Cycle help needed

[mrsmoose]

Okay my tank has been running almost two weeks. When I sat it up half of my live rock was cured the other half was dry.I used two gallons of sand from an established aquarium and the rest is what's labeled live sand at the pet store.I added reef accelerator. Then afew days later I added purple tech.I have been feeding the tank like i would if it had fish in it. I have been testing daily on my water.I still have not got a nitrite reading but I do have ammonia and nitrate. I'm including pictures from this morning. I'm in no rush as the coral and fish are all in qt.But this 150 has me scratching my head.

 

[Oscaror]

Well it seems cycled since there's nitrate but I'm no chemist and I can't tell you why there's still so much ammonia :/

 

[moulton1853]

I'm a newbee so I'm no expert, but I went through something similar. I got a cycle going and saw nitrates at day 10 but still had ammonia. I believe that it was going through a second cycle. The first one starts out quickly from the live rock and then the second one comes into play from the dry rock starting to cure. Not enough good bacteria was there to consume the new ammonia spike. I was told by several people that it takes sometimes 6-8 weeks for dry rock to cure. Give it a full 30 days and your numbers should all fall in line.

 

[aslmx]

What is reef accelerator ? Is it a cycling product? I used api quick start and you have to add fish when you do it. I never saw ammonia or nitrates. It's been running a year . Fish and tank are all healthy and thriving. I also had dry rock and dry sand.

 

[mrsmoose]

This is reef accelerator

 

[Chameleon]

My guess is the ammonia kit is bad. I can test my tank with an old API kit I have and get the same result on my tank for ammonia. My tank has not ammonia.

 

[TreyC2010]

I'd stop adding fish food. Let it play out because if you have nitrates then it's going good. Most people would say stay away from dosing, especially i the beginning. You're on the right track

 

[mrsmoose]

The kit is good I have three and they all show the same

 

[hawkinsrgk]

I would stop adding food since you already have ammonia. Then check it every day or twice a day to see if you have a nitrite reading. Basically I think you have a small cycle, but your adding more ammonia than the system can process. If what I'm thinking is correct then your ammonia will goto 0 and you will get nitrite to have a reading

 

[saltysilverado]

No food for 48 hours and then test it