Issues cycling with Dr. Tims

[feresadas]

Hello, I am on day 17 of (pre)cycling my dry rock.

I have a 15 gallon tank coming in the mail, and decided to precycle my rock in a 10 gallon brute trash can to get a head start. My ammonia however will not drop. I started off following the recommended fishless cycle instructions, however after the 2nd addition of ammonium chloride it never dropped down. Due to it not dropping I stopped testing for a while, and after coming back to it, still no change...

curious what I have done wrong here.

 

[Dan_P]

Hello, I am on day 17 of (pre)cycling my dry rock.

I have a 15 gallon tank coming in the mail, and decided to precycle my rock in a 10 gallon brute trash can to get a head start. My ammonia however will not drop. I started off following the recommended fishless cycle instructions, however after the 2nd addition of ammonium chloride it never dropped down. Due to it not dropping I stopped testing for a while, and after coming back to it, still no change...

curious what I have done wrong here.

Dr. Tim’s can work but there seems to be many people that write to this forum with issues such as yours. I chalk it up to a dud bottle. The drop in ammonia should take a day or two. Try BioSpira or Fritz Turbo Start.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Dr. Tim’s can work but there seems to be many people that write to this forum with issues such as yours. I chalk it up to a dud bottle. The drop in ammonia should take a day or two. Try BioSpira or Fritz Turbo Start.

I truly believe that it's not the Dr. Tim's bacteria, but the ammonia that's the problem. It's a shame too because Dr Tim's is getting a bad name when all they need to do is revise the instructions and/or package the ammonia in a way that's harder to overdose the tank...

My advice to the OP is to do a water change and then add another bottle of bacteria (Dr. Tims, Fritz turbo, or whatever) and once ammonia is zero, ghost feed the rock until the tank is set up.

 

[PigDaddyF15E]

What test kit are you using? Many people getting "abnormal" reading from API (the one with drops) kits. Have you used a different test kit? How about an ammonia alert badge (only to verify that if it reads DANGER...then yeah you've got ammonia...but if it reads OK...then it's your test kit).

 

[feresadas]

I truly believe that it's not the Dr. Tim's bacteria, but the ammonia that's the problem. It's a shame too because Dr Tim's is getting a bad name when all they need to do is revise the instructions and/or package the ammonia in a way that's harder to overdose the tank...

My advice to the OP is to do a water change and then add another bottle of bacteria (Dr. Tims, Fritz turbo, or whatever) and once ammonia is zero, ghost feed the rock until the tank is set up.

Hmmm I guess it's possible? It's the ammonia sold by Dr tims. So if that's the case they definitely need to take a look at that.

I added my third bottle of Tim's today, crossing my fingers it will help. If no change in 2-4 days I will try another product.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

What test kit are you using? Many people getting "abnormal" reading from API (the one with drops) kits. Have you used a different test kit? How about an ammonia alert badge (only to verify that if it reads DANGER...then yeah you've got ammonia...but if it reads OK...then it's your test kit).

People don't get readings of 2.0 with API unless they've done the test wrong. The API "problem" is that it reads total ammonia, so a color that's between 0 and .25 can generally be assumed to be 0 free ammonia and is fine.

 

[feresadas]

What test kit are you using? Many people getting "abnormal" reading from API (the one with drops) kits. Have you used a different test kit? How about an ammonia alert badge (only to verify that if it reads DANGER...then yeah you've got ammonia...but if it reads OK...then it's your test kit).

I am using red seas ammonia test kit, and the salifert nitrate kit. I have a ammonia badge, I will throw it in just to get a second test.

 

[jDoSe]

Hello, I am on day 17 of (pre)cycling my dry rock.

I have a 15 gallon tank coming in the mail, and decided to precycle my rock in a 10 gallon brute trash can to get a head start. My ammonia however will not drop. I started off following the recommended fishless cycle instructions, however after the 2nd addition of ammonium chloride it never dropped down. Due to it not dropping I stopped testing for a while, and after coming back to it, still no change...

curious what I have done wrong here.

This is extremely common. Even when using dr tims ammonia. I’ve bought one-and-only from a lfs, brs, swa, and direct from dr tims. Ammonia never dropped, even a tiny bit. Using hanna ammonia checker and api test kit. Same results.

If you read through the forum, there are countless cases of the exact same scenario. Dr tim won’t respond to tour inquiries.

As bad as I want to use dry rock, I have to use liverock now.

 

[brandon429]

I'll bet ten PayPal dollars right now to the Op that if they do a water change and add fish, the fish live bc the tank is cycled. There are no 17 day ammonia line cycling charts for a reason.

Move away from cheap test kit cycling into actual outcome tracking

That changes how you see cycling

The signal is any bottle bac use, after day ten wait, will carry fish- all the time and nobody has 1 example to the counter. Not one




You may have the ten millionth api indicated false stall, but you also have a cycled tank that carries fish after a water change- just like all the others

There's a reason among all stalled cycle claims nobody can post a link showing a tank that can't carry fish.

There's a reason no seneye owner during a reef display cycle has posted a stall
I noticed no seneye owners here have posted they saw a stall.

 

[brandon429]

If your tank carries fish like the rest we can't claim an issue with Dr Tim here that's so important to know

Old cycling science is having you hyperfocus on what a cheap test kit reads.

I have 20 examples of api stating 8ppm in false stall threads. 2ppm means nothing

Do a search: 8 ppm api reading. All false stalls just like this post.

I have a 34 page thread where all claimed stalled cycles handle fish just fine and test just fine on seneye when spot checked

What is the % chance this tank won't follow suit? This one here is the first true stall on the site? There are no day 17 stalls in reefing and no cycle umpire has ever seen one-a tank that can't carry fish.

 

[brandon429]

for sure dead bottle bac exist

17 days is your equalizer though, you aren't depending on a full live bottle after that long underwater/per all cycling charts. it's nearly double the command time for basic ammonia control, and no bioload you start with will load your tank at 2ppm or anywhere near it.

Your tank can carry life, because all tanks before yours in the exact same condition carried life/we can search the threads.


No water change needed/ just saw this was remote cycle

Move rocks into clean water in the tank, add two clowns, post a tank pic in two days they'll be fine. Match your tank salinity to their bag water then add the fish, don't acclimate. Add.

By following the salesman- written cycle rules to blast the tank with 2ppm ammonia, we get false stall posts. Salesmen wrote that practice its designed to get you into buying multiple bottles of bacteria and when folks do not dose a cycle to 2ppm, we can collect perfect outcome cycles endlessly in study threads

2ppm ammonia dosing is an invented arbitrary number that tricks people. A quarter of that amount is better and more fitting to the kinds of cheap ammonia tests these salesmen know reefers are using

fish food, no ammonia, and ten days wait is the best way of them all/use any bottled bac you want-no testing is required for this option. you're at day 17

You moving rocks into clean water undoes the trickery portion of old cycling science rules and we get right into proofing the fish are carried fine every single day