Fishless Cycling, Am I doing this right?

[taylear]

Hello R2R, I am new to the reefing hobby and set up my first tank ~1 week ago. I have a 40 breeder w 20L sump, 40 lbs of live sand and 40 lbs of dry rock in my tank. I decided to do fishless cycling and started by dosing my tank to 2 ppm ammonia with Dr. Tims and added an entire bottle of Bio Spira made for tanks up to 75 gallons, and then waited... My tank was running with 2 fluval Quick Clear filter pads, no lights, and no skimmer.


These are my parameters at 24 hours:

And at 48 hours:

And then at 69 hours:

At this point, it was clear that the nitrites had dropped significantly, but I was also confused because the nitrates seemed to drop as well without me doing any water change. I decided to add 2 ppm of ammonia again and wait.

This is what everything looked like at 15.5 hours later

Then at 46 hours:

And finally at 62 hours:

I determined that ammonia was zero prior to this and didnt test it, but nitrites were down again, so I decided to dose 2 ppm ammonia oncemore, and added Seachem's Stability bacteria. Again confused by how the nitrates went down significantly with no water change.

24 hours later (this morning):

\

What are your guys' thoughts on this? I recently read that nitrates should only go down if you perform a water change or have something in the tank that is consuming them, which I don't believe I have?

Should I be waiting for my system to handle 2ppm ammonia and get it and nitrites down to 0 in 24 hours before I add fish?

I've noticed my pH and dKH have been kind of low (7.8-8.0 and 6.5-7, respectively). I have been periodically adding an imagitarium pH enhancer as well as reef fusion 1/2 from Seachem to raise dKH but they haven't really been helping. Should I be worrying about this now?

Thanks.

 

[dwair]

Hello R2R, I am new to the reefing hobby and set up my first tank ~1 week ago. I have a 40 breeder w 20L sump, 40 lbs of live sand and 40 lbs of dry rock in my tank. I decided to do fishless cycling and started by dosing my tank to 2 ppm ammonia with Dr. Tims and added an entire bottle of Bio Spira made for tanks up to 75 gallons, and then waited... My tank was running with 2 fluval Quick Clear filter pads, no lights, and no skimmer.


These are my parameters at 24 hours:

And at 48 hours:

And then at 69 hours:

At this point, it was clear that the nitrites had dropped significantly, but I was also confused because the nitrates seemed to drop as well without me doing any water change. I decided to add 2 ppm of ammonia again and wait.

This is what everything looked like at 15.5 hours later

Then at 46 hours:

And finally at 62 hours:

I determined that ammonia was zero prior to this and didnt test it, but nitrites were down again, so I decided to dose 2 ppm ammonia oncemore, and added Seachem's Stability bacteria. Again confused by how the nitrates went down significantly with no water change.

24 hours later (this morning):

\

What are your guys' thoughts on this? I recently read that nitrates should only go down if you perform a water change or have something in the tank that is consuming them, which I don't believe I have?

Should I be waiting for my system to handle 2ppm ammonia and get it and nitrites down to 0 in 24 hours before I add fish?

I've noticed my pH and dKH have been kind of low (7.8-8.0 and 6.5-7, respectively). I have been periodically adding an imagitarium pH enhancer as well as reef fusion 1/2 from Seachem to raise dKH but they haven't really been helping. Should I be worrying about this now?

Thanks.

Don't worry about your DKH right now, Thats for when you have coral. Has nothing to do with your cycle. Your PH isn't really low. PH is fine between 7.6-8.2 for sure, so you are within that range. As long as your ammonia is 0 and it looks like you are processing the ammonia in 24 hours you are 100% good to add a fish. Nitrites don't really affect a fish, there has been alot of new information recently regarding this very subject. You can also wait if you would like until they do reach 0, which there is nothing to do but literally wait.

But after all those tests, I would say you are fine to add a fish. I did it myself, I added a entire bottle of bio spira and then a clown the next day. Dude is doing fine. Macna/Events etc do it all the time, same thing for emergency QT's.

 

[keywestreefer]

While I’m also new, I can’t really help you on the fish less cycle but welcome to R2R. I have received so much support and guidance in such a short amount of time. Welcome to the party.

 

[Kdub Koral Guy]

Hello R2R, I am new to the reefing hobby and set up my first tank ~1 week ago. I have a 40 breeder w 20L sump, 40 lbs of live sand and 40 lbs of dry rock in my tank. I decided to do fishless cycling and started by dosing my tank to 2 ppm ammonia with Dr. Tims and added an entire bottle of Bio Spira made for tanks up to 75 gallons, and then waited... My tank was running with 2 fluval Quick Clear filter pads, no lights, and no skimmer.


These are my parameters at 24 hours:

And at 48 hours:

And then at 69 hours:

At this point, it was clear that the nitrites had dropped significantly, but I was also confused because the nitrates seemed to drop as well without me doing any water change. I decided to add 2 ppm of ammonia again and wait.

This is what everything looked like at 15.5 hours later

Then at 46 hours:

And finally at 62 hours:

I determined that ammonia was zero prior to this and didnt test it, but nitrites were down again, so I decided to dose 2 ppm ammonia oncemore, and added Seachem's Stability bacteria. Again confused by how the nitrates went down significantly with no water change.

24 hours later (this morning):

\

What are your guys' thoughts on this? I recently read that nitrates should only go down if you perform a water change or have something in the tank that is consuming them, which I don't believe I have?

Should I be waiting for my system to handle 2ppm ammonia and get it and nitrites down to 0 in 24 hours before I add fish?

I've noticed my pH and dKH have been kind of low (7.8-8.0 and 6.5-7, respectively). I have been periodically adding an imagitarium pH enhancer as well as reef fusion 1/2 from Seachem to raise dKH but they haven't really been helping. Should I be worrying about this now?

Thanks.

Are you testing at the same time of day each time and do you have lights on the system?

 

[mike550]

@taylear welcome to R2R. Looks like you're cycled! For what it's worth, my pH is usually around 8.2-ish. I did something similar but used Fritz's Turbostart.

 

[taylear]

Are you testing at the same time of day each time and do you have lights on the system?

Unfortunately I haven't been able to test at the same time of day each time due to my schedule, and I have kept my lights off.

 

[taylear]

So do you guys think I would be good adding fish after a water change ? I think I saw a video posted by Dr. Tims aquatics saying that I should be able to have 0 ammonia and nitrites 24 hours after adding 2 ppm ammonia to the system.

 

[dwair]

So do you guys think I would be good adding fish after a water change ? I think I saw a video posted by Dr. Tims aquatics saying that I should be able to have 0 ammonia and nitrites 24 hours after adding 2 ppm ammonia to the system.

Yes you are fine to add a fish, just don't go nuts adding a heavy bioload. A pair of clowns max for right now is what I would recommend. Then let it settle and mature. And keep testing!

 

[cmoore806]

Now that you're at zero ammonia you could always dose with ammonium chloride again and test 24 hours later. The biofilter should be able to process the 2ppm dose of ammonium chloride in 24hrs. Also, you could do a water change to bring down nitrATES if it makes you feel better. I found that eventually the bacteria that converts nitrITES to nitrATES takes a couple weeks to show it's working. If nothing else, the extra dose of ammonium chloride will give you peace of mind that the biofilter can handle 2ppm ammonia.

Good luck!

 

[SALTYMOPAR]

welcome to R2R. It strange your Nirates Rising and falling. i assume your shaking the #2 nitrate bottle for a good 45 to 60 seconds before each time you test. other than that looks like your ready to get some fish wet.
I'm trying to finish up a my 40 breeder with 20 long sump as well.

 

[DrTim]

Hello R2R, I am new to the reefing hobby and set up my first tank ~1 week ago. I have a 40 breeder w 20L sump, 40 lbs of live sand and 40 lbs of dry rock in my tank. I decided to do fishless cycling and started by dosing my tank to 2 ppm ammonia with Dr. Tims and added an entire bottle of Bio Spira made for tanks up to 75 gallons, and then waited... My tank was running with 2 fluval Quick Clear filter pads, no lights, and no skimmer.


These are my parameters at 24 hours:

And at 48 hours:

And then at 69 hours:

At this point, it was clear that the nitrites had dropped significantly, but I was also confused because the nitrates seemed to drop as well without me doing any water change. I decided to add 2 ppm of ammonia again and wait.

This is what everything looked like at 15.5 hours later

Then at 46 hours:

And finally at 62 hours:

I determined that ammonia was zero prior to this and didnt test it, but nitrites were down again, so I decided to dose 2 ppm ammonia oncemore, and added Seachem's Stability bacteria. Again confused by how the nitrates went down significantly with no water change.

24 hours later (this morning):

\

What are your guys' thoughts on this? I recently read that nitrates should only go down if you perform a water change or have something in the tank that is consuming them, which I don't believe I have?

Should I be waiting for my system to handle 2ppm ammonia and get it and nitrites down to 0 in 24 hours before I add fish?

I've noticed my pH and dKH have been kind of low (7.8-8.0 and 6.5-7, respectively). I have been periodically adding an imagitarium pH enhancer as well as reef fusion 1/2 from Seachem to raise dKH but they haven't really been helping. Should I be worrying about this now?

Thanks.

The nitrate disappears because the nitrate test reads BOTH nitrite AND nitrate.
The way the test works is any nitrate present is reduced to nitrite in the first step of the test.
Then the test measures nitrite.
But if you have nitrite present then the reading you get is nitrite plus nitrate converted to nitrite.
So you always should do a nitrite test when you do a nitrate test and subtract the nitrite value to get the correct nitrate value.
During cycling when nitrite is present (as in your case) if you do not do this it looks like you have high nitrate but that is a false reading. Once the nitrite disappears as it does at 62 hours your nitrate 'drops' because the nitrite is gone.
Then you add more ammonia and it gets convert to nitrite and now when you measure nitrate you all of a sudden have nitrate but it is really nitrite that the test is reading.

Also if your nitrite is above 5 there are interference with the nitrate test.

The moral of this post - stop wasting your time and nitrate reagents and do not measure nitrate when you have high nitrite !

 

[taylear]

Wow thats great to know! I also was not shaking the nitrate #2 bottle prior to dropping, and was not inverting the tube multiple times after adding the nitrate #1 drops... If only I had read the instructions... Does anyone know how the lack of shaking/inverting could also affect nitrate results?