Dry rock cycling "stucked"?

[Jackmot]

Hey!
So I've benn cycling my nano reef tank for almost 2 months. It's the first time I cycle with dry rock and no sand (with the shrimp method) so everything's kinda new for me here and I've been hitting a few bumps along the road.
Everything was going ok until 5 days ago my Ammonia went up from 3 to 5ppm (approx.), naturally I removed what was left of the latest shrimp in order for the ammonia not to get too high. The problem is that since that day the ammonia got sucked in approx 5ppm and the nitrite between 0.25 and 0.50ppm with NO nitrates.
Any ideas? should I do a small water change in order to help lowering those levels??

API Test kit
Lights OFF (AI Prime 16HD and a cheap chaeto light)
Pumps ON
Skimmer ON
Ammonia: 5ppm (approx)
Nitrite: 0.30ppm (approx)
Nitrate: 0ppm
Salinity: 1.025
Temp: 24.5ºc-25.0ºc

 

[Saltyreef]

Sounds like youre supplying too much ammonia for the bacteria to break down reliably.

 

[Garf]

Hey!
So I've benn cycling my nano reef tank for almost 2 months. It's the first time I cycle with dry rock and no sand (with the shrimp method) so everything's kinda new for me here and I've been hitting a few bumps along the road.
Everything was going ok until 5 days ago my Ammonia went up from 3 to 5ppm (approx.), naturally I removed what was left of the latest shrimp in order for the ammonia not to get too high. The problem is that since that day the ammonia got sucked in approx 5ppm and the nitrite between 0.25 and 0.50ppm with NO nitrates.
Any ideas? should I do a small water change in order to help lowering those levels??

API Test kit
Lights OFF (AI Prime 16HD and a cheap chaeto light)
Pumps ON
Skimmer ON
Ammonia: 5ppm (approx)
Nitrite: 0.30ppm (approx)
Nitrate: 0ppm
Salinity: 1.025
Temp: 24.5ºc-25.0ºc

Post a pic of the tank so we can see how much rock you’ve got. Not very scientific but it may give us a clue.
Edit - how many shrimps have you used?

 

[Jackmot]

Sounds like youre supplying too much ammonia for the bacteria to break down reliably.

My thoughts exactly, that's why I stopped it until it started to drop but nothing yet haha.

Post a pic of the tank so we can see how much rock you’ve got. Not very scientific but it may give us a clue.
Edit - how many shrimps have you used?

I have used 2-3 shrimps in the whole time. I normally added 1/3 or 1/4 of a shrimp each week or so.

I have approx 3.5Kg of rock in the system. The first image is from the sump and the second one is my display tank.

Thnks

 

[Garf]

Can you find a way of increasing the flow around the rocks in the sump. Perhaps it’s a bit slow down there.

 

[Saltyreef]

I always remove the shrimp once free ammonia is detected around 1ppm.
After that, feeding small amounts should suffice the growing population of bacteria until you get fish in there to be your ammonia source. By that time the tank should be processing ammonia more efficently.

 

[Jackmot]

Can you find a way of increasing the flow around the rocks in the sump. Perhaps it’s a bit slow down there.

Yeah, I can remove a wall of the sump so the flow goes from the top to the bottom. I tried to increase it with the hose that you can see at the end of the first photo but maybe it didn't worked as good as I expected

I always remove the shrimp once free ammonia is detected around 1ppm.
After that, feeding small amounts should suffice the growing population of bacteria until you get fish in there to be your ammonia source. By that time the tank should be processing ammonia more efficently.

That would have been very good advice a few months ago haha, thanks

So, for the moment I should just increase the flow of the rocks and not a water change right??

 

[Azedenkae]

Hey!
So I've benn cycling my nano reef tank for almost 2 months. It's the first time I cycle with dry rock and no sand (with the shrimp method) so everything's kinda new for me here and I've been hitting a few bumps along the road.
Everything was going ok until 5 days ago my Ammonia went up from 3 to 5ppm (approx.), naturally I removed what was left of the latest shrimp in order for the ammonia not to get too high. The problem is that since that day the ammonia got sucked in approx 5ppm and the nitrite between 0.25 and 0.50ppm with NO nitrates.
Any ideas? should I do a small water change in order to help lowering those levels??

API Test kit
Lights OFF (AI Prime 16HD and a cheap chaeto light)
Pumps ON
Skimmer ON
Ammonia: 5ppm (approx)
Nitrite: 0.30ppm (approx)
Nitrate: 0ppm
Salinity: 1.025
Temp: 24.5ºc-25.0ºc

Did you introduce nitrifiers in any way? The shrimp method may not introduce the microbes you'd actually need to take care of ammonia. Given you had dry rock and no sand, the microbes would not have came in any other way either.

That you got nitrites does suggest some nitrification, but could also be from species/strains that are not as effective as those we really want.

 

[Saltyreef]

Yeah, I can remove a wall of the sump so the flow goes from the top to the bottom. I tried to increase it with the hose that you can see at the end of the first photo but maybe it didn't worked as good as I expected

That would have been very good advice a few months ago haha, thanks

So, for the moment I should just increase the flow of the rocks and not a water change right??

I wouldnt change the water unless youre registering high nitrates after the cycle.
Mine shot up quite a bit due to no export methods in my rock cycling tote so i did a 100% water change.

 

[Saltyreef]

Did you introduce nitrifiers in any way? The shrimp method may not introduce the microbes you'd actually need to take care of ammonia. Given you had dry rock and no sand, the microbes would not have came in any other way either.

That you got nitrites does suggest some nitrification, but could also be from species/strains that are not as effective as those we really want.

Agreed, id start putting any marine live bottled bacteria lol.
Api quick start should be at any LFS.
I prefer fritzzyme 9

 

[Azedenkae]

Agreed, id start putting any marine live bottled bacteria lol.
Api quick start should be at any LFS.
I prefer fritzzyme 9

Same, I prefer FritzZyme Turbo Start 900. It worked super well for me.

 

[Jackmot]

Did you introduce nitrifiers in any way? The shrimp method may not introduce the microbes you'd actually need to take care of ammonia. Given you had dry rock and no sand, the microbes would not have came in any other way either.

That you got nitrites does suggest some nitrification, but could also be from species/strains that are not as effective as those we really want.

I didn't introduced any bacteria, I was about to introduce a small live rock to help the process but then the nitrites started to show up so I thought that the bacteria got into the system somehow

I wouldnt change the water unless youre registering high nitrates after the cycle.
Mine shot up quite a bit due to no export methods in my rock cycling tote so i did a 100% water change.

Yeah, I'm not registering any nitrates so far. I was thinking that when the nitrates started to show I could add some Chaeto and see what happens but I don't wanna get ahead of myself haha

 

[Jackmot]

The problem with the live bacteria is that I haven't seen it in any LFS because I'm currently living in Mexico city haha. Would it be a bad idea to add some live rock??

 

[Saltyreef]

The problem with the live bacteria is that I haven't seen it in any LFS because I'm currently living in Mexico city haha. Would it be a bad idea to add some live rock??

Nope not at all. As long as its live it will add to your biofilter and help seed the bacteria.

 

[Garf]

The problem with the live bacteria is that I haven't seen it in any LFS because I'm currently living in Mexico city haha. Would it be a bad idea to add some live rock??

Live rock is usually a good idea

 

[Jedi1199]

I would do the following in this order. Throw away the API test kit and replace with Salifert or Red Sea. Turn the skimmer off (you have nothing to skim). And finally, continue what you have been doing. Looks like everything is going well, if a bit slow. Nothing good in this hobby happens fast (except maybe bank balance dropping lol)

Edit. I would increase the amount of rock in the tank and take out the wood in the display. Wood is generally not advised in a reef system as it may leech undesirable elements into your system.

 

[Jedi1199]

By the way.. how much water do you have in your full system (tank + sump?)

 

[Garf]

Edit. I would increase the amount of rock in the tank and take out the wood in the display. Wood is generally not advised in a reef system as it may leech undesirable elements into your system.

Wood, where? LOL

 

[Jedi1199]

Wood, where? LOL

Post #4.. Attachment 2

Looks like driftwood in the DT?

 

[Garf]

Post #4.. Attachment 2

Looks like driftwood in the DT?

That’s some kind of coral branch