cycle and test kits

[johnj]

so iv just started my 1st ever marine tank cycle and wont to ask does this look ok after 1 day

Ammonia (API) 2ppm Salifert 0.5
nitrite between 0.25 -0.50 more on darker side to the 0.50 mark
nitrate 0

wy is my salifert kit saying only 0.5 and api saying 2ppm ??

would you go on the lower salifert test result and add more ammonia to the 2ppm says on bottle or wait few days to see if goes higher

 

[Rscott]

Do some searching around and you will see that the API kits are good for one thing... wasteing money
They are practically useless and always ready way high

If I could cycle my tank over again, I would not even test ammonia for atleast 3 weeks.

Keep ghost feeding or ammonia dosing or whatever your method is
In a few weeks check for lots of NO3 and zero no2 and zero ammonia

Done.....
I stressed out over my cycle and would do it very differently if I could do it over
But forget what the API or fluval kit says

 

[lapin]

I have just started my 1st ever marine tank cycle and want to ask; does this look ok after 1 day ?

Yes

Why is my salifert kit saying only 0.5 and api saying 2ppm ??

Testing error or its one of the kits thats not right
I would belive the Salfert kit before API

Would you go on the lower salifert test result and add more ammonia to the 2ppm says on bottle or wait few days to see if goes higher

I would test again, Just to avoid adding too much ammonia. If the Salfert kit still reads .5 then add some more ammonia.

 

[johnj]

Yes

Testing error or its one of the kits thats not right
I would belive the Salfert kit before API


I would test again, Just to avoid adding too much ammonia. If the Salfert kit still reads .5 then add some more ammonia.

iv just checked again like you said and the same results" 0.5 salifert and API is 2ppm How can 2 test kits be so far apart?

do many people use the API for marine? I know they have a big name and that! but come on!!

iv just put another 80 drops of doc tims ammonia into the tank to see if that will show up on the salifert kit

 

[johnj]

So guys its the 5th day of the cycle and my Ammonia is still no higher than 0.5 (prob more like 0.25) lower! on the salifert test kit and Nitrite 0.1 salifert

Api is saying 4ppm still and 1ppm nitrite

how come no high ammonia or nitrite on salfert yet?

I added 530 drops ammonia from dc tims on 1st day and another 160 drops after 24 hours to try and higher!

 

[lapin]

I would say something is wrong with the Salfert test kit. If you added ammonia and the kit does not see the added amount. Kits can be bad for a number of reasons. Before using a new kit I always do a test to compare it to an old kit.

 

[johnj]

I would say something is wrong with the Salfert test kit. If you added ammonia and the kit does not see the added amount. Kits can be bad for a number of reasons. Before using a new kit I always do a test to compare it to an old kit.

I did check some ro water that was part salted to 1.011 in bosh in back room with salifert kit" it said 0 ammonia

I just thought after 710 drops of ammonia id have had more than 0.5 ammonia?

 

[W1ngz]

Forget the API. Literally anyone who's had a marine tank for more than 6 months has moved on to more reliable and more precise test kits.

You've added ammonia, but you've also added bacteria and it's been 5 days. If any of the rock or sand you added were wet and live, there was also bacteria there. The bacteria consumed some ammonia over the 5 days. There is ammonia in the tank, that's all you need to worry about regardless if it's 0.5 ppm or 2 ppm, it will still cycle.

Add nothing for another 3 days, then test again. If it's not 0, wait 3 more days. When it gets to 0, then add the correct amount for 2ppm in the volume of water you have, and test it after about 15 minutes so it has time to mix through the water.

 

[brandon429]

I want to show you something handy

2019 cycling is testless. we can cycle any aquarium off merely submersion time alone. Yours works like this: no matter how it reads right now, if you just let it swirl for 30 days then change out all the water, those leftover surfaces inside are cycled and they'll pass an ammonia oxidation test at that time to prove it, if needed. we already prove it here, consider testless cycling it sure is cheap. it never fails.

there is a time before 30 days that its ready, that's where accurate testers, if you can find some, can help. but if you have 30 you have a fully cycled reef anywhere on this planet.

The microbiology of reef tank cycling.

You can skip your cycle. Ive been reefing online for twenty years and have never waited one second for a tank to cycle, because I buy rocks that are already cycled and move them home. Here's two: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/octo-high-end-sps-skip-cycle-build.713256/...

www.reef2reef.com

some facts:

variances in ammonia and nitrite will not stall your cycle, you can't stall it unless you make the water into bathroom cleaner. All you can do is mess up the wastewater, the stuff that stews for 30 days, by adding too much or too little but in the end you are dealing with microbial bioslicks made up of animals that have perfected setting up shop in water. in a street puddle. in a rain puddle under your eaves. people always think that by moving a square glass cage inside, we're insulated from all that is nature




nope, they still do the same things, by the same times, inside the home or out. on google "aquarium cycling chart" shows the same graph/time frame within 95% accuracy page to page, worldwide, for a reason.

The only place you find cycles ranging 0-90+ days is in aquarium circles, for a reason. *the advent of bottle bac allows aquarists to speed up cycling now, we affect the time variable by moving it up, no aquarium cycle stalls past 30 days when normal rocks and sand surface area is hydrated with the typical boosters we use. the reason testless cycling is handy is because no reef tank fails to comply by the stated date. we add fish loads into new tanks as proof. I'm aware of writing that states nitrites and ammonia stalls a cycle, such as the directions on the bottle heh. that's wastewater eval, it affects your testing in the interim only.

if you change out any reef that had boosters in it for 30 days, then retest for ammonia, it always passes. the key is not testing the wastewater. if any cannot pass that test, def link it up for us to see.

 

[johnj]

Forget the API. Literally anyone who's had a marine tank for more than 6 months has moved on to more reliable and more precise test kits.

You've added ammonia, but you've also added bacteria and it's been 5 days. If any of the rock or sand you added were wet and live, there was also bacteria there. The bacteria consumed some ammonia over the 5 days. There is ammonia in the tank, that's all you need to worry about regardless if it's 0.5 ppm or 2 ppm, it will still cycle.

Add nothing for another 3 days, then test again. If it's not 0, wait 3 more days. When it gets to 0, then add the correct amount for 2ppm in the volume of water you have, and test it after about 15 minutes so it has time to mix through the water.

thanks for advice" yes I added 45kg of reel reef rock that was in shop soaking for few months"" so maybe that sucked a lot up before tested end of next day!
my tank is 160gal with sump" so maybe like 130 gal with sand and rock! I added lots of the ammonia and only got like quarter of bottle left

 

[johnj]

I want to show you something handy

2019 cycling is testless. we can cycle any aquarium off merely submersion time alone. Yours works like this: no matter how it reads right now, if you just let it swirl for 30 days then change out all the water, those leftover surfaces inside are cycled and they'll pass an ammonia oxidation test at that time to prove it, if needed. we already prove it here, consider testless cycling it sure is cheap. it never fails.

there is a time before 30 days that its ready, that's where accurate testers, if you can find some, can help. but if you have 30 you have a fully cycled reef anywhere on this planet.

The microbiology of reef tank cycling.

You can skip your cycle. Ive been reefing online for twenty years and have never waited one second for a tank to cycle, because I buy rocks that are already cycled and move them home. Here's two: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/octo-high-end-sps-skip-cycle-build.713256/...

www.reef2reef.com

some facts:

variances in ammonia and nitrite will not stall your cycle, you can't stall it. All you can do is mess up the wastewater, the stuff that stews for 30 days, by adding too much or too little but in the end you are dealing with microbial bioslicks made up of animals that have perfected setting up shop in water. in a street puddle. in a rain puddle under your eaves. people always think that by moving a square glass cage inside, we're insulated from all that is nature




nope, they still do the same things, by the same times, inside the home or out.

but how can some get 7 day full cycles using the same doc tims and ammonia as I used? im in no rush to get fish corals into tank! just funny how peoples tank cycles differ when using same process

 

[brandon429]

great point. its that they cannot exceed thirty days.

for sure 100% fritz turbo was shows to cycle in under 48 hours in Dr Reefs thread, like you mentioned they're way before 30 days

yours too will have a completion date before 30 days, that's just a neat timeframe to know if your testers do not comply by that date, change the water out and proceed anyway. you didn't kill the cycle.

there are about five thousand threads of ammonia persisting past 30 days at .25, all false tester issues.


there are as many nitrite ones persisting out mos, again per cycling charts that's fixed by day 20~ if the cleanwater is tested v wastewater. all of our current cycling info is based on wastewater testing, its neat the opposite way works and is free. I bet the system would pass if you just circulated garden dirt in a wad of hose for 30 days no special bottle bac needed.

 

[johnj]

great point. its that they cannot exceed thirty days.

for sure 100% fritz turbo was shows to cycle in under 48 hours in Dr Reefs thread, like you mentioned they're way before 30 days

does a cycle in say 7 days give you less beneficial bacteria! than a 30 day cycle though? think the saying goes" nothing happens fast in a marine tank lol

 

[brandon429]

no absolutely not, when its done its done. 7 days boosted cycle is same ability to oxidize ammonia that 876 days affords, but they've engineered the live bacteria in Fritz and others (fritz was tops I read in DRs work) to do this for years now so its no surprise. the key is to use enough sand and live rock in the cycling tank

All we are doing is taking a football field of laid-bare surface area and coating it in bacterial slicks so thin you couldn't feel them even though this new coverage from a bottle can oxidize measured ammonia within days.

of course over time and accumulations, different strains of bac and other animals colonize the surface area and increase heterogeneity, diversity, on the surfaces. but that doesn't mean a boosted 30 day setup can't handle a fishload of ammonia as thousands of tanks today are currently inputting fish + dry materials day 1, per directions. they have bottle bac engineered that well nowadays

updated cycling ability afforded by bottle bac has shattered the notion of the extended cycle, we really can get surfaces ready in a day or two. Dr Reef forever won my congrats when he ran the 100% water change test in a 3 day system and passed easily, it was likely ready 1st day fritz is neat stuff. the rest we like to wait a week

* if our testers worked very well, nobody would need 30 day testless cycling. that option came about for those not wanting to rush, but just have a confident timeframe they could use fish once they knew their testers were off for one or more reasons. vs buying more testers, they did the no test option free. another main portion of that thread is discussing why we do not dose ammonia to live rock transfer systems.

 

[johnj]

no absolutely not, when its done its done. 7 days boosted cycle is same ability to oxidize ammonia that 876 days affords, but they've engineered the live bacteria in Fritz and others (fritz was tops I read in DRs work) to do this for years now so its no surprise. the key is to use enough sand and live rock in the cycling tank

All we are doing is taking a football field of laid-bare surface area and coating it in bacterial slicks so thin you couldn't feel them even though this new coverage from a bottle can oxidize measured ammonia within days.

of course over time and accumulations, different strains of bac and other animals colonize the surface area and increase heterogeneity, diversity, on the surfaces. but that doesn't mean a boosted 30 day setup can't handle a fishload of ammonia as thousands of tanks today are currently inputting fish + dry materials day 1, per directions. they have bottle bac engineered that well nowadays

updated cycling ability afforded by bottle bac has shattered the notion of the extended cycle, we really can get surfaces ready in a day or two. Dr Reef forever won my congrats when he ran the 100% water change test in a 3 day system and passed easily, it was likely ready 1st day fritz is neat stuff. the rest we like to wait a week

* if our testers worked very well, nobody would need 30 day testless cycling. that option came about for those not wanting to rush, but just have a confident timeframe they could use fish once they knew their testers were off for one or more reasons. vs buying more testers, they did the no test option free. another main portion of that thread is discussing why we do not dose ammonia to live rock transfer systems.

Neat stuff that fritz and the bacteria surviving 100% water change after 3 days!

is crazy someone cannot do a better job with test kits though! its one of the 1st things a lot of people buy 1st when buying new tank!

 

[brandon429]

there are people who indeed wield those api kits well, they're mixed in with those who read no green when there is some, or a little yellow its all subjective at the low levels. Those kits are better able to indicate spikes for the masses...a dead fish. or, rough close estimate of how much new ammonia to add to a new tank...they're ok for that.

but as soon as day 30 comes if those kits show low level ammonia that's not the case, we know they're not ideal for low level accuracy that's all. they're still a staple in the hobby yep

 

[johnj]

Well its been a long time coming" started the 1st September with doc tims and finally today did my test and and got 0 nitrite and only 3-4 nitrate!

will I need to do a water change know with only 3-4 ppm nitrate!?

iv just added red sea alkalinity know because alk was dropped to 6.3 dkh in cycle"

calcium 418ppm
mag 1425

 

[brandon429]

good job, and spot on the 30 day mark nice~ well done! no need to wc/nitrate is low

 

[johnj]

good job, and spot on the 30 day mark nice~ well done! no need to wc/nitrate is low

thanks brandon" was little worried as 1st cycle on 1st marine tank" but next time I know whot to expect

just hard part know and keeping stuff balanced

 

[BeejReef]

Be certain you're reading the salifert test correctly. My memory is iffy, but on Salifert Nitrate, for example, you read the test as you have pictured... looking down through the vial from above and contrasting the colors.

I believe that on the ammonia test, you are instructed to hold the vial vertically, in front of your eyes with the color chart held behind it and to interpret the colors by looking through the vial from the side.