Fishless Cycling question

[Oceansinmybasement]

Hello, looking for some advice in fishless cycling. I have done many freshwater setups, this is my second saltwater tank, the last one I did a fish in cycle. I got Dr. Tim’s bacteria and their ammonia. Setup my 80g tank with dry rock and live sand, didn’t realize that live sand can sometimes come with ammonia present. I dosed the ammonia as recommended but ended up with about 4ppm rather than the 2ppm. 3 days went by with no nitrites or nitrates, I suspected that my dr Tim’s bacteria was exposed to extreme temps in shipping so went to lfs and picked up some fritz zyme 9, which was all they had. Now we are on day 7 ammonia is about 2.5 but nitrite and nitrate are off the charts. Nitrite >5ppm and nitrate reading at about 50ppm. I’ve never had anything like this in my freshwater setups or my fish in cycling, should I do a water change? I’ve read controversial things about cycles stalling. Temp is 78F and ph at 8.2.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello, looking for some advice in fishless cycling. I have done many freshwater setups, this is my second saltwater tank, the last one I did a fish in cycle. I got Dr. Tim’s bacteria and their ammonia. Setup my 80g tank with dry rock and live sand, didn’t realize that live sand can sometimes come with ammonia present. I dosed the ammonia as recommended but ended up with about 4ppm rather than the 2ppm. 3 days went by with no nitrites or nitrates, I suspected that my dr Tim’s bacteria was exposed to extreme temps in shipping so went to lfs and picked up some fritz zyme 9, which was all they had. Now we are on day 7 ammonia is about 2.5 but nitrite and nitrate are off the charts. Nitrite >5ppm and nitrate reading at about 50ppm. I’ve never had anything like this in my freshwater setups or my fish in cycling, should I do a water change? I’ve read controversial things about cycles stalling. Temp is 78F and ph at 8.2.

Continue bacteria addition and test daily
Should be coming down unless in a stuck cycle
What test kits are you using?

 

[Cell]

The master has left the forum, unfortunately. But I'll do my best.

What test kit are you using? False positives for ammonia is relatively common. You get around that by establishing a new baseline. Test now, that's your new zero. Dose a known quantity, test again to note the difference. Then test a 3rd time after 24 hours and see if you are back to the level of your first test.

Nitrite is not harmful in saltwater, it's really not a factor in cycling anymore other than a validator of nitrate measurement. You cannot measure nitrates accurately in the presence of nitrite.

Cycles do not stall.

 

[Aqua Man]

Now we are on day 7 ammonia is about 2.5 but nitrite and nitrate are off the charts. Nitrite >5ppm and nitrate reading at about 50ppm. I’ve never had anything like this in my freshwater setups or my fish in cycling, should I do a water change? I’ve read controversial things about cycles stalling. Temp is 78F and ph at 8.2.

Fritz is good stuff and is doing the work. IMO wait until all ammonium has been oxidized to nitrate. Then do a water change. I would not add anymore ammonia. Maybe a pinch of fish food if anything.

nitrite will interfere with a nitrate test, giving a false high reading.

 

[lapin]

While a cycle can stall (take forever) it did not happen in your case. As stated above you can always add more bacteria without causing an issue. I would wait another week or two. No big hurry in this part of reefing. Do a big water change and you should be good to go.

 

[MamaMolo]

What day are you now on in the cycle? I did a cycle with Dr. Tim's and it took me 17 days. Kept temp at 80 degress and checked Ammonia every day. If it fell below .2ppm I dosed 4 Drops per Gallon of the volume of water. Ammonia would be between 1.5-2ppm after dosing. Continued to check every day. Once you can dose ammonia and 24 hours the ammonia is 0.00pm its says to do a water change. I still cycled for a few weeks and ghost fed & Water change Before adding fish.

 

[Cell]

Do not buy more bottled bac. If you have some extra, it won't hurt to use.

 

[Oceansinmybasement]

Thanks for all the responses! I’m currently using Red Sea for testing, just something I had left over from the other tank, they are expiring very soon though so not sure if that’s making the readings less accurate. I was concerned about the nitrates and nitrates getting too high, but I can pickup more bacteria tommorow and add more.

 

[Cell]

Don't waste your money purchasing more bottled bac...You already used 2 of the top 3 vetted brands around here.

Dr Tim's
Fritz
Bio-Spira

Confirm ammonia reading first and foremost. Nitrite can take a bit to come down, but if your ammonia is processing, you can start stocking slowly.

 

[Oceansinmybasement]

Don't waste your money purchasing more bottled bac...You already used 2 of the top 3 vetted brands around here.

Dr Tim's
Fritz
Bio-Spira

Confirm ammonia reading first and foremost. Nitrite can take a bit to come down, but if your ammonia is processing, you can start stocking slowly.

Ok I’ll keep monitoring over the next week, won’t add anything just yet. May try to confirm the ammonia with another test kit I’m the next day or so. In theory the ammonia should continue to go down, along with nitrites and then I’ll have a more accurate nitrate reading at the end, correct?

 

[rmorris_14]

The master has left the forum, unfortunately. But I'll do my best.

What test kit are you using? False positives for ammonia is relatively common. You get around that by establishing a new baseline. Test now, that's your new zero. Dose a known quantity, test again to note the difference. Then test a 3rd time after 24 hours and see if you are back to the level of your first test.

Nitrite is not harmful in saltwater, it's really not a factor in cycling anymore other than a validator of nitrate measurement. You cannot measure nitrates accurately in the presence of nitrite.

Cycles do not stall.

Who is the master that left the forum?

 

[Cell]

In theory yes, unless you are seeing a false ammonia positive which is quite common. Until nitrites are completely gone, your nitrate test is invalid. Nitrifying bac takes the longest but eventually you will see nitrite go to 0. But again, nitrite does not harm saltwater fish so you can begin stocking before nitrite is completely gone if you wish.

 

[reeftankdude]

Continue bacteria addition and test daily
Should be coming down unless in a stuck cycle
What test kits are you using?

What is the cause of a stuck cycle? thanks

 

[vetteguy53081]

What is the cause of a stuck cycle? thanks

It’s when you are adding bacteria and the ammonia in a sense does not move for several days. once you fix your ammonia, you fix your entire cycle, and can hope tests are accurate during this process and then becomes a testing issue rather than ammonia
one problem I’ve seen is many reefers that spend the least money on a critical instrument- Ammonia test kits

 

[Cell]

How to unstick any seemingly stuck cycle

who today has a false stuck cycle thread we can fix last month :) there are no stuck cycles on this entire board. Try and post here today any example from any tank at reef2reef that isn’t ready to begin. who’s seeking disease preps early on from post #1 in our thread here prediction for...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Oceansinmybasement]

Today ammonia is down to 1.6ppm with nitrite still at 5ppm. Will continue to monitor. When the ammonia gets to zero or near zero I was planning to dose a little again to confirm the cycling has worked, should I wait for the nitrite to go down as well?

 

[Oceansinmybasement]

Ammonia is down to 0 today, nitrites still very high. I know someone suggested adding livestock even with nitrites elevated, was hopping to add a few fish from another tank tommorow. Would it be safe to do so? In the past I was told to wait for nitrites to drop to 0 as well, but have been reading more and more conflicting information.

 

[Cell]

The official nitrite conference 2021

Team the rate of new cycling reefs is set to increase to astounding numbers, we are at about 5 new cycling posts per day across forums and it’s increasing due to the ease of today’s cycling products. They work they let people get fish, fast, and those fish live as normal for months. that's the...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Cell]

If you would like more conviction:

make this a simple cycle using your arrangement do exactly this and youll be ready to reef by January 16th:

add in two pinches of finely ground up fish food into the display. make sure you have all your rocks in the display taking on the bacteria. Wait till January 16th, you're cycled, and can't not be cycled using the particular arrangement and that bacteria. Not any testing from non digital test kits for any param will alter this outcome, you will be done on a predetermined date we have a 29 page thread doing exactly this (testless cycling) and its much much better than test based cycling, because you can now spend the next ten days studying fish disease preps in the disease forum vs concerning over nitrite.

specifically, on J 16th, your cycle is done and not any test you run on cheap kits now or then matters. It will be ready and can't not be ready. if you choose to buy a $180 seneye and run a test on J 16th it'll pass, but thats not needed because above it was typed twice you can't not be ready on the 16th using the above arrangement

cycle=solved and start date set.

heres the proof thread

How to unstick any seemingly stuck cycle

Updated Cycling Science in Action This is a testless reef tank cycling thread, the only one from any board. If you ever had trouble with reef tank cycling in the past, you won't any longer after working some jobs with us. chances are you are using/about to use a method of reef tank cycling...

www.reef2reef.com