Cycling an Aquarium

[Brew12]

Someone told me no water change at all? Just let it be?

That would be good advice if there were not fish in the system. Once you add fish, you have to keep ammonia as low as possible or it will damage their gills. That is why most people encourage cycling the tank without fish.

 

[reyc]

. Looks like 0 nitrite so all results are 0. I guess now i have to wait? How long 3 months? Lol

 

[reyc]

That would be good advice if there were not fish in the system. Once you add fish, you have to keep ammonia as low as possible or it will damage their gills. That is why most people encourage cycling the tank without fish.

Would live bacteria eat up the ammonia and keep it down? Thats is what i thought i read previously

 

[Brew12]

Would live bacteria eat up the ammonia and keep it down? Thats is what i thought i read previously

It will, but sometimes the bottled bacteria products work better than others. You will know you are in a good position when you starting seeing noticeable nitrates. Once you see nitrates you know the ammonia is being properly converted. Until then, you can only hope and watch to make sure ammonia isn't building.

 

[reyc]

It will, but sometimes the bottled bacteria products work better than others. You will know you are in a good position when you starting seeing noticeable nitrates. Once you see nitrates you know the ammonia is being properly converted. Until then, you can only hope and watch to make sure ammonia isn't building.

Great ok thank you... As of now it is all looking ok.. i will keep monitoring. It was about 3 weeks since my last tests now

 

[grimreaper]

Don’t know if this post still qualifies for this thread but any idea what this is. Whatever it is it’s not soft. Protrudes our from the rock. Any ideas....

 

[Brew12]

Don’t know if this post still qualifies for this thread but any idea what this is. Whatever it is it’s not soft. Protrudes our from the rock. Any ideas....

I'm not sure what it is. Maybe a vermitid snail growing in a circular pattern?

I'd suggest making a new thread here.
https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/hitchhiker-critter-id.895/
Some people love trying to ID this kind of thing and are incredibly good at it!

 

[grimreaper]

I'm not sure what it is. Maybe a vermitid snail growing in a circular pattern?

I'd suggest making a new thread here.
https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/hitchhiker-critter-id.895/
Some people love trying to ID this kind of thing and are incredibly good at it!

thanks @Brew12

 

[rknott]

@Brew12 What an amazing initial article and impressive stamina for helping countess individuals in this hobby. I have spent a long time reading. Thank you.

I have a 75G tank with 20G in my sump, haven't started skimmer yet and no lights yet. I am cycling with ammonium chloride and bacteria bought from my LFS. My cycle has either stalled out, or I need more patience, or ????. I am at day 15. My numbers have been pretty much the same now it seems forever. I haven't added ammonia in 3 days. I am at .25 ammonia 2.0 Nitrite, 40 Nitrate. That is the same reading since day 10 and the same ammonia and nitrite since day 6. I started off with just my display tank 1/3 full with the dry rock and 35 gallons of water. I filled up my tank and sump at day 11. I started with 2ppm ammonia and had nitrite at 2.0 on day 3. I added ammonia on day 1, day 6 (when it was down to .25, then day 8, day 10, day 11. No changes in numbers so I filled the tank and added 1.5mL more ammonia. .25 again the next day so added again. Then haven't added any more since (3 days). Nitrates continued to climb from 10 on day 6, 20 day 8, 40 day 10 and steady ever since. Why doesn't nitrite go to 0 ? especially after not adding ammonia for 3 days and why does ammonia bottom out at .25 no matter how much I add or if I don't add. I did see in a post where you said ammonia reading can stay at .25. I checked my other tank I have had for 5 years and ammonia reads 0.

What should I do next?

 

[Brew12]

@Brew12 What an amazing initial article and impressive stamina for helping countess individuals in this hobby. I have spent a long time reading. Thank you.

I have a 75G tank with 20G in my sump, haven't started skimmer yet and no lights yet. I am cycling with ammonium chloride and bacteria bought from my LFS. My cycle has either stalled out, or I need more patience, or ????. I am at day 15. My numbers have been pretty much the same now it seems forever. I haven't added ammonia in 3 days. I am at .25 ammonia 2.0 Nitrite, 40 Nitrate. That is the same reading since day 10 and the same ammonia and nitrite since day 6. I started off with just my display tank 1/3 full with the dry rock and 35 gallons of water. I filled up my tank and sump at day 11. I started with 2ppm ammonia and had nitrite at 2.0 on day 3. I added ammonia on day 1, day 6 (when it was down to .25, then day 8, day 10, day 11. No changes in numbers so I filled the tank and added 1.5mL more ammonia. .25 again the next day so added again. Then haven't added any more since (3 days). Nitrates continued to climb from 10 on day 6, 20 day 8, 40 day 10 and steady ever since. Why doesn't nitrite go to 0 ? especially after not adding ammonia for 3 days and why does ammonia bottom out at .25 no matter how much I add or if I don't add. I did see in a post where you said ammonia reading can stay at .25. I checked my other tank I have had for 5 years and ammonia reads 0.

What should I do next?

Thank you, I appreciate that.

I doubt that your cycle has stalled so I recommend more patience. I'm not sure what type of bacteria you used, but some seem to be better at providing the nitrite processing ammonia than others. My experience is that this typically isn't a problem with Biospira but it is always possible. If you have access to a brand of bottled bacteria that is different than the one you used it might speed things up.

I suspect you have very little nitrate in your tank and that the increasing nitrate was a false reading due to the increasing nitrite. Once your nitrite starts dropping your nitrate reading should go down with it.

As for the ammonia reading, I can't offer much insight on that. I've never seen it on a mature tank, but it happened on both systems I've cycled the last few years. I was able to verify near 0ppm ammonia using a Seneye. There seems to be something in new tanks that causes the slight tint to the water that isn't factor in older tanks. And it isn't just an API thing, I've seen it on multiple brands of test kits. If this is something you are worried about you can get a Seachem ammonia alert badge and put it in your system. That might help you feel better about what you are seeing.

 

[rknott]

Thank you, I appreciate that.

I doubt that your cycle has stalled so I recommend more patience. I'm not sure what type of bacteria you used, but some seem to be better at providing the nitrite processing ammonia than others. My experience is that this typically isn't a problem with Biospira but it is always possible. If you have access to a brand of bottled bacteria that is different than the one you used it might speed things up.

I suspect you have very little nitrate in your tank and that the increasing nitrate was a false reading due to the increasing nitrite. Once your nitrite starts dropping your nitrate reading should go down with it.

As for the ammonia reading, I can't offer much insight on that. I've never seen it on a mature tank, but it happened on both systems I've cycled the last few years. I was able to verify near 0ppm ammonia using a Seneye. There seems to be something in new tanks that causes the slight tint to the water that isn't factor in older tanks. And it isn't just an API thing, I've seen it on multiple brands of test kits. If this is something you are worried about you can get a Seachem ammonia alert badge and put it in your system. That might help you feel better about what you are seeing.

Thanks! So basically keep on adding ammonia. Will do!

 

[Brew12]

Thanks! So basically keep on adding ammonia. Will do!

Sorry, I should have been more clear. I wouldn't add any more ammonia until nitrite drops to zero. No reason to build up even more nitrite imo. Then I would do one more ammonia add to around 2ppm and make sure it doesn't stall at processing the nitrite again.

 

[rknott]

ah, ok, will do. has been 3 days with 0 ammonia, but from what i read bacteria doeant need to be continually fed.

 

[Brew12]

ah, ok, will do. has been 3 days with 0 ammonia, but from what i read bacteria doeant need to be continually fed.

Exactly. They should be good for up to a few months with no other food source.

 

[SCHAULJ]

New Red Sea 350 is wet. I will be cycling with Dr Tims this afternoon. I will be removing the filter sock and shutting off the skimmer. I believe I should also remove the bag of reef spec carbon as well? Thoughts?

 

[Brew12]

New Red Sea 350 is wet. I will be cycling with Dr Tims this afternoon. I will be removing the filter sock and shutting off the skimmer. I believe I should also remove the bag of reef spec carbon as well? Thoughts?

Nice looking setup!

I think your plan is good. I would probably pull the socks and stop skimming for a few hours after adding the bacteria. Should be fine to go back to normal fairly quickly.
As for the carbon, pulling it wouldn't hurt. Some bacteria would likely cling to it but probably not enough to notice. It won't chemically filter out the bacteria.

 

[SCHAULJ]

Thanks! I took the bag of carbon out as well. Cycle started!

 

[Brew12]

Thanks! I took the bag of carbon out as well. Cycle started!

Congrats and happy reefing!

 

[SeeFu]

i'm about 10 days into my cycling. i did it w/ 1 shrimp and a bottle of dr times one and only. for the past 6 days my amonia's been stuck at 1.2. My nitrites have hovered between 0.5 and 1 for the past 5 days and nitrate has been steady at 2ppm for the past 5 days. should it be stuck at this state for this long?

 

[ReeferReefer]

i'm about 10 days into my cycling. i did it w/ 1 shrimp and a bottle of dr times one and only. for the past 6 days my amonia's been stuck at 1.2. My nitrites have hovered between 0.5 and 1 for the past 5 days and nitrate has been steady at 2ppm for the past 5 days. should it be stuck at this state for this long?

Sounds fine. It just needs more time.