Fishless cycling

[Rafaelpadro24]

Hello everyone, finally got my 180 tank and sump filled and started the cycle. I used rodi water and redsea salt mix, used Dr Tim's one and only bottle to cycle 240 gallon tank ( between the tank, sump and refigium I have 229 gallons). I used the ammonia 4 drops per gallon. Well I'm on day number 6 and there has been no change on the ammonia and nitrite reading during testing . Water temp is 78 degrees and pH is at 8.2. Tried numerous times emailing Dr. Tim's and really not getting much help from them even with numerous emails with details on my issue.
Has anyone here have had issues with this process and what was done to get the tank cycled and ready to stock.
Any feedback is greatly appreciated!!

 

[aws2266]

I did a fishless cycle on my 120g and only saw a little bump in ammonia and nothing for nitrite or nitrate. The advice I got was to go ahead and slowly stock it and monitor for any changes. I was upgrading from a smaller tank so I moved two fish every two weeks. Never saw the ammonia or nitrites spike and it was a while before I saw any nitrates. I think your good to add a fish or two, just monitor your levels and have a bottle of Seachem on hand just in case your ammonia spikes. My 2cents.

 

[Aqua Man]

I used the ammonia 4 drops per gallon.

They really need to have a syringe for proper dosing of ammonia. Most have found that the 4 drops per gallon adds almost double and leads to ammonia overdose.

What to do now? You could do a 50% water change, big tanks have there drawbacks here. Could try adding Fritz turbo start bacteria. Fritz bacteria does better at higher ammonia levels than Dr. Tim’s.

Third choice, add a small amount of fish food and do nothing but wait! You will hear that nothing good happens fast in reefing!

 

[Rafaelpadro24]

They really need to have a syringe for proper dosing of ammonia. Most have found that the 4 drops per gallon adds almost double and leads to ammonia overdose.

What to do now? You could do a 50% water change, big tanks have there drawbacks here. Could try adding Fritz turbo start bacteria. Fritz bacteria does better at higher ammonia levels than Dr. Tim’s.

Third choice, add a small amount of fish food and do nothing but wait! You will hear that nothing good happens fast in reefing!

Do you think Brightwell Microbacter startup xlm could be added to the tank now after I added Dr. Tim's one and only ? I can get it locally and dont want to use anymore of Dr Tim's products.

 

[Lavey29]

Just add some more nitrifying bacteria or better yet some live ocean rock to your sump. Give it a week and check for nitrates. If you get nitrates reading then do your water change and add fish. Big system like that would benefit from some live rock.

 

[Aqua Man]

Do you think Brightwell Microbacter startup xlm could be added to the tank now after I added Dr. Tim's one and only ? I can get it locally and dont want to use anymore of Dr Tim's products.

Yes you could. I recommend Fritz because it’s been shown in tests to not “stall” when someone accidentally overdosed ammonia.

Live rock could help by adding the bacteria needed. Although most of the hitchhiker’s will die because of the high ammonia. Then it’s not helping much. Either way, if you wait long enough, the cycle will sort itself out.

Just add some more nitrifying bacteria or better yet some live ocean rock

With ammonia that high, most everything but the bacteria is going to die on Ocean Live rock, adding even more ammonia.