Cycle issuees

[Yanir34]

Hello everyone !
i have set up new 860 liters tank , 55 days ago .
I'm in this hobby for the last 15 years , and done 5 or 6 cycle processes, all of them end up in 30 to 45 days.
This time however its different ,and strange.
My tank is 850 liters , I cured 60 kg of dry

Indonesia rocks in the followed steps :
1. Washed them really good with fresh water.
2. bath of salt acid,for 30 minutes.
3.good wash with fresh water.
4. bath of water and chloride , for 24 hours
5. good wash , dry them ,build the aquascape and got them inside the tank.

in the first day I threw pieace of meat (100 gram) rapped with micronic sock , and left it over ther for 10 days .
The smell was .
NO4 rises to maximum and got down after 3 weeks.
And then nitrite have started his climbe, and for the last5 weeks its on his maximum reading in salivary test kit.
I also added Probidio bacteria , didn't helped to much .

I checked today few parameters :
NH4 - 0.15
NO2 - 4
NO3 - didn't check
Po4 - 0.33
salinity- 1.026 s.g


I really don't know what thee hell is the problem...I have 2 fish and 2 lps coral in the tank because I thought that cycle was over at least NO2 and NH4.

 

[Reef.]

If your ammonia is showing and your fish are still alive then it’s either a testing error or your fish are tough little guys…I think it’s a testing error.

In my experience ammonia tests are not the easiest to read/accurate.

 

[Dan_P]

Hello everyone !
i have set up new 860 liters tank , 55 days ago .
I'm in this hobby for the last 15 years , and done 5 or 6 cycle processes, all of them end up in 30 to 45 days.
This time however its different ,and strange.
My tank is 850 liters , I cured 60 kg of dry

Indonesia rocks in the followed steps :
1. Washed them really good with fresh water.
2. bath of salt acid,for 30 minutes.
3.good wash with fresh water.
4. bath of water and chloride , for 24 hours
5. good wash , dry them ,build the aquascape and got them inside the tank.

in the first day I threw pieace of meat (100 gram) rapped with micronic sock , and left it over ther for 10 days .
The smell was .
NO4 rises to maximum and got down after 3 weeks.
And then nitrite have started his climbe, and for the last5 weeks its on his maximum reading in salivary test kit.
I also added Probidio bacteria , didn't helped to much .

I checked today few parameters :
NH4 - 0.15
NO2 - 4
NO3 - didn't check
Po4 - 0.33
salinity- 1.026 s.g


I really don't know what thee hell is the problem...I have 2 fish and 2 lps coral in the tank because I thought that cycle was over at least NO2 and NH4.

The ammonia level is pretty lo

Hello everyone !
i have set up new 860 liters tank , 55 days ago .
I'm in this hobby for the last 15 years , and done 5 or 6 cycle processes, all of them end up in 30 to 45 days.
This time however its different ,and strange.
My tank is 850 liters , I cured 60 kg of dry

Indonesia rocks in the followed steps :
1. Washed them really good with fresh water.
2. bath of salt acid,for 30 minutes.
3.good wash with fresh water.
4. bath of water and chloride , for 24 hours
5. good wash , dry them ,build the aquascape and got them inside the tank.

in the first day I threw pieace of meat (100 gram) rapped with micronic sock , and left it over ther for 10 days .
The smell was .
NO4 rises to maximum and got down after 3 weeks.
And then nitrite have started his climbe, and for the last5 weeks its on his maximum reading in salivary test kit.
I also added Probidio bacteria , didn't helped to much .

I checked today few parameters :
NH4 - 0.15
NO2 - 4
NO3 - didn't check
Po4 - 0.33
salinity- 1.026 s.g


I really don't know what thee hell is the problem...I have 2 fish and 2 lps coral in the tank because I thought that cycle was over at least NO2 and NH4.

0.15 ppm total ammonia at your temperature and pH is about 0.01 ppm free ammonia. I think over 0.02 ppm is when you need to take action. Nitrite in saltwater is harmless at that level.

Total ammonia measurements at low concentrations of ammonia using a color chart comparison are rough approximations. The 0.15 ppm you report might be zero.

 

[taricha]

in the first day I threw pieace of meat (100 gram) rapped with micronic sock , and left it over ther for 10 days .
The smell was .
NH4 rises to maximum and got down after 3 weeks.
And then nitrite have started his climbe, and for the last 5 weeks its on his maximum reading in salifert test kit.

Sounds like zero ammonia (which ammonia test kit?), but NO2 high enough that you can't tell that it's coming down because the color is too dark. It'll probably be cleared in a week anyway, but personally I'd put in some biospira so I can know for sure it'll be cleared in a week.
There's no serious problem with NO2, it just makes testing for NO3 almost impossible and complicates setting nutrient target levels.

 

[Yanir34]

The test kits that I'm using is salifert .
Here is the ammonia results from today

 

[Reef.]

The test kits that I'm using is salifert .
Here is the ammonia results from today

That is as good as you are going to get, looks zero to me.

 

[Yanir34]

Like i said the No2 (nitrite) is now 30 days at hight peak , won't come down.
I think that I made mistake with the rock's crue process

 

[Jekyl]

Not sure on the ammonia test but the rest of the salifert you look down through the vial, not sideways. Either way I think ammonia is 0 now

 

[Yanir34]

Ammonia test kit ,is sideways

 

[Reef.]

Like i said the No2 (nitrite) is now 30 days at hight peak , won't come down.
I think that I made mistake with the rock's crue process

what lvl is it? Still 4?

Have you done any water changes?

 

[Yanir34]

what lvl is it? Still 4?

Have you done any water changes?

Nitrite is still 4 , but that is the result when I look sideways.
when I look from above , its 0.5

 

[Yanir34]

I'm worry that something is not right with bacterial colonies at my system.
all of my systems in past , cycle duration was 45 days max .
The system volume is 850 liters.

 

[taricha]

I'm worry that something is not right with bacterial colonies at my system.

Who knows how large a population of nitrite oxidizers survived your acid rock treatment.
Like i said, I'd put in some biospira so I didn't have to think about it anymore.

 

[Reef.]

Nitrite is still 4 , but that is the result when I look sideways.
when I look from above , its 0.5

As long as your ammonia is zero you are more than likely good, nitrite in saltwater is not a killer.

https://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-06/rhf/index.php

 

[Yanir34]

The test kits that I'm using is salifert .
Here is the ammonia results from today

Can someone please do ammonia test (by salifert) ,and take picture for me ? that i will see if there is any difference?

 

[Reef.]

Can someone please do ammonia test (by salifert) ,and take picture for me ? that i will see if there is any difference?

Colour on someone else’s screen vs yours will be different, might help.

If you can get ahold of some Dr Tims ammonia, you could make some difference strength samples up, using fresh salt mix, or if you can’t get hold of dr Tim’s, I believe it’s 50mg/l strength, an ammonia at the same strength should work.


Have you tried your fresh salt mix? that should read zero to compare, don’t use very newly mixed salt water as I believe fresh salt water does contain a little ammonia when first mixed, this should give you an idea what zero looks like.

 

[Yanir34]

thanks I will try !

 

[ReefGeezer]

I'm worry that something is not right with bacterial colonies at my system.
all of my systems in past , cycle duration was 45 days max .
The system volume is 850 liters.

When you look through it sideways are you dividing the observation by 10?

 

[brandon429]

Yanir

The reason your ammonia doesn't matter, high vs low, and the reason your cycle is 100% done is due to the dates set on a cycling chart, which you've surpassed.

0% of feed+ timed cycles at day 55 fail

You don't have cycle trouble, you were done about 30 days ago.


You can't force degrading meat to go through the exact 2ppm spikes that liquid ammonia dosing causes, yours is a time delay cycle and it's done. Your tank is safe to add fish, do a water change to make this meat water / it's metabolites that will fuel algae/ go away

Then you are ready to reef as long as you had a big stack of rocks stewing this whole time.

Here's an exact match thread to yours, a feed + 30 day cycle then carrying fish

Build Thread - My SPS Waterbox Peninsula Mini 15

Hi all. Long time member (I think I joined right around when R2R started or took off years ago) but got out of the hobby for about 6 years and now I am back! I don't see many build threads for the PM 15 (mostly the 25) so thought I'd share my journey here. This post will be a bit behind...

www.reef2reef.com

We did no testing here, because it can't fail by day 30 or charts would show different timelines.

A feed+wait 30 days cycle requires no testing for anyone, it doesnt fail. Even if you saw no ammonia, it didn't fail.

 

[brandon429]

I barely saw where you are already reefing/ good call then, done.

No need to test for ammonia or nitrite again for the rest of this tanks life