite is showing as 0.5-1 and nothing on the nitrate yet.

Does the ammonia start to go down once the nitrates show?

 

[mh0ward]

The ammonia will start to go down once you've got enough bacteria to keep up with your feeding and fish waste. My tank ended up taking about 14-15 days to cycle with Dr. Tims, but I had nothing in the tank and was dosing a specific amount of ammonium chloride. Supposedly, too much ammonia can stall the cycling process... for how long, I don't know.

 

[spamvicious]

The ammonia will start to go down once you've got enough bacteria to keep up with your feeding and fish waste. My tank ended up taking about 14-15 days to cycle with Dr. Tims, but I had nothing in the tank and was dosing a specific amount of ammonium chloride. Supposedly, too much ammonia can stall the cycling process... for how long, I don't know.

Yeah I used two bottles of a different bacteria and nothing happened at all until I added the turbo fritz. So it was two weeks before the cycle even started, just hoping it doesn’t take another two weeks. But if it does then I’ll have to be patient.

 

[taricha]

Nitrite is showing as 0.5-1....

Does the ammonia start to go down once the nitrates show?

The production of nitrite tells you that ammonia is being processed by nitrifiers. They will soon clear the ammonia down to basically zero.

 

[spamvicious]

The production of nitrite tells you that ammonia is being processed by nitrifiers. They will soon clear the ammonia down to basically zero.

The nitrite started to show on Saturday so hopefully will see the ammonia coming down soon

 

[spamvicious]

The nitrite started to show on Saturday so hopefully will see the ammonia coming down soon

I tested this morning and now have nitrate but the total ammonia is still showing high levels and isn’t going down at all.

 

[spamvicious]

The production of nitrite tells you that ammonia is being processed by nitrifiers. They will soon clear the ammonia down to basically zero.

What ph level should I have? And can that cause issues?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

What ph level should I have? And can that cause issues?

Unlikely to be an issue. I think just waiting more is in order if your ammonia kit is working.

 

[spamvicious]

Unlikely to be an issue. I think just waiting more is in order if your ammonia kit is working.

I did a test with mixed salt water and it was accurate so the readings are accurate. The free ammonia is in a safe range according to a website I used. I supposed it’s only technically a week of cycling even though I started the process three weeks ago.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I did a test with mixed salt water and it was accurate so the readings are accurate. The free ammonia is in a safe range according to a website I used. I supposed it’s only technically a week of cycling even though I started the process three weeks ago.

What is the level now?

 

[taricha]

I tested this morning and now have nitrate but the total ammonia is still showing high levels and isn’t going down at all.

ok. great. So your system is breaking down food and waste to ammonia, and your nitrifiers are processing the ammonia to NO2 and NO3. The nitrifiers haven't quite yet caught up with the rate of ammonia being created, but that happens pretty fast once you see NO2 start to be made.
It's OK to do a water change to keep ammonia lower while you wait.

I did a test with mixed salt water and it was accurate so the readings are accurate.

Thanks for doing that sanity check.

pH is fine whatever it is in saltwater. I'll mention this just to cover all the bases - Make sure you have some good flow and water moving at the tank surface.

 

[spamvicious]

What is the level now?

Of free ammonia?

 

[spamvicious]

ok. great. So your system is breaking down food and waste to ammonia, and your nitrifiers are processing the ammonia to NO2 and NO3. The nitrifiers haven't quite yet caught up with the rate of ammonia being created, but that happens pretty fast once you see NO2 start to be made.
It's OK to do a water change to keep ammonia lower while you wait.

Thanks for doing that sanity check.

pH is fine whatever it is in saltwater. I'll mention this just to cover all the bases - Make sure you have some good flow and water moving at the tank surface.

Ok thanks so how much of a water change would you suggest?. I have good flow as I upgraded the stock pump in the evo.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Of free ammonia?

Whatever ammonia test result you got. I don’t need a conversion to free ammonia if you measured total ammonia.

 

[spamvicious]

Whatever ammonia test result you got. I don’t need a conversion to free ammonia if you measured total ammonia.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

OK, that seems pretty high and I would not assume it is safe.

 

[spamvicious]

OK, that seems pretty high and I would not assume it is safe.

What do you read it as?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I don't know if it is accurate, but i read it as matching the darkest color which means greater than or equal to 2 ppm.

 

[spamvicious]

I don't know if it is accurate, but i read it as matching the darkest color which means greater than or equal to 2 ppm.

To me it reads at around 1ppm. However if tomorrow the ammonia hasn’t gone down at all I’ll do a water change. I have a seachem alert badge that is showing a colour between safe and alert.