Cycling help please

goodtimes · Jun 11, 2013

I set up my 55 gallon 6 weeks ago. I used about 40 lbs dry rock and 5 lbs live rock from my other tank. I also added several scoops of live sand from other tank.
The tank went through the normal cycle. Ammonia spiked, then nitrite and then nitrate. Ammonia dropped to .25 and is still there. Nitrite is now 0 and nitrate is 5. I checked my rodi water for ammonia and it is 0.
So do you think it's restarting the cycle? How do I get rid of the ammonia. It's been a week now with these readings and I haven't added anything but some copepods. Maybe they were the source of ammonia.

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Reefing Madness · Jun 11, 2013

Now thats odd. Normal cycle is 6-8 weeks normally though. You tested your Ammonia kit to be sure its workign correctly? Are you running a skimmer and power heads? The 5lbs of LR is just a seed, and the Live Sand the same, it would not have sped up the cycle process. You may still need to wait another 2 weeks. The ammonia will be taken care of. Or at this point you can throw in some Chemipure to soak up the last of it.

glb · Jun 11, 2013

I'd just be patient. It may take time for the ammonia to go away but eventually it will. Adding good bacteria is a great idea too.

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12g Nanoreef. Zooanthids, Ricordia, Star Polyps, Acans and two clownfish. CF Lighting, 75% actinic blue, 25% 10,000k white.

goodtimes · Jun 14, 2013

Well, test kit was just bought not long ago but production date of 2007! Careless ebay purchase.
New test kit and its cycled.

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