Cycling question

[hogfxstc]

Ok, over the last three weeks I've dosed 4 times, 2ppm of ammonium chloride. My tank is taking about 2.5 days to bring my NH3 and Nitrite to zero. Do I keep up with this dosing 2ppm and waiting for the tank to remove it in </= 24hrs; then I can consider my tank cycled? Is there a limit on how many times you should dose ammonium chloride during a cycling?

26 gal vol
PH 8.0
Salinity 1.024
Nitrates 20-30 ppm
Temp 78.4
Reef Saver rock
Dr. Tims one and only added three weeks ago.


Red Sea Test kits

Thanks in advance..

 

[Crabs McJones]

Are you putting anything in the tank such as a piece of raw shrimp or anything to feed the bacteria? And correct, you should wait until your tank is able to process 2ppm ammonia in 24 hours or less

 

[hogfxstc]

I've only been dosing the ammonium chloride.

Are you putting anything in the tank such as a piece of raw shrimp or anything to feed the bacteria? And correct, you should wait until your tank is able to process 2ppm ammonia in 24 hours or less

 

[Dennis McGrath]

+1 what Crabs said, and that's a really nice setup with the rock in that tank.

 

[Crabs McJones]

I've only been dosing the ammonium chloride.

I'd run to the store and grab some frozen raw shrimp or if you have any fish food you can feed the tank a little each day. You need something for the bacteria to feed off of to populate. Without a food source for them, they won't multiply enough to cycle your tank effectively and it could potentially take longer

 

[AcroNem]

Are you putting anything in the tank such as a piece of raw shrimp or anything to feed the bacteria? And correct, you should wait until your tank is able to process 2ppm ammonia in 24 hours or less

They're dosing ammonium chloride to feed bacteria. And I agree as well, to wait until it can process it in 24 hours.

 

[hogfxstc]

Should I ghost feed and dose ammonium chloride at the same time or just ghost feed?

I'd run to the store and grab some frozen raw shrimp or if you have any fish food you can feed the tank a little each day. You need something for the bacteria to feed off of to populate. Without a food source for them, they won't multiply enough to cycle your tank effectively and it could potentially take longer

 

[Crabs McJones]

Should I ghost feed and dose ammonium chloride at the same time or just ghost feed?

The ammonium chloride should suffice as @AcroNem stated. How often are you dosing it?

 

[hogfxstc]

The ammonium chloride should suffice as @AcroNem stated. How often are you dosing it?

I only dose the ammonium chloride after my bacteria brings my readings down to zero. So in the last three weeks since I started, I've only dosed 4 times..

 

[lapin]

You need to stop with the ammonia. The bacteria need time to multiply so they can process ammonia and nitrites. If you keep adding ammonia you will not speed up the process. There is already enough in the tank for them to do their thing. You will have very high nitrates at the end and have to do some massive water changes to lower them if you keep with the ammonia. If you are going to let it sit for a month you might ghost feed a pinch of flake 1 time a week. When you do add livestock, do it slowly, as bacteria need time to process the new type of waste you are going to be feeding it. Right now i would wait until the ammonia is 0 and nitrite is 0 . Change out water to get nitrates down , then add livestock.

 

[hogfxstc]

You need to stop with the ammonia. The bacteria need time to multiply so they can process ammonia and nitrites. If you keep adding ammonia you will not speed up the process. There is already enough in the tank for them to do their thing. You will have very high nitrates at the end and have to do some massive water changes to lower them if you keep with the ammonia. If you are going to let it sit for a month you might ghost feed a pinch of flake 1 time a week. When you do add livestock, do it slowly, as bacteria need time to process the new type of waste you are going to be feeding it. Right now i would wait until the ammonia is 0 and nitrite is 0 . Change out water to get nitrates down , then add livestock.

Within the last three weeks I've only dosed 4 times. My current NH3 is 0, Nitrite is 0.

 

[Crabs McJones]

You need to stop with the ammonia. The bacteria need time to multiply so they can process ammonia and nitrites. If you keep adding ammonia you will not speed up the process. There is already enough in the tank for them to do their thing. You will have very high nitrates at the end and have to do some massive water changes to lower them if you keep with the ammonia. If you are going to let it sit for a month you might ghost feed a pinch of flake 1 time a week. When you do add livestock, do it slowly, as bacteria need time to process the new type of waste you are going to be feeding it. Right now i would wait until the ammonia is 0 and nitrite is 0 . Change out water to get nitrates down , then add livestock.

Within the last three weeks I've only dosed 4 times. My current NH3 is 0, Nitrite is 0.

OP is not dosing to much, right from @Brew12 's thread on cycling an aquarium
"I will either use pure ammonia or ammonium chloride to raise the total ammonia to 2ppm. I will test for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates daily until ammonia is near 0ppm. I will then dose it back up to 2ppm while continuing daily tests. I will repeat this process in a smaller tank until ammonia goes from 2ppm to 0ppm within 24 hours. In tanks that are 90g+ that will be stocked slowly I will only dose to 1ppm ammonia after the initial dose and consider it cycled when it drops from 1ppm to 0ppm in 24 hours. This is to limit nitrates in larger tanks. Keep in mind that a 120g system that drops 1ppm in a day can support more fish than a 40g tank that drops 2ppm in a day."

 

[lapin]

I feel you are ready for livestock after a large water change. Nitrate levels at 30 show you have already processed a lot of ammonia. Just go slow with your additions. Give the bacteria time catch up as you add new fish and corals. I think at this point you could add some coral and a small fish without causing an ammonia spike that would harm them. Just do a small weekly water changes and watch your ammonia level.

 

[Brew12]

Dr Tim (the inventor of BioSpira and Dr Tims One and Only) recommends dosing back up to 2ppm every day to maximize bacterial growth rates. Personally, I'm too lazy so as long as I have some ammonia in the system I call it good.

If you ignore the nitrite, is it taking 2.5 days just to process the ammonia?

 

[hogfxstc]

That's correct about 2.5 days to remove 2ppm of ammonium chloride.

Dr Tim (the inventor of BioSpira and Dr Tims One and Only) recommends dosing back up to 2ppm every day to maximize bacterial growth rates. Personally, I'm too lazy so as long as I have some ammonia in the system I call it good.

If you ignore the nitrite, is it taking 2.5 days just to process the ammonia?

 

[Brew12]

That's correct about 2.5 days to remove 2ppm of ammonium chloride.

I would bump it up to 2ppm one more time and see what it does. Then a good size water change and start stocking fish. Just take it slow.

I also like putting macro algae if you are running a sump and plan on adding a fuge. Macro algae processes ammonia directly and provides cheap insurance against ammonia build up in a new tank.

 

[hogfxstc]

Thanks everyone for the help!

 

[hogfxstc]

Update for everyone..

So Saturday I added two Astraes snails and two red leg hermits. All is well so far, ammonia and nitrites at zero yesterday and today. There very active and have cleared the few patches of algae that was growing. The skimmer is starting create a little foam.

Should I cruise for a couple weeks with my inverts before I add a fish, what's everyone think?

 

[AcroNem]

That's not a lot of bioload even In 26g of water. You can add more CUC or a small fish at this point if everything is stable.

 

[hogfxstc]

That's not a lot of bioload even In 26g of water. You can add more CUC or a small fish at this point if everything is stable.

I didn't want to over do it with the CUC, as I don't have much for them to eat yet. I guess my thoughts were 4 small inverts would be less bio load than one fish and If my readings were stable with the inverts I would be good to add a fish the following week...