Fishless Cycle parameter question

[Daenion]

Esteemed colleagues,

I started with live sand so everything is acting weird during my fishless cycle attempt. I got Dr. Tim's ammonia and put about 1/3 of the recommended amount and got an ammonia reading of 1.2-2 on Red Sea last Thursday morning. It was darker than 1.2 but not as dark as 2. Today I measured it at 0.4-0.8 and I have both nitrite and nitrate (nitrate was about 2-5 on Sunday). Should I put a bit more ammonia into this system or let this ride out?

 

[ReefGeezer]

Nothing weird. It would appear that the bacteria boost provided by the live sand has sped up your cycle, thus the elevated nitrite and falling ammonia readings. I'm not familiar with res sea kits, but many other nitrate kits give false reading in the presence of nitrite. I would probably assume there is no nitrate building yet and attribute the reading to the nitrite.

So, all is good. Just wait for the ammonia to fall to 0. You can wait out the nitrites if you want. I would, but it is not an absolute requirement. Nitrite isn't toxic at low levels in salt water.

 

[Daenion]

Nothing weird. It would appear that the bacteria boost provided by the live sand has sped up your cycle, thus the elevated nitrite and falling ammonia readings. I'm not familiar with res sea kits, but many other nitrate kits give false reading in the presence of nitrite. I would probably assume there is no nitrate building yet and attribute the reading to the nitrite.

So, all is good. Just wait for the ammonia to fall to 0. You can wait out the nitrites if you want. I would, but it is not an absolute requirement. Nitrite isn't toxic at low levels in salt water.

Thank you very much. I will just wait for the ammonia to fall to 0. Should be around one week mark.

 

[Daenion]

Nothing weird. It would appear that the bacteria boost provided by the live sand has sped up your cycle, thus the elevated nitrite and falling ammonia readings. I'm not familiar with res sea kits, but many other nitrate kits give false reading in the presence of nitrite. I would probably assume there is no nitrate building yet and attribute the reading to the nitrite.

So, all is good. Just wait for the ammonia to fall to 0. You can wait out the nitrites if you want. I would, but it is not an absolute requirement. Nitrite isn't toxic at low levels in salt water.

Today I measured all 3 one more time.

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0.5
Nitrate 5

I am planning on adding fish next Thursday (8/11). Would that be a good time or shoukd I wait more?

 

[ABQ_CHRIS]

You are a go for fish on 8/11. You could wait longer, but I don't think that you need to.

 

[ReefGeezer]

Today I measured all 3 one more time.

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0.5
Nitrate 5

I am planning on adding fish next Thursday (8/11). Would that be a good time or shoukd I wait more?

You should be good to go. Feed you new fish very sparingly for the first week. This will limit ammonia input and allow the bacteria to adjust to the new load.