I filled the display of my new build on April 27th. The rock is caribsea liferock and the tank is bare bottom. There is also a Brightwell Bio Brick and Bio Plate in there. Prior to this build I have only ever used mature live rock so have never had to deal with a cycle.
On April 27th, I dosed ammonia via Brightwell Quikcycl and bacteria via Brightwell XLM Start. I added more XLM Start on April 30 and May 5 and Dr Tims on May 8. I had the following readings for ammonia and nitrite using Redsea tests:
Note that I was away from April 30 to May 5 so did not test during that time. So after 14 days I still have ammonia of 0.2 and nitrite of 1.0. I was expecting a faster cycle based on what I've read about XLM start. Are the above numbers what you expect? Should I dose more ammonia while nitrite is still high or wait for it to come down too?
On April 27th, I dosed ammonia via Brightwell Quikcycl and bacteria via Brightwell XLM Start. I added more XLM Start on April 30 and May 5 and Dr Tims on May 8. I had the following readings for ammonia and nitrite using Redsea tests:
| Date | Ammonia | Nitrite |
| April 28 | 1.2 | .05 |
| April 29 | 1.0 | 0.1 |
| April 30 | 0.8 | 0.2 |
| May 5 | 0.8 | 1.0 |
| May 6 | 0.8 | 1.0 |
| May 8 | 0.6 | 1.0 |
| May 9 | 0.5 | 1.0 |
| May 11 | 0.2 | 1.0 |
Note that I was away from April 30 to May 5 so did not test during that time. So after 14 days I still have ammonia of 0.2 and nitrite of 1.0. I was expecting a faster cycle based on what I've read about XLM start. Are the above numbers what you expect? Should I dose more ammonia while nitrite is still high or wait for it to come down too?
Apologies for the temp in Celsius
