Cycling Question

[sramos1104]

Hello all....I have been fishless cycling for about 4 weeks now. I used Dr. Tim's one and only bacteria and I have been dosing using his Ammonia to feed the bacteria. My ammonia and Nitrite finally got to zero between 2-3 weeks. I used Caribsea live sand and dead dry rock.
My question is that now when I dose 1 or 2 ppm of Ammonia, it take 2-3 days to get Ammonia and Nitrite back to 0. Should I just stay patient knowing I'm close to being fully cycled? I was told to dose 2ppm of Ammonia and if your numbers are 0 after 24 hours, you're good to go. I've also seen posts that suggest only dosing 1ppm of Ammonia and getting it to 0 in 24 hours. I'm just surprised it has taken this long when people have mentioned adding fish a few days after using Dr. Tims. Maybe I'm safe to add fish now but wanted to do everything right. Thanks for any advice!!

 

[Bryn]

Hello all....I have been fishless cycling for about 4 weeks now. I used Dr. Tim's one and only bacteria and I have been dosing using his Ammonia to feed the bacteria. My ammonia and Nitrite finally got to zero between 2-3 weeks. I used Caribsea live sand and dead dry rock.
My question is that now when I dose 1 or 2 ppm of Ammonia, it take 2-3 days to get Ammonia and Nitrite back to 0. Should I just stay patient knowing I'm close to being fully cycled? I was told to dose 2ppm of Ammonia and if your numbers are 0 after 24 hours, you're good to go. I've also seen posts that suggest only dosing 1ppm of Ammonia and getting it to 0 in 24 hours. I'm just surprised it has taken this long when people have mentioned adding fish a few days after using Dr. Tims. Maybe I'm safe to add fish now but wanted to do everything right. Thanks for any advice!!

I'm also a little surprised that it took so long to get to levels you are at now. I guess it could be your test kit, or maybe the bacteria were not as effective in this bottle. When it comes to ammonia checking, I'm more interested in color change, and knowing the cycle is working, which yours seems to be.

I would be inclined to dose to 2ppm, test an hour later to see that your test kit has registered a change, and is close to 2ppm, and then look for a color change 24 hours later. If you see a large color change 24 hours later, I would add a fish, and feed cautiously, allowing the system to cope with the bio load.

 

[MaxxuM]

Hello all....I have been fishless cycling for about 4 weeks now. I used Dr. Tim's one and only bacteria and I have been dosing using his Ammonia to feed the bacteria. My ammonia and Nitrite finally got to zero between 2-3 weeks. I used Caribsea live sand and dead dry rock.
My question is that now when I dose 1 or 2 ppm of Ammonia, it take 2-3 days to get Ammonia and Nitrite back to 0. Should I just stay patient knowing I'm close to being fully cycled? I was told to dose 2ppm of Ammonia and if your numbers are 0 after 24 hours, you're good to go. I've also seen posts that suggest only dosing 1ppm of Ammonia and getting it to 0 in 24 hours. I'm just surprised it has taken this long when people have mentioned adding fish a few days after using Dr. Tims. Maybe I'm safe to add fish now but wanted to do everything right. Thanks for any advice!!

What might be happening is the bacteria are dying off as they lack nutrients. You're trying to build up bacteria in a steady growth line upwards. I haven't used Dr. Tim's but I do use similar products and I don't think it's taken longer than seven days at most before the tank is ready for life.

Nitrates should spike 3-7 days after bacteria and ammonia are added. There's a lag between bacterial population growth and their food source. Once you see nitrates rising and ammonia and nitrites at zero you need to add a food source so the populations will continue to grow. That's when people usually put in their first fish. If Dr. Tim's is like other bacterial seeding products, nitrates should begin to fall after the first week, but rise again 1-2 weeks later in a trend that keeps going down as the weeks go by. I also run something like Seachem Matrix in a moderate flow area to help with the seeding process.

Hope that helps.