My nitrates are through the roof 160ppm. Nitrite is at 1ppm and no ammonia. I'm on day 28 of cycle. I know a lot of people say wait till nitrite hits 0 before a water change. But I'm wondering if I do a water change it might finish my cycle? Any suggestions?
Cycling and high nitrates
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Sorry for not including all this in first post but tank is a 90 gallon. 80lbs of rock. With 50-60 pounds of live sand. 4 inch sand bed. No protein skimmer at the moment but will have one Monday and a cheato for a refuge. 30 gallon sump with 20lbs live rock in it. Fishless cycling. Seeded with live rock in tank and acquired 1ft by 1ft piece of filter floss from and established system. As well as 10 lbs or rock that came out of a display tank that also was established. And also added a whole bottle of seachem stability over the recommended dosing time.
Jeremy Luke
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I have had a few marine tanks over the years. I recently started a new one. I did a lot of research on cycling this go. I fed my tank janitorial ammonia and bottled bacteria. As soon as my tank could consume 2ppm of ammonia in 24 hours I changed about 80% of the water and went and got my first fish. The Nitrite right before the water change was still at 4ppm, nitrates were very very high. Everything has worked out well. Best thing is I've yet to suffer from any nuisance algae thus far.
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Wow! That rock must be leaching heavy quantities of nitrates and phosphates. Have you tested phosphates?
Anyway, I'd be doing water changes. Your bacteria isn't in the water column, but in the rock and sand. While you're cycling, you also need to start to bring those N and P numbers down. Since it's an empty tank, I'd consider a 50% water change.
Anyway, I'd be doing water changes. Your bacteria isn't in the water column, but in the rock and sand. While you're cycling, you also need to start to bring those N and P numbers down. Since it's an empty tank, I'd consider a 50% water change.
Jeremy Luke
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FYI... About a week after the massive water change the tank showed zero nitrites. I then did a couple of 15% changes over the next 3 days to drive nitrates down to 5ppm.
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agreed
this is a blended cycle, meaning you've mixed living and nonliving substrates, the living ones are already cycled.
the live sand alone should be able to pass the ammonia clearance test, also give the nonliving surfaces added 20-30 days submerged to take on bacteria
agreed we typically test for the digestion ability to mark a cycle's end, if no rush is required, they're all done within 30 days anyway after adding water and the living portions of substrate here provide quite a boost
all you need to do is give the known submerged timeframe for bacterial establishment to the nonliving surfaces by keeping them in proximity to the living surfaces. whether you feed or add bottle bac wont matter here, same ends. adding those will speed up the ends. your nonlive surfaces will be cycled in 30 days being housed around that sand and live rock already live/wet upon setup
you could end your cycle testing from this point forward easily. dump in some bottle bac, do a large water change after 30 days its guaranteed cycled, all aquariums cycle along the same time frames
I do not cycle aquariums, I buy all cured live rock and go. cycling dry materials allows one to control hitchhikers, invaders etc and its eco friendly so there's pros there
this is a blended cycle, meaning you've mixed living and nonliving substrates, the living ones are already cycled.
the live sand alone should be able to pass the ammonia clearance test, also give the nonliving surfaces added 20-30 days submerged to take on bacteria
agreed we typically test for the digestion ability to mark a cycle's end, if no rush is required, they're all done within 30 days anyway after adding water and the living portions of substrate here provide quite a boost
all you need to do is give the known submerged timeframe for bacterial establishment to the nonliving surfaces by keeping them in proximity to the living surfaces. whether you feed or add bottle bac wont matter here, same ends. adding those will speed up the ends. your nonlive surfaces will be cycled in 30 days being housed around that sand and live rock already live/wet upon setup
you could end your cycle testing from this point forward easily. dump in some bottle bac, do a large water change after 30 days its guaranteed cycled, all aquariums cycle along the same time frames
I do not cycle aquariums, I buy all cured live rock and go. cycling dry materials allows one to control hitchhikers, invaders etc and its eco friendly so there's pros there
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Jeremy Luke
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Sorry, my point was not clear. If your tank has zero ammonia you're good to go. Nitrite does not affect saltwater fish or inverts at levels under 1000ppm. It's really bad for freshwater fish. This has been proven by folks much smarter than me. Nitrate sure will grow the crap out of some algae. Change water until it's down to 10ppm or less and start stocking.
