Did I kill my cycle? (Microbacter7)

[Aessedai]

Hello All,

I've had my 50g tank up and running for about a month, seeded with Turbostart 900. The tank had it's diatom bloom about a week ago with Ammonia and No2 all below ~0.1-0.2. I have been adding 1 fish a week and watching the levels before adding another and has been consistent. I added a smaller bristletooth tang about two weeks ago, no change to test results.

About a week ago I added a brightwell Biobrick seeded with a capful of Microbacter7 and since then the diatom has disappeared but my NH and NO2 are now 0.4-0.6.

Can you kill the original cycle with Microbater7?

What should I do to get the NH/NO2 under control?

Appreciate the advice.

 

[brandon429]

in no way is your cycle affected, slowed, retrograded etc. you did not harm anything by adding new bacteria after fritz. that your fish are alive is how you know your cycle is complete, and by rule the definition of a completed cycle is ability to carry bioload vs them dying overnite like they would in an uncycled tank.

assessing your cycle won't involve using nondigital test kits, no matter what they show. they're likely to show all kinds of variation tank to tank, you have zero problems here.

of three test kits for cycling, you do not have to use ammonia and nitrite any further.

you'd use nitrate to tune your color and algae levels.

your tank is working fine, only the test kits show a problem, that is how it always happens. No cycle can stall, get weak or undo. There is no middle ground

we either have active surfaces and can keep fish alive, or we can't and they all die overnite in a cloudy smelly haze.

why do ammonia and nitrite no longer need to be tested post cycle?
nitrite-see Randy's article about nitrite in the reef tank, its a neutral param. if we were freshwater, it would matter. it does not matter in saltwater.

ammonia-by rule, ammonia is permanently controlled in a post-cycle tank and can't rise to irritation levels, it simply stays controlled. *of course dead animals raise it, you said yours are alive. A cycle does not ever, ever, slowly undo each day and then the fish die. once you get past a day or two, we know by that detail alone your cycle is able.

Your tank is cycled due to living fish + use of 2 day tested bottle bac + a lot more than two days on file. your test kits are misreading, like 90% do on any reef ran.

if you had a seneye meter tuned and working it would show ammonia controlled, matching fish behavior.

having a diatom bloom also proves cycle completion using updated science. any time a mat, projection or new growth had time to bloom in a system that all came after primary bacterial establishment on surfaces, we can literally 'see' a tank is cycled when any new growths have formed. We can't see bacteria, we see the secondary and tertiary producers however and the order of ops is already known.

 

[Aessedai]

Thank you Brandon,

Really appreciate the detailed response, those darker test colors are pretty intimidating first time you see them.

 

[brandon429]

hey can you post tank pics
test kit too so we can tie in the conflicting reads

we look to those as the final say, nh3 noncontrol will manifest this way: all fish unable to breathe, taxis to the upper zone where o2 is highest, lethargic and near death, not eating. Fish distribution as normal indicates total ammonia control.

cloudy water

smell, tank will smell like something dying / ammonia is detected very well by our noses when accurately elevated.
I truly don’t know why some testers present and hold a change without backing down, but we’ve found the pattern is reliable from tank pics when in doubt. Ammonia noncontrol in a reef is exactly like kidney function loss in vet science, no animal I know can make 48 hours with nh3 buildup. It’ll be not eating, lethargic, near death and visually clearly off kilter

the best thing I like about cycle tracing is the consequence. We’re not calling calcium levels here, nh3 kills. Every 48 hours your tank lives is re proof of excellent ammonia control. No matter what nitrite does, or even if it’s there legit, it won’t matter. With other param calls life and death isn’t on the line like it is with cycling, we will know by Wednesday

 

[Aessedai]

Sure thing,

Tang is the only active swimmer I have at the moment, other than swimming against the glass un and down in the corner every once in a while he ventures out to roam the tank. Added 2 paired hawkfishs last week and seem to swim from rock to rock every couple min.

The clowns hang out at the top left corner and don't really move. They swam around after I first put them in but they've been swimming normal/sideways/vertical after a few weeks now. I have the canister filter hoses in that corner and I think they've hosted.

Blue Spotted Jawfish will swim out of his den every once in a while but stays pretty much in his spot.

As far as dead fish, only thing I could maybe see is losing a few clean up crew? All other fish accounted for.

 

[brandon429]

the tank is just a massive surface area set, all active. those fish are in their correct places agreed. clear nice tank. expect more uglies soon/new growths all typical of white surface starts but age out into fine coralline setups

 

[Aessedai]

Thanks Brandon!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

If the ammonia level is still 0.4 to 0.6, and there are fish present, I'd dose something like Prime.