Cycling Help! (I'm new to this)

[colioj]

Would love some insight on where I am at in my cycle and how much longer it may take for me to be able to add some fish. Have added Dr.Tim's One and Only and have been using Ammonium Chloride. I'm just waiting for my Nitrite to go down but I am getting impatient and wondering if there is anything I can do haha.

Day 12:
Ammonia: ~0.1ppm
Nitrite: 2.0ppm (has been at this level since day 6)
Nitrate: 10ppm
Temp: 83F (heard that higher temps increase bacteria growth)

*Using API Saltwater Master Test Kit*

Thanks in advance!

 

[ScubaFish802]

If you are following this instruction sheet - https://store.drtimsaquatics.com/Recipes_ep_54-1.html

Then you are on your way about as fast as you can be Once ammonia and nitrites go to Zero, do a big water change to get the nitrates out of the water and you should be completely cycled!

Nitrifying bacteria are the slow growers, so it makes sense this step in the cycle may take a little longer

 

[MnFish1]

Nitrite - is often 'inaccurate' (and not a problem in salt water) - Your nitrate rising is a good sign. Ammonia with Api is often inaccurate - are you still dosing it? If not - dont add more - and I would just wait until it drops to 'safe levels' (which with API - some would say <.025)
I would not use a different temperature - that you are going to use in your tank
Im sure that @brandon429 would suggest something.
Good luck!!

 

[colioj]

If you are following this instruction sheet - https://store.drtimsaquatics.com/Recipes_ep_54-1.html

Then you are on your way about as fast as you can be Once ammonia and nitrites go to Zero, do a big water change to get the nitrates out of the water and you should be completely cycled!

Nitrifying bacteria are the slow growers, so it makes sense this step in the cycle may take a little longer

Thank you for clarifying! Huge help to know I'm not screwing up

 

[colioj]

Nitrite - is often 'inaccurate' (and not a problem in salt water) - Your nitrate rising is a good sign. Ammonia with Api is often inaccurate - are you still dosing it? If not - dont add more - and I would just wait until it drops to 'safe levels' (which with API - some would say <.025)
I would not use a different temperature - that you are going to use in your tank
Im sure that @brandon429 would suggest something.
Good luck!!

Ok, thank you for the advice!

 

[ScubaFish802]

Thank you for clarifying! Huge help to know I'm not screwing up

Like @MnFish1 said, you are seeing nitrates so your cycle is fully in progress from start to finish. This is the worse part, sitting and waiting haha

 

[Trever]

Depending on the size of your system and how many fish you intend to stock, I would be careful about using the 2 PPM Ammonia recommendation. I followed that and wound up with high nitrates. If I had to do over, would do half the ammonia level recommended. Dr. Tim's support even recommended 1 PPM to me (after I started and was using 2 PPM), based on what I was planning to stock. 1 PPM can be just fine, perhaps even less.

Unfortunately, no one told me this up front!

The 2 PPM Ammonia is to generate enough bacteria to support a VERY high bio load. It can lead to high nitrates, which you then have to export somehow.

 

[MnFish1]

Depending on the size of your system and how many fish you intend to stock, I would be careful about using the 2 PPM Ammonia recommendation. I followed that and wound up with high nitrates. If I had to do over, would do half the ammonia level recommended. Dr. Tim's support even recommended 1 PPM to me (after I started and was using 2 PPM), based on what I was planning to stock. 1 PPM can be just fine, perhaps even less.

Unfortunately, no one told me this up front!

The 2 PPM Ammonia is to support a VERY high bio load. It can lead to high nitrates, which you then have to export somehow.

Or you can do a large water change....

 

[ScubaFish802]

Depending on the size of your system and how many fish you intend to stock, I would be careful about using the 2 PPM Ammonia recommendation. I followed that and wound up with high nitrates. If I had to do over, would do half the ammonia level recommended. Dr. Tim's support even recommended this to me (after I started and was using 2 PPM), based on what I was planning to stock. 1 PPM can be just fine, perhaps even less.

Unfortunately, no one told me this up front!

The 2 PPM Ammonia is to support a VERY high bio load. It can lead to high nitrates, which you then have to export somehow.

Do a big water change at the end either way My stand took forever so I did 2 PPM, waited until cycled and then did another 2ppm a week or two later while waiting for the stand still. It should be fine either way

 

[brandon429]

The timeframe on the bottle of dr Tim’s has been met, thats in our favor. on the ammonia mentioned above, did that go down from a prior reading? I know it’s not zero stated above but was it higher at the start of the cycle?

 

[colioj]

The timeframe on the bottle of dr Tim’s has been met, thats in our favor. on the ammonia mentioned above, did that go down from a prior reading? I know it’s not zero stated above but was it higher at the start of the cycle?

Yes, it had peaked at 2.0ppm for about 3 or 4 days and is now <0.25ppm with no other spikes.

 

[colioj]

Like @MnFish1 said, you are seeing nitrates so your cycle is fully in progress from start to finish. This is the worse part, sitting and waiting haha

That's what I thought haha. At least I am getting clarification that things are going swimmingly! *pun intended*

 

[colioj]

Depending on the size of your system and how many fish you intend to stock, I would be careful about using the 2 PPM Ammonia recommendation. I followed that and wound up with high nitrates. If I had to do over, would do half the ammonia level recommended. Dr. Tim's support even recommended 1 PPM to me (after I started and was using 2 PPM), based on what I was planning to stock. 1 PPM can be just fine, perhaps even less.

Unfortunately, no one told me this up front!

The 2 PPM Ammonia is to generate enough bacteria to support a VERY high bio load. It can lead to high nitrates, which you then have to export somehow.

I have a Fluval Evo 13.5g setup. Funny that you mention that, the guy at my LFS was super helpful and instructed me to only dose half the recommended dose for a week or so at the start (2 drops/gallon rather than the recommended 4 drops/gallon). I have been following his recommendation and I think it is going well.

 

[brandon429]

Cycling nowadays is at a crossroads. can cycles stall yes vs no
do we have to consider nitrite yes vs no
do bottle bac companies misprint labels on bottles as nobody on line is making their due dates yes no

hardly anyone agrees simply on when we can start.


so many inconsistencies agreed we're at an evolutionary point in procedure lol

instead of making guesses I like to collect cycle starts in threads so that if things live, we can high five and if they die, we're on the hook for a bad call in public. as patterns build up we can make certain inferences about cycling, and when those are wrong someone will post up a loss of initial bioload and we'll tune down the rogue start dates.


cycling is a high consequence venture regarding premature starts, its like asking an animal to conduct metabolism with no kidney function, near instant organism shutdown follows.


the reason I think this tank above is cycled is due to time underwater plus ammonia movemenent after seeding a known bacterial inoculant

How to unstick any seemingly stuck cycle

Updated Cycling Science in Action This is a testless reef tank cycling thread, the only one from any board. If you ever had trouble with reef tank cycling in the past, you won't any longer after working some jobs with us. chances are you are using/about to use a method of reef tank cycling...

www.reef2reef.com

that's the only way I know to make headway after deeming a cycle ready. we either clean the system and re-verify with ammonia, which is done quite clearly there and passed, or we clean the system out and add fish and they live. either way is a decent proof.


your only other option is to wait indefinitely for three-param compliance on api but that's so 2006.


if you hadn't dosed bottle bac and demonstrated ammonia control faster than a cycling chart allows, I'd be skeptical of your progress
B

why does anyone need start dates in reefing if we're all just going to wait indef? some people need to get a reef to macna, they've been invited to show their stuff and they can't show up 30 days early, they've got till friday to skip the cycle and be ready for public scrutiny, one shot


maybe we're moving homes, need the current tank to land alive in new place on our move in day


or maybe needs a dry-start hospital tank, all valid reasons to examine legit start date science. its also legit to pick a valid start date and attain it for no other reason than you can nowadays

 

[colioj]

Thank you for the in depth reply! It helps a ton. I'm going to wait a couple days to hopefully get the nitrites down.