cycle stuck

[Gabriel Hernandez JR]

hello I have just started a new saltwater tank it is a 5 gallon soon to be nano reef. i started a fish less cycle and it has been stuck at ammonia 4.0ppm for a week now the nitrite is at .25 ppm and nitrate is at 5ppm has been like this for an extra 2 days. I did the shrimp from the super market to feed ammonia as I saw from YouTube. I have cycled freshwater befor just fine I have 30 gallon and 2 5 gallon freshwater tanks that I had no problems with. I started my tank with premixed saltwater live rock and live sand. please help I want corals lol.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

It’s very possible that there is still some shrimp in there making ammoina.

How long has it been cycling?
Did you use bottled bacteria?
It is in fact cycling as you are reading nitrates.
You just want the ammoina down before adding fish (and corals)

 

[Gabriel Hernandez JR]

it has been a week today to day I had ammonia at 8ppm it went down to 4ppm and stalled I used a small bottle of fluval live bacteria over the week

 

[Mjrenz]

Just give it time, it may take several weeks to finish cycling. Don't add anything living until your ammonia and nitrites are at 0. Fyi, with such a small tank you will probably end up having to top it off with fresh water several times a day to keep salinity stable and keep everything alive

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I alwasy wait a month. No matter what.


Your results are typical of the first week.

 

[Gabriel Hernandez JR]

would a 20-50% water change be needed or just sit and wait and be patient haha all of my freshwater cycled so easy lol.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

would a 20-50% water change be needed or just sit and wait and be patient haha all of my freshwater cycled so easy lol.

Patience is huge in Reefing. Huge.
Just wait till you get corals.

Even fresh water doesn’t cycle in a week.

 

[Gabriel Hernandez JR]

ok thanks everyone I'll keep you updated

 

[brandon429]

Hey check this out

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-microbiology-of-reef-tank-cycling.214618/

When you mentioned using live rock, that means we don’t input ammonia nor bac cuz they’re ready to reef when you bring them home

See if your live rock looks like what we call group B or A there

I’ve never cycled a reef tank in my life, they were all skip cycles, due to using the kind of rock that shows up ready vs the kind that shows up needing ammonia, time and bottle bac

 

[MaiReef]

Definitely Patience. I actually buy one of those ammonia alerts. It is a cheap startup tool.

https://www.amazon.com/Seachem-0010...ocphy=9004664&hvtargid=pla-310436994159&psc=1

Don't even test again until it is on safe. Then test all 3.

 

[dputt88]

Agree with all the above. It's going to take way longer than a week. I have cycled a few tanks in the past and all of them took a couple month min to cycle.

Did you seed and bacteria or live rock/live sand?

 

[Gabriel Hernandez JR]

my rock was b group I used it with live sand wet from a sealed bag lol and i seeded with fluval biological booster

 

[brandon429]

Good deal
The article shows its ok to add the extras, but not required as it was skip cycle the whole time.

Ammonia stresses the live animals we pay extra for though i don't think they'll die. It describes test drift, wastewater readings vs post water change readings... All there yep

So far looks like a skip cycle reef like when I move rooms or something, you just moved buildings

 

[brandon429]

The benefit of calling a cycle correctly has to do with confidence in the setup which translates into not being hesitant when it comes to tank cleaning/care so it means you are less likely to lose your tank to invasions if you make the initial bacteria call correctly, based on visual specifics on the rock/attached to it/ pigmented colors from live animals or pods etc

Adding the bottle bac to literally every setup reef is OK, and redundant, but it's also a form of guess or hesitation, and this translates into losing a reef to early invasions as concern over bacterial upset stops many people from intervening. It's best to cycle exactly as called for per setup

 

[Gabriel Hernandez JR]

so my main goal at this point is just be patient till the ammonia drops like it should IN TIME lol no water change or worrying needed?

 

[Gabriel Hernandez JR]

here is a pic of the tank while there was a bacterial bloom lasted one day now its crystal clear

 

[Gabriel Hernandez JR]

also a small heater has been added

 

[brandon429]

The overdose of ammonia in amounts the running reef will never see didn't matter, that's for group A rock

The action the thread says to do is twofold: change all the water, then buy some starter corals. Skip cycle means go, but not haphazardly, you're dealing with group B rock most clearly and the trustworthy nature is proven in the links/works and tests in the thread

If you let it wait, that's fine but not any more helpful, you have max bac. The recommended action is water change, you're fueling early algae here in practice. Cycling mis calls always impact early algae issues, that's one link as to how. Unneeded ammonia is pure invader feed.

 

[Gabriel Hernandez JR]

I want to add one clown will that's also be ok to do or no

 

[brandon429]

Not currently, the cycle thread shows you'd need to change all water then it can handle a clown. If you add one without quarantine protocol also linked there, you change the disease resistance for your tank permanently, give it a quick read to see the options regarding timed fish addition (second biggest source of algae feed coming in fast, see the trend?) We're about fish stocking last, not first ideally