Im not sure if you are familiar with the dosing amounts, but i did 1 dose of 25ml..tank is 110 gallons, and figured sump to be 15 gallons
OK, if it comes down to it, what would be a good water change %?..and should I add more bacteria?
Dr Tims recently changed the strength of their ammonia chloride. Does your bottle recommend 1 drop per gallon or 4 drops per gallon?
4 drops per gallon
Ok, your dose should have been correct then. Maybe a little on the high side since most tanks don't hold as much water as the listed volume and the sand and rocks take up a lot of space. Still, you have something else going on.
Reef Cleaners, about 100lbs
That is actually where I picked up my rock from and I had no ammonia from it.
Its an API kit, so hopefully, maybe I should use another kit?
Are you sure you are reading it correctly? I believe that test kit requires you to look through the side of the vial.
If your test kit is accurate you should do around a 40% water change. If it were me I would wait a day and see if nitrates keep going up before doing that change. My biggest concern is that if ammonia gets too high it can stall your cycle. As long as nitrates keep climbing you know you are ok.
Ok, is it strange that I have 0 nitrites but the nitrates are there as well as a high ammonia level?
Not really. There are several possible causes, especially when you use bottled bacteria. It is possible your blend had a higher number of bacteria that convert nitrite to nitrate so they are working faster than the ones converting ammonia to nitrite. It is also possible the blend contains Nitrospira bacteria which convert ammonia directly to nitrate.
This is what I used:
It should work fine for you. I wouldn't worry about the lack of nitrites. That isn't a bad thing.
You shouldn't need to. Most of the bacteria will be clinging to hard surfaces like your rock. You will lose very little during your water change.
