Help with cycling tank

[itz_jacob4268]

I have been cycling a tank for about a month now. My nitrates & nitrites were rising, and my ammonia was up so i knew that my Tank was starting to cycle I dosed with fritz turbo start and I added 2 damsels to help the cycle. (there was ammonia in the tank before adding fritz so the bacteria did have food) since adding the damsels 1 has perished but the other is going strong. Now my nitrates and nitrites are at 0 and my ammonia level has come down to 0.25 so I knew the tank was doing its thing but i Don’t know what to do. I am lost and need help!

 

[KrisReef]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Can you post a picture of your tank, and are you using API test kit for ammonia?

@brandon429

 

[TheBear78]

How did you start the cycle and what was your ammonia level prior to adding the fish and turbo Start?
Bottled bacteria works under the right conditions but also has limitations.

 

[brandon429]

Damsels die to to uronema they infect the entire rock system with


this cycle is done, can’t wait to see the tank pictures of the tank then we can compare it to a long running cycle study thread

@itz_jacob4268 there are some changes underway in how we cycle reef tanks effectively, you’re using the prior way people have trouble with

we are in process of applying the new way to your set up once we get a picture of your reef tank

 

[arking_mark]

What test kit were you using? API test kits often have a false slightly positive reading...

 

[mike550]

Damsels die to to uronema they infect the entire rock system with


this cycle is done, can’t wait to see the tank pictures of the tank then we can compare it to a long running cycle study thread

@itz_jacob4268 there are some changes underway in how we cycle reef tanks effectively, you’re using the prior way people have trouble with

we are in process of applying the new way to your set up once we get a picture of your reef tank

@brandon429 now I’m intrigued. What’s the new way of cycling a tank. Please feel free to send me to an existing post. TIA

 

[itz_jacob4268]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Can you post a picture of your tank, and are you using API test kit for ammonia?

@brandon429

Yes I am

 

[itz_jacob4268]

Damsels die to to uronema they infect the entire rock system with


this cycle is done, can’t wait to see the tank pictures of the tank then we can compare it to a long running cycle study thread

@itz_jacob4268 there are some changes underway in how we cycle reef tanks effectively, you’re using the prior way people have trouble with

we are in process of applying the new way to your set up once we get a picture of your reef tank

 

[itz_jacob4268]

How did you start the cycle and what was your ammonia level prior to adding the fish and turbo Start?
Bottled bacteria works under the right conditions but also has limitations.

I started they cycle by feeding the tank allowing the food to break down to ammonia and the level was 0.50 then I started dosing with beneficial bacteria

 

[brandon429]

Mike here is the new way being used to cycle just under forty pages of reef tanks without using testing

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

the new way is by knowing # of days underwater


they still post test readings in the thread because that’s how we’ve been trained to assess cycles, but I’m not factoring the test levels in assigning their ready dates. I only get their # of days underwater for that portion


testless reef tank cycling that is ready on a specific date for each tank is the new way no sticks, stalls or starved cycles above.

Jacob that was a great way to cycle for sure. your tests happened to confirm the ammonia drop, after the number of days we know ammonia drops occur even if we didn’t get so lucky for your non digital test kit to show it.

*that thread above is ten day waits, you’re ~ five times beyond our measure interval = you’re cycled


I was assessing surface area by your picture (it has plenty) and water clarity, no need for the big water change here you’re already underway reefing. Bottle bac works this well, agreed.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have been cycling a tank for about a month now. My nitrates & nitrites were rising, and my ammonia was up so i knew that my Tank was starting to cycle I dosed with fritz turbo start and I added 2 damsels to help the cycle. (there was ammonia in the tank before adding fritz so the bacteria did have food) since adding the damsels 1 has perished but the other is going strong. Now my nitrates and nitrites are at 0 and my ammonia level has come down to 0.25 so I knew the tank was doing its thing but i Don’t know what to do. I am lost and need help!

You were sort of there. Fish can help with bioload but cant say a fish cycles a tank.
Typically you want to add your bacteria and then ammonia chloride or a piece of shrimp (shrimp for 48 hours). Then you want to monitor ammonia , When your ammonia is steady at zero for 5 days and Nitrate is steady at 20 or below- You are cycled. Ignore nitrIte Unless sky high
The tank will go through two phases in which ammonia will rise then fall and nitrate will rise and fall which is normal. When fish are added, the bacteria population will increase with the new bio load, converting waste to nitrate.
Assure your test readings are true and not false which as mentioned often associated with Api test kits. Simply take a water sample to a store that does NOT use Api kits and have them test your ammonia and nitrates and compare readings- then you'll know where your levels truly are at

 

[itz_jacob4268]

You were sort of there. Fish can help with bioload but cant say a fish cycles a tank.
Typically you want to add your bacteria and then ammonia chloride or a piece of shrimp (shrimp for 48 hours). Then you want to monitor ammonia , When your ammonia is steady at zero for 5 days and Nitrate is steady at 20 or below- You are cycled. Ignore nitrIte Unless sky high
The tank will go through two phases in which ammonia will rise then fall and nitrate will rise and fall which is normal. When fish are added, the bacteria population will increase with the new bio load, converting waste to nitrate.
Assure your test readings are true and not false which as mentioned often associated with Api test kits. Simply take a water sample to a store that does NOT use Api kits and have them test your ammonia and nitrates and compare readings- then you'll know where your levels truly are at

I was looking for a new test kit can you speak on the red sea one?

 

[vetteguy53081]

I was looking for a new test kit can you speak on the red sea one?

For many, red sea is hard to red with their color chart. Salifert and Hanna brands are most popular and accurate

 

[brandon429]

Don’t buy ammonia test kits they’re a waste of cash, we show.

Im cycling forty pages of reef tanks there without one


if you want to know ammonia, in order to verify what we already know about it for any reef tank given # of days underwater, get a seneye or you’re just trading off one misreading test kit for another.

 

[brandon429]

‘You were sort of there’ implies there are half completed cycles, there aren’t.

you‘re sort of there making the tank safe from fish disease

to state a reef tank cycle is only partially done is 100% old cycling science which has zero forty page test threads with clean outcomes on file.

fish disease is the real full issue for you J

 

[itz_jacob4268]

Not anything Vette said applies to new cycling science, we show.

‘You were sort of there’ implies there are half completed cycles, there aren’t.

you‘re sort of there making the tank safe from fish disease

that’s all 100% old cycling science which has zero forty page test threads with clean outcomes on file.

So what do I do then

 

[mike550]

Mike here is the new way being used to cycle just under forty pages of reef tanks without using testing

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

the new way is by knowing # of days underwater


they still post test readings in the thread because that’s how we’ve been trained to assess cycles, but I’m not factoring the test levels in assigning their ready dates. I only get their # of days underwater for that portion


testless reef tank cycling that is ready on a specific date for each tank is the new way no sticks, stalls or starved cycles above.

Jacob that was a great way to cycle for sure. your tests happened to confirm the ammonia drop, after the number of days we know ammonia drops occur even if we didn’t get so lucky for your non digital test kit to show it.

*that thread above is ten day waits, you’re ~ five times beyond our measure interval = you’re cycled


I was assessing surface area by your picture (it has plenty) and water clarity, no need for the big water change here you’re already underway reefing. Bottle bac works this well, agreed.

Thanks @brandon429 I’ll start going through this.

 

[brandon429]

The reason we needed to move from the old way:

-old cycling science never ever discussed fish disease and this is what kills fish, it’s not cycling that kills them

-old cycling science can’t get any tank ready by a specific date for action, but if we go to a marine aquarium convention that’s halls of fifty thousand dollar reef tanks set up all by a friday, with no stalls, nobody getting those weeks long rises and drops of ammonia you read in old cycling science rules. sellers get the certain way, buyers get the doubt way so they keep buying bottle bac over and over. We flipped that trend.

 

[brandon429]

Jacob you‘d pull the remaining fish and fallow the tank

uronema won’t be fixed that way we can just hope it didn’t get in, but that way begins to fix up the several other diseases that early fish use vectors in

 

[itz_jacob4268]

‘You were sort of there’ implies there are half completed cycles, there aren’t.

you‘re sort of there making the tank safe from fish disease

to state a reef tank cycle is only partially done is 100% old cycling science which has zero forty page test threads with clean outcomes on file.

fish disease is the real full issue for you J

So my tank is cycled it’s the fish that’s the problem?